Balochistan's new budget much focused on social sector.

Last week, the Balochistan government announced a Rs419.92 billion budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 with a Rs41.71 billion deficit and with a development outlay of Rs100.57 billion. The provincial government specially focused on social sector in its budget and increased expenditure in multiple social sectors. Allocation for education has been increased by 10 percent, while health budget witnessed a 26 percent increase. Moreover the budget increased expenditure on social protection by 468 percent and on law and order by 11.7 percent. In the budget for FY2019-20, education will receive Rs58.14 billion, health Rs26.04 billion, social protection Rs5.6 billion and law and order improvement will take Rs38.59 billion. The province has decided that health budget will be decentralized from a provincial level to rural health centers. Funds have also been allocated in the budget for the establishment of universities and campuses for the first time.

Balochistan is yet to make significant attainments in the human development index (HDI), which focuses on measurable dimensions of human development such as living a long and healthy life, being educated and having a decent standard of living. Thus, HDI combines measures of life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy, and income. In the rural areas, the health status is relatively poor. Lack or absence of female health staff including female doctors in rural areas worsen the situation. The government should work out a roadmap for development of human resources and social welfare attainment in the province.

Performance improvement in the educational arena can yield great potential returns in terms of development in Balochistan. Overall education levels cannot be improved without making a significant advance in the education of girls in the province. The social divide in enrollment along gender lines should be eliminated. For Balochistan with a closed and backward tribal society, difficult terrain, illiteracy, poor health indicators, ethnic diversity, and poor status of women are the key challenges to human and social development. The experts believe that human development indicators in Balochistan are among the most challenging in South Asia and their improvement will need concerted efforts over the long term. With low participation in general education and low completion rates at primary and secondary levels, the unemployment and underemployment rates in the province are higher than the national rates...