| January 7, 2003 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 3, 1423 |
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Cost of free education
Chotiyari reservoir concerns
THE Frontier assembly has struck a strange note by demanding, through a series of resolutions, abolition of a number of taxes, including those on residential houses and motor vehicles, and the arms licence fee. In putting forward these as their unanimous demands, the legislators seem wholly unconcerned about the economic priorities and revenue needs of a resource-poor province like the NWFP, just as they are indifferent to the dire implications of the lifting of all restrictions on the sale, purchase and possession of arms for the whole country. The truth is that the NWFP has a narrow tax base and needs large doses of aid and loans, which usually come from the federal government and international lending agencies so that the province can balance the budget and undertake development work. For the current financial year, it has to raise Rs 3.6 billion in taxes. This target is unlikely to be realized if the exchequer is denied taxes on self-occupied houses and motor vehicles and licence fee for guns.
If implemented, the resolutions will make it extremely difficult for the provincial government to get further loans and aid from the international agencies. The World Bank, for instance, has released a $90 million tranche to the NWFP government out of its structural adjustment facility. The bank will release two more instalments provided the provincial government conforms to the bank’s terms and conditions. One of the terms for the release of more money is that the provincial government should enlarge its tax base. This is virtually ruled out if the resolutions in question are to be taken seriously and implemented. Most provincial legislators obviously live in self-occupied houses — many in posh localities — and quite a few of them ride in jeeps, luxury cars, Pajeros, and Land Cruisers. The decision, if implemented, will no doubt also give relief to other car-owners and those who own houses, but the end-result will be less money for running the government and doing development work.
Taxes are often abolished or reduced to give incentives to some industries and trades. The aim is that by making profits these sectors will invest more in industry and commerce, give a boost to the economy and create more jobs. However, the abolition of gun licences will in no way achieve any of these objectives. Instead, it will merely deprive the provincial government of a source of income. More important, such a move will encourage the proliferation of guns in a province — and a country — that is already awash with arms of all sorts and a phenomenal increase in crime and violence as a consequence. Until the Afghan war, the gun culture was confined to the tribal areas, where the tribesmen could own arms without any legal restraints. However, once the war began, guns became available in the NWFP’s “settled districts” also. Later, thanks to incompetence and corruption in the law-enforcement agencies, the sale and purchase of guns became a countrywide phenomenon. One would have thought that the NWFP lawmakers would help in controlling the proliferation of arms. Instead, they have opted for a course that would put an end to whatever few restrictions there are on the availability of guns. The move will also serve to strengthen Pakistan’s tax culture in which paying taxes is not considered a citizen’s legal and moral responsibility. The Frontier lawmakers would do well to revise their resolutions in the interest of their voters.
THE Punjab government’s decision to provide free education up to the secondary level to students of government institutions is an encouraging sign that the new provincial administration places a high priority on education. A major initiative in this neglected field has long been overdue. However, one needs to go beyond the populist intentions behind this policy and look at the broader picture, asking how these aims can be realistically achieved. Where, for example, are the funds lost through the abolition of school fees going to come from, specially given that there will be a greater demand for school buildings and infrastructure as a consequence of the new policy? To add to the burden on the exchequer, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Illahi revealed that free textbooks will also be provided to attract new students and to arrest the high dropout rate. Perhaps a wiser course would be to charge a nominal fee from the majority of children and offer freeship or stipends for those unable to pay. Studies have shown that charging a small fee for education raises the self-esteem of children and also makes them realize the value of education. Parents are also more likely to keep a critical eye on school administrations if they pay for the service provided.
The government has decided to take private sector institutions along as part of the policy. Private schools will be encouraged to provide a quota of places for poor children. How far the more prestigious schools, many of which are driven increasingly by the profit motive, will cooperate beyond tokenism remains to be seen. Many of them will probably adopt a patronizing attitude towards students from deprived families. The growing success of private schools suggests that many parents, including relatively poor ones, would rather pay a little extra for their children’s education than send them to government schools where standards are generally low, absenteeism among teachers is high and the infrastructure in a dismal state. The emphasis, therefore, should be on long-term strategies that improve standards in government schools and provide better training to government school teachers, which means considerably increasing the states spending on education.
A DOCUMENTARY film screened recently in Karachi on the under-construction Chotiyari reservoir on the Indus in Sanghar district makes a strong case for paying more serious attention to the repercussions of the project in both human and ecological terms. The project aims at providing irrigation water to some 150,000 acres of land in Sanghar and the adjoining Umerkot district. However, it is said the reservoir will inundate 100 square kilometres of land, comprising around 50 villages, and lead to the displacement of 6,000 people and affect a thriving ecosystem that is host to thousands of migratory birds and other animals. The construction of the reservoir will also destroy the livelihood of local fishermen since their boats and fishing nets will not be suitable for the deeper and larger lake that will be created in the process. In addition, the artificial lake might create additional problems for districts further downstream in the Indus Delta in the form of increased intrusion by seawater.
While development is necessary, it is equally necessary that the concerns of all people affected thereby be taken into account. By most accounts, this has not happened. The villagers have complained that not only is the compensation from the government quite small but that the assistance programme includes many people not directly affected by the reservoir and leaves out many who will be displaced. Allegations that the interests of the poor people are being ignored so that the lands of influential politicians and government officials can be irrigated should also be looked into. If that is the case, then the construction of the reservoir would be like robbing the poor to pay the rich. The matter to be examined in all seriousness is whether the proposed reservoir can be more appropriately relocated in order to avoid the large-scale human displacement and economic dislocation that are involved in the present case.