ISLAMABAD:President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday, in annual address to the Parliament, suggested a range of measures for the legislators to bring about improvement in lives of people by reforming multiple sectors including economy, education, health and agriculture in the country.
During the joint session of Parliament, the President commenced the speech by referring to the massive devastation caused by super floods during current year monsoon season.
He said the floods caused immense problems for Pakistan and its economy. He felicitated the Armed Forces for rescuing and saving lives of the people stranded in the floods. He also lauded the federal and provincial governments, disaster management authorities, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists for effective rescue and relief efforts and urgent distribution of financial assistance.
Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf chaired the session which marked the beginning of the fifth parliamentary year.
The President said more than 1500 people lost their lives and houses, buildings and infrastructure were destroyed in the flash floods.
Pakistan was emitting less than one percent of the global carbon emissions but facing severe issues due to climate change and global warming, he remarked.
He thanked the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for visiting the flood-afflicted areas and meeting the flood affectees in the country.
He lauded the United Nations for launching the flash appeal of $ 160 million in August and later another appeal of $ 816 million besides delivering aid to the flood victims in a coordinated manner.
He said it was time to prepare youth so that they could deliver medical assistance and other essential aid during emergencies and natural disasters.
President Dr Alvi said Pakistan’s agriculture suffered immensely during floods and millions of acres of standing crops were destroyed and there would be massive loss in production of rice, wheat, cotton and other crops.
He said the government should consider for initiating crop insurance in collaboration with the private companies to mitigate losses of the farmers.
He underscored the need for building dams to save people from the devastation of floods, besides storing water for agriculture and other purposes.
“We should learn from countries like The Netherlands which was 19 times smaller than Pakistan but was the second biggest exporter of food as it transformed its agriculture sector and improved productivity,” he added.
He said Pakistan had abundant land and water resources and could improve its agriculture by adopting modern methods and technologies.
The President said Pakistan had achieved multiple accomplishments and successes, adding Pakistan defeated terrorism in a way which was unprecedented in the world.
The nation also effectively tackled the coronavirus pandemic, he said and thanked Ulema, media and people for their cooperation in tackling the health challenge.
He said Pakistan had immense human resources as 63 percent or 35 million of its population was 15 to 33 years old youth.
He emphasized the need for focusing on education of youth and skill development to bring visible economic change in the country.
The President said more than 20 million children were out of schools in Pakistan, adding
education through mosques, should also be encouraged to prepare an educated and skilled workforce for future.
Online education, information technology and science education should be promoted as the world needed millions of youth for future jobs in IT and science fields, he added.
He mentioned the Prime Minister’s Digital Skills Programme from which 2.4 million people had already benefited.
He pointed out that cyber security had assumed immense importance in the fields of defence, military installations, economy and information.
Pakistan could gain foothold in the international market in the field of cyber security if people were equipped with the required skills, he noted.
He said population planning was important for the progress of country, adding out of the nine million pregnancies every year in Pakistan, 50 percent of them were occurred due to lack of awareness.
Talking about health requirements of the nation, he said first 1000 days of children were very significant and they should be breast fed to protect them from stunting.
He appreciated the efforts of Benazir Income Support Programme and Ehsaas Programme for tackling the issue of malnutrition among youth.
He said prevention and cleanliness was the best way to fight against communicable diseases.
He thanked the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other organizations for bringing polio under control in Pakistan.
The President said early detection of the breast cancer could save lives, adding 24 percent of the people in Pakistan were facing mental issues and stress but the country had less than 1900 psychiatrists and psychologists.
He said the society also needed to tackle the issue of drug abuse as it was a silent killer.
Dr Alvi said nine percent population in Pakistan was suffering from hepatitis and prevention could save billions of dollars required to provide medical treatment to the patients.
Helplines should be established so people could easily get medical consultation, he advised.
Dr Arif Alvi said Islamic history had examples that make evident that the religion encouraged women to become part of business activities. Digital inclusion of women should be ensured and they should be facilitated to work online from the safety of their homes or they should be provided safe workplaces outside of homes.