Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan - Planning Commission

International conference on “Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan”DiscussionDiscussant: Ali Arshad HakeemChairman NADRAI am thankful to the Deputy ChairmanPlanning Commission for inviting me here.Core job of NADRA is to register NationalIdentity Cards. Our banking sector is nowconnected through ATM cards and onlinetransaction has become possible due totechnology. We were also able to use ourdatabase to make arrangements to makepayments to 1.7 million flood affectedpeople through cards. To make payments tosuch a large number was not possiblewithout having databases and technology.What we learnt from different programs isthat we can innovate to provide specificservices to people. We also have a challengein taxation. We are working with CBR andtrying to look at the patterns that how ourdatabases can be used to identify peoplepaying more taxes or the people who are notthere in the system.Pakistan is a large country with a biginternal economy. We need to be morecreative while looking at this economy.Percentage of educated persons is less butthe number is huge. We have good telecomconnectivity, a high growing banking sectorand a larger market size. What we need is tobe creative, see at positive side andinnovating new products.***Discussant: Dr. Sohail NaqviExecutive Director, Higher Education Commission of PakistanI would like to focus on three things i.e.institutions, implementation and applicationof idea. Universities are there to serve asengines of growth for the socio-economicdevelopment of Pakistan. Universities are tobe considered as one of the owners of thisidea of human capital development,innovation, and productivity. Universitiesneed to build economy, leadership andentrepreneurship across Pakistan.Curriculum reform is also important foreducation. It is important to know that howwe teach and what is the creative spirit ofindividual to do that. Third step isapplication of the ideas like building a newaircraft, a wind mill etc. Next step is tomove from technological domain to businessdomain where academia-private partnershipcan be focused. Ownership is very importantin all above domains. Community andindustry needs also need to be looked atwhile developing curriculum. Innovationand research based education is one the partto be looked at. We need to introduceapplication oriented programs based onspecific needs. For example subjects likeMathematics, Statistics, Economics orBotany are excellent to teach. But tointroduce such courses in an area likeChaman (in Baluchistan) may not be muchuseful based on geographical and industryrequirements. We need to look that whatkind of programs to be introduced based onspecific requirement for each ofgeographical area and institutions.63