Minister for institutionalization of philanthropy

KARACHI, Nov. 9 (APP): Federal Minister of Planning and
Development, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal on Monday assured that he will lobby
for inclusion of philanthropists in the category of the highest civil
awards being conferred by the President of Pakistan.
“I will recommend to the Government that philanthropists should
also be given the Presidential Civil Awards from the next year,” he
reaffirmed while addressing at the launch of two survey reports on
philanthropy in the country by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) here.
The Minister, on this occasion, also presented corporate
philanthropy awards to top five companies for the year 2013 and 2014.
These awards were given to recognize the highest contribution of the
companies in the philanthropic activities in the country. These
included Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Oil and Gas Development
Company Limited (OGDCL) , Habib Bank Limited (HBL) , Lucky Cement
Limited (LCL) and Engro Corporations.
He appreciated the corporate sector’s contribution towards
philanthropy and expected more companies would come up to fulfill
their corporate social responsibilities (CSRs).
The Federal Minister for Planning and Development emphasized on
institutional framework for harnessing the spirit of philanthropy
being done by individuals at very large scale ; especially in
education and health sectors since the very first day of Pakistan
becoming an independent state. The Government would take all possible
steps in this regard.
Pakistanis have inherited spirit of philanthropy and they do spend
hundreds of billions of rupees every year on philanthropy. Most of
this remains unrecorded.
He noted that corporate sector has two kind of capitals —
financial capital and Management capital. Management capital is needed
for development/upgradation of social sector faculties in the public
sector.
” Corporate sector should also do philanthropy by donating top
managers for improving social sector. We would take advantage of the
great management leaders in private sector ,” he said.
He also acknowledge the leading role of private sector in the
national economy and said it is the private sector that can provide
most of the jobs. The government , however, can provide essential
services and incentives to the private sector for its growth and for
creating maximum jobs there.
He said that most of the public sector organisations/institutions
had lost their capacity over the period of non-democratic rule. He
sought cooperation from the private sector to help build the capacity
of these.
” Please, become the agents of the change,” he requested.
The Minister highlighted the achievements of Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz led by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in social,
economic and diplomatic fronts.
The world now talks about Pakistan as the safe haven for
investment and emerging economy of Asia, he remarked.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said the political stability and continuity of
the policies was imperative for the prosperity and development in the
country.
The present government was seriously and sincerely working on this
agenda.