The legislature adopted the resolution on the private members' day when the majority of the MPAs from both treasury and opposition benches sought awareness drive also through school curriculum but MMA opposed the very concept aimed to restrict population growth in the country.
MQM's Rana Ansar, who tabled the resolution, stated that awareness through curriculum on the population growth should be one of the steps to help highlight the issue to control rising birth rate in the country. She said that Sindh and Balochistan were the provinces to have established task force, in this connection.
Muhammad Hussain Khan, another MPA from MQM, lamented that Pakistan surpassed India and Bangladesh on population growth. "Karachi has the infrastructure to cater to the needs of about 10 million people while its population has reached 30 million," he said, adding that none of the governments had evinced interest in tackling it.
However, MMA's Syed Abdul Rasheed argued that judicious steps are more important and controlling births is not the solution to the country's overall problems. He urged the government to increase provisions of basic amenities to population instead of moving to control the birth rate.
The legislator from MMA also referred to the population of China and India, saying that those are much larger than that of Pakistan. "The birth control concept is against the rule of Allah," he asserted. PTI's Haleem Adil Shaikh said the early marriages are also one of the issues especially in Tharparkar region of the province, causing problems to children and women health.
He said that better health of children and mothers are linked to a three-year gap in births. Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho told the house that the department is serious in making efforts to create awareness to control births. She said that Sindh needs about 500 more lady health workers.
She said total 1500 medical aides would be hired. She pointed out that the period between births has increased in the province. Some 200 hospitals have been given the family planning status to deal with the issue. The house began its proceedings about two hours behind the schedule that evoked the opposition's protest. The GDA's Nusrat Sehar Abbasi slammed the treasury for not showing up on the time.
She said that the treasury members lacked interest in the proceedings. The house will resume its proceedings on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. It is relevant to add here that every Tuesday is treated as private members day when Sindh Assembly remains in session.