ISLAMABAD Political, administrative and fiscal centralisation as well as strong waves of terrorism have rendered the state system and its institutions corrupt, inefficient and undemocratic. Qamar Zaman Kaira, Federal Minister for Information, stated this while speaking at a budget seminar, Civil Society Oversight on Budget: Challenges and Opportunities here on Thursday, which was organised by ActionAid Pakistan and Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI). Federal Minister said that Federal Budget 2010-11 reflected an unprecedented transition from over centralised federation to provincial autonomy. He admitted that abundant exemptions and gaps in tax system merely benefited the rich and influential sections of society. Regarding cuts in federal budget for education and health, he said these and many other departments had already been shifted to provinces in lieu with provisions of 18th amendment. Again, he was of the view that federal budget is only one component of economic development and there are many other policies and institutions which invariably add to economic growth of a country. When asked how government intended to meet budget deficit, he replied that government had no other option but to resort to borrowing form International Funding Institutes (IFIs). He said that Value Added Tax (VAT) was meant to document the data and it would provide relief to poor people, but he alleged that vested interests politicised the issue for their personal benefits. At the seminar, civil society presented a charter of demands and recommendations that highlighted gaps and lacunas in budget making and its implementation process. It urged the government to pace up enactment process of Right to Information (RTI) that was introduced through addition of Article 19-A in the constitution. Regarding oversized cabinet, Kaira said that federal government had decided to abolish almost 25 ministries. It was pressing demand from civil society that agriculture tax should be imposed on big landlords, however, Kaira said that after promulgation of 18th amendment, it had become a provincial subject. To ensure public participation in budget making, Federal Minister said that government had decided to present the first draft of next year budget during the month of March so that parliament could benefit from feedback of civil society, general public and media. In the end, Federal Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira responded to various questions raised by participants of the conference. He acknowledged that corruption was rampant in almost all public and private departments but he denied the allegation that it was merely an issue of Pakistan rather it was prevalent all across the globe. He said government was not in favour of allocating funds for Cadet Colleges construction but it could not halt any project in the middle that was the reason for new allocations for such ongoing projects in current budget. He said that government was taking up missing persons issue with keen interest but there were serious lapses and exaggerations in data provided to government and Supreme Court.