Export of wheat allowed

The federal cabinet Tuesday allowed export of one million tonnes of wheat and decided to rename Statistics Division as Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Division and placed it under the administrative control of Ministry of Planning, Develop-ment and Reform.
This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadca-sting Chaudhry Fawad here on Tuesday while briefing the media persons about the decisions taken by the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The information minister, however, stated that federal cabinet gave formal approval for renaming Statistics Division as Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Division and placing it under the administrative control of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform instead of Finance Ministry.
The minister said that the name of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is not being changed and various initiatives launched by the present government including Sehat Card, Kafalat Programme and Sasta Ghar Scheme will be added to the BISP.
The minister said that Dr Sania Nishtar will be heading the new division and it will coordinate functions of different organisations under the newly launched Ehsaas Programme. The minister stated that financial aid is provided to the poor people through BISP, Zakat, and Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal, whereas under the new social welfare programme, new initiatives will be taken.
However, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar while speaking at a function stated that federal cabinet has decided that Statistic Division will no longer remain under the administrative control of Ministry of Finance because of its alleged involvement in manipulation of economic data and showing higher growth on the instructions of previous finance ministers.
The minister said that although the issue of difference between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jehangir Tareen was not discussed in the federal cabinet, the Prime Minister has expressed his displeasure on bringing the internal party differences in public.
The Prime Minister directed the concerned ministries to prepare a complete roadmap on wheat, cotton and rice and stated that after a long time sugarcane growers got full payment of their crops. The minister further stated that Prime Minister Khan directed to evolve a policy on premium money charged (own money) on vehicles.
The minister said that Finance Minister Asad Umar would unveil Economic Roadmap for development of industries and other sectors and Power Minister Umar Ayub Khan will brief about steps with regard to energy sector. He said that efforts would be made to ensure that no load-shedding takes place in the next summer. The minister said that there are some very good things about the 18th amendment but at the same time some issues are required to be resolved regarding higher education and health as well as fiscal decentralisation to district level from the provinces.
He said that duration of military courts would be extended if a consensus is evolved with opposition; otherwise, it would not be extended, adding it is not necessary that the Prime Minister should meet the opposition leader for consultation with regard to appointment of members of Election Commission of Pakistan. The minister said this consultation could be held over telephone or by involving a third person.
The minister said that the federal cabinet allowed ban on showing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches as the Indian government's policies against PSL and artists in the post-Pulwama incident compelled Pakistan to take the decision.
He said that so far 33 cabinet meetings were held and 607 decisions were taken and out of them 375 decisions were implemented while remaining are in the implementation process.
He said that the federal cabinet has approved appointment of Air Marshal Asad Malik as Chief Executive of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and boards of Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, Oil and Gas Development Authority, Sui Southern Gas Company, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd were reconstituted. Shamsuddin Sheikh has been appointed as Chairman PMDC and Qamar Javed Sharif as chief of OGDCL. Dr Shamshad Akhtar has been appointed as new head of SSGC and Syed Dilawar Abbas as the chief of SNGPL. The cabinet also approved extension in the licence of Vision Air International for one year and appointment of judges of various banking courts.
The minister stated that the federal cabinet approved Rs 57.3 billion for Khassadar of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), apart from approval of Economic Coordination Council (ECC) decisions.