1 (7Th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT

1 (7th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ———— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Monday, the 14th January, 2019 147. *Mr. Saad Waseem: (Deferred during 3rd Session) Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state: (a) the present status of Pakistan Madrasah Education Board (PMEB) and its employees; (b) the objectives of the establishment of PMEB; (c) whether the desired objectives have been achieved since its establishment; (d) the annual budget allocated, released and utilized for the PMEB during the last five years; (e) whether the financial corruption has been reported in the funds of said Board during the said period; ( f) if the answer to part (e) above is in the affirmative, whether any inquiry has been held to identify the quantum of the corruption and hold responsibles accountable; if so, the details thereof; and (g) the steps being taken by the Government to rationalize the establishment of said Board and its employees at the earliest? 2 Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Mr. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri): (a) In pursuance of Madrasah Reform Policy Pakistan Madrasah Board was established on 08-09-2001 through Ordinance No. XL-2001. The Board shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with power, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, to acquire, hold and dispose off property both moveable and immovable, and may, by the said name, sue and be sued. One of the main purposes of the Board was to get Model Dini Madaris established in the country and also get other Madaris affiliated with it. In fact the Government endeavored to establish its own Board to compete with the existing five Wafaqs and Tanzeemat with which 95% Madrasahs are affiliate. However, the Government effort could not materialize in view of the fact that the Wafaqs and Tanzeemat, who were to nominate their representative on the Board, refused to adopt the Government initiative and did not nominate its members. Consequently the PMEB could not be placed on ground till date. There are two categories of employees at Board and its three allied Madaris i.e. Regular employees and Contract employees employed on fixed salary package by allowing one day gap. (b) (a) To establish such Model Dini Madaris and Model Darul uloom in which the Islamic education is the main component and includes courses and curricula of the general education system as may be prescribed. (b) To regulate and approve condition for affiliation of such existing Madaris as have duly been recommended by the Academic Council. (c) To approve the curricula, courses of study and conditions for holding of examination in the Madaris keeping in view the recommendation of Academic Council. To grant affiliation and to lay down the regulations and to approve conditions for affiliation of existing Madaris. (d) To suggest ways and means to bridge the existing gulf between the general education and the Madaris by revising and improving the curricula of Madaris and general education program. (e) To approve equivelance of degree, diplomas, sanads and certificates where curricula includes subject of general education system, etc. 3 (c) “NIL” (d) —————————————————————————————— Financial Annual Budget Amount Year Budget Utilized lapsed allocation —————————————————————————————— 2013-14 46,500,000 46,499,219 781 2014-15 50,000,000 49,871,896 128,104 2015-16 47,686,000 47,678,040 7,960 2016-17 54,556,000 54,268,557 287,443 2017-18 55,000,000 54,867,055 132,945 —————————————————————————————— (e) “NIL” (f) “NIL” (g) No positive steps have been taken so far by the Government to rationalize the established of the said Board and its employees. 151. *Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto: (Deferred during 3rd Session) Will the Minister for Water Resources be pleased to state: (a) the impacts of climate change on shortage of water in the country; and (b) the steps being taken by the Government to ensure and enhance the availability of water? Minister for Water Resources (Mr. Muhammad Faisal Vawda): (a) ® Climate change results in extreme weather events more frequently. Pakistan has faced devastating flood events continuously for six years from 2010 to 2015 causing a huge loss to the lives, cultivated lands and other property of the people of Pakistan alongwith wasting precious water into the sea every year. We have lost about 22.7 MAF annually during the said six flood years with 54.5 MAF during 4 super flood 2010 and 36.3 MAF during the year 2015. Post Tarbela annual average of escapages below Kotri is 28.56 MAF. ® Contrary to above, the country has faced severe drought years at the start of the last decade due to climate change resulting into huge water shortages. As an impact of drought, the escapages below Kotri remained lowest during 2004-05 i.e. 0.29 MAF due to lower river inflows. The average annual escapages below Kotri from 2000-01 to 2004-05 remained 5.11 MAF. The detailed data of escapages below Kotri Barrage is enclosed at Annex-I. ® At present, we are again facing droughts causing lesser rainfall and reduced river inflows as an impact of climate change. The drought has caused severe water shortages in the country and the estimated water shortage for irrigation supplies during the current Rabi season is about 38%. ® It is predicted that there would be excessive floods/ droughts in future due to climate change. To tackle this issue, we need to take structural measures (construction of dams) on war footing basis to store the flood water which will not only control the damage but also help us during dry years (droughts) by providing the stored water. This will also help to manage the energy crises by providing cheap electricity to the national grid. (b) ® The Government is continuously striving for development of water reservoirs in the country. Federal government through its executing agency WAPDA has completed Mangla Dam Raising (2.88 MAF), Gomal Zam Dam (0.892 MAF), Satpara Dam (0.053 MAF) and Darawat Dam (0.089 MAF) to store water with a total storage capacity of 3.914 MAF. ® While Diamer Basha Dam (6.4 MAF), Mohmand (Munda) Dam (0.676 MAF), Kurram Tangi Dam (0.90 MAF) and Nai Gaj Dam (0.16 MAF) are at implementation stage. Moreover, following projects having cumulative water storage capacity of 21.415 MAF which are at various stages of planning: 5 Projects Storage capacity (MAF) - KurramTangi Stage-II 0.90 - Winder Dam 0.36 - Naulong Dam 0.20 - Kalabagh Dam 6.10 - Shyok Dam 5.40 - Akhori Dam 6.00 - Bara Dam 0.062 - Chiniot Dam 1.00 - Hingol Dam 0.521 - Bhimber Dam 0.040 - Badinzai Dam 0.300 - Daraban Zam Dam 0.069 - Tank Zam Dam 0.289 - Sukleji Dam 0.042 - Dotara Dam 0.132 ® Furthermore, it is proposed that latest technology of sprinkling & drip irrigation should be used for irrigation to make the economic use of precious water available in the country. ® National Water Policy (NWP) has been approved in April this year which emphasizes watershed management in the country. Watershed management is a dire need of the time especially in upper areas of the country like AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and KP due to its multiple benefits. Forestation is an important component which not only controls the sediment inflows but also causes more precipitation in the watershed which is very useful in lean season to avoid droughts by providing increased water shortage. Forestation also results into overall low atmospheric temperatures which will reduce the snow and glaciers melting causing decrease in the probability of floods in high flow seasons. ® NWP also states that Environmental flows shall be ensured in the rivers to maintain a sound environment for the conservation of the river ecology, morphology, delta & coastal ecosystem and fisheries. ® Ecology can preserve by several ways like conserving and improving our surrounding environment, exploiting renewable energy sources, 6 forestation, ensuring environmental flows in rivers, establishing pollution regulation policies, restoration of destroyed natural resources as well as habitats, protection of endangered species and creating awareness, education. ® Delta can be preserved by smart reservoir operations and providing sufficient water supplies regularly. ® For basin level management, NWP states that Water demand shall be estimated for all sectors, within the Basin and outside the Basin. The process of holistic approach to planning shall aim at accommodating a fair and stable economic and social development within an integrated drainage Basin management. ® NWP also says that environmental impact assessment studies shall be carried out concurrently with project feasibility studies for selecting project scope and layout, consistent with productivity, economic viability, social acceptability and environmental sustainability. ANNEX-I ESCAPAGES BELOW KOTRI (POST TARBELA) (All figures in MAF) —————————————————————————————— Year Kharif Rabi Total —————————————————————————————— 1976-77 64.05 5.03 69.08 1977-78 29.00 1.39 30.39 1978-79 75.03 5.56 80.59 1979-80 29.38 0.43 29.81 1980-81 18.74 1.36 20.10 1981-82 33.53 0.26 33.79 1982-83 9.43 0.25 9.68 1983-84 43.81 2.09 45.91 1984-85 28.64 0.91 29.55 1985-86 10.93 0.04 10.98 1986-87 26.72 0.18 26.90 1987-88 17.45 0.08 17.53 —————————————————————————————— 7 —————————————————————————————— Year Kharif Rabi Total —————————————————————————————— 1988-89 44.17 8.69 52.86 1989-90 16.85 0.37 17.22 1990-91 38.19 4.14 42.34 1991-92 50.05 3.24 53.29 1992-93 69.19 12.30 81.49 1993-94 28.47 0.64 29.11

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