May 26; PILDAT, with the support of the Australian High commission’s Direct Aid Programme, organized a virtual seminar session on Comparing Evolution of Federalism in Pakistan & Australia with academia of leading universities across Pakistan.

Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT, presented key takeaways from the background paper written by Mr. Sartaj Aziz, public intellectual, former National Security Advisor and Former Federal Minister for Finance, Foreign Affairs and a Development Economist. Mr. Sartaj Aziz could not attend the session. In is recommendations, Mr. Sartaj Aziz believes that the call for revisiting 18^th Amendment should be discouraged. Instead, capacity of the Provincial governments needs to be enhanced to deal with the devolved subjects of Education and Health. Duplication of efforts should be avoided between Federal and Provincial Governments in areas such as Health, Agriculture and Population Planning. Role of Federal Government should be increased in social protection, poverty reduction, higher education and health insurance by better utilisation of the CCI. In Water and Higher Education, mechanism of matching grants can be used by Federal Government to achieve accelerated progress. Federal Government must show leadership by evolving through consensus & approval of CCI a model Local Government law which should also set time limit of holding LG elections and efforts should be made to increase the federal tax revenues to 15% of the GDP.

Speaking on the Evolution of Fiscal Federalism in Australia Dr. Moeen Cheema, Associate Professor at the College of Law, Australian National University (ANU), briefly shared the history of federalism and constitutional formation in Australia. He said fiscal federalism is key to robust federalism. However, Australia is somewhat anomalous amongst developed democracies as its constitutional system has deeply entrenched federalism but has at the same time evolved a vertical fiscal imbalance that leads to comparatively much greater centralization of power and policymaking in the federal government or Commonwealth of Australia. As a developed economy, however, and the over-sized revenue generating capacity of the federal government, the fiscal imbalance is cushioned through Commonwealth’s generous unconditional and conditional grants to Australian States. Evolution of mechanisms of coordination between the Commonwealth and States through policymaking is also entrenched in practice that takes care of the centralization of power.

Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director PILDAT welcomed the participants and provided a background for the discussion session in addition to moderating the session.

Participants joining the virtual seminar included Prof. Dr. Amanullah, Dean Law College, University of Punjab, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Irum Khalid, HOD- Department of Political Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Dr. Rehana Hashmi, Professor-Department of Political Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Dr. Gulshan Majeed, Associate Professor- Department of Political Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Dr. Dayyab Gillani, Associate Professor- Department of Political Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Mr. Shareh Qazi, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ali, Associate Professor, University of Karachi, Mr. Salman Alvi, Research Associate- Department of Political Sciences, University of Karachi, Mr. Iqbal Khan, Research Associate, Department of Political Sciences, University of Karachi, Dr. Asif Khuhro, Research Associate- Department of Political Sciences, University of Karachi, Ms. Wafa Azeem, PHD Scholar-Political Sciences Department, University of Karachi, Prof. Dr. Shaista Tabassum, Faulty of Social Sciences, University of Karachi, Prof. Dr. Khushboo Ejaz, Assistant Professor- Department of Political Sciences, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Ms. Zoya Shaffy, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Ms. Dur e Shahwar, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Abdul Wadood, Chairperson- Department of International Relations, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta, Mr. Asif Khan, Lecturer-Political Sciences Department, BUITEMS, Quetta, Mr. Sartaj Khan, Lecturer-Political Sciences Department, BUITEMS, Quetta, Ms. Sehr Amjad, Research Associate- Political Sciences Department, BUITEMS, Quetta, Ms. Walwala Bashir, Research Associate- Political Sciences Department, BUITEMS, Quetta, Dr. Imran Ashraf, Assistant Professor- Department of Political Sciences, National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Ms. Salma Niazi, Assistant Professor-Department of Pakistan Studies, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Dr. Noor ul Hassan Hashmi, Assistant Professor-Department of Humanities, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Dr. Habib ur Rehman, Assistant Professor-Department of Humanities, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Ms. Sadia Falki, MS/PHD Coordinator/Lecturer-Department of Political Sciences, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Ms. Sara Ahmed, PHD Scholar, Department of Political Sciences, LCWU, Ms. Saba Lodhi, PHD Scholar, Department of Political Sciences, LCWU, Ms. Zaib un Nisa, PHD Scholar, Department of Political Sciences, LCWU, Mr. Shaukat Tareen, Lecturer-Department of Political Sciences, University of Balochistan, Ms. Farhana Umar, Lecturer-Department of Political Sciences, University of Balochistan, Ms. Husan Ara,  Lecturer-Department of Political Sciences, University of Balochistan, Dr. Alamzeb Khan, Assistant Professor-School of Law, Quaid e Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Dr. Rukhsana, Lecturer- School of Law, Quaid e Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Prof Dr. Arshad Nawaz Khan, Assistant Professor-School of Law, Quaid e Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Prof Dr. Aziz ur Rehman, Dean-School of Law, Quaid e Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Dr. Amir ullah Khan, Assistant Professor-Department of Political Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Dr. Shabana Noreen, Assistant Professor-Department of Political Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Mr. Nasir Khan, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Ms. Tabassum Majeed, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Mr. Tehsin ullah Khan, Lecturer- Department of Political Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Prof. Dr. Adam Saud, Dean-Faculty of Social Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Dr. Irfan Qaisrani, Assistant Professor-Department of International Relations, Bahria University, Islamabad, Dr. A Z Hilali, HOD-Department of Governance, Politics and Public Policy, University of Peshawar and Mr. Ahmed Hassan, Lecturer-Department of International Relations, Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi.

Screen Shots of the Consultative Session: