| October 6, 2003 | Monday | Sha’aban 9, 1424 |
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Keeping them there
Mental illness on the rise
REPORTS that vast areas of Punjab’s cotton land have been severely affected by a pest attack are worrisome, as there are fears that this would reduce yields of the vital crop. The cotton belt in Punjab produces about eight million bales and any effect on its yield is bound to have an impact on the overall cotton crop of the country. There are two factors to blame here. Growers have alleged that irregular supplies of pesticides as well as adulteration and poor quality of these have played a crucial role in the proliferation of pests in the cotton fields. Heavy rains, followed by humid weather conducive for the breeding of the two varieties of pest, the “American sundi” and the “Lashkari” or “Fauji sundi,” created ideal conditions for the pest attacks which could not then be checked because of substandard pesticides. As a result it is now feared that the target of 10.55 million bales of cotton set for this year (2003-04) may not be met. This is bad news for the Pakistan economy as the bulk of the country’s exports come from cotton or cotton-based products. While Pakistan has been consistently producing a good cotton crop over the past few years and hopes to boost production to 15 million bales by 2010, the government has to take serious note of the complaints by cotton growers about problems which are affecting their production figures.
For one, not enough is being done to tackle the shortage of quality pesticides in the market. Also, the government should work harder at preventing the spread of cotton-eating pests so that the extent of the damage is contained. One way to keep things under control would be to discourage the introduction of non-approved seed varieties. Here, note has to be taken of a band of unscrupulous elements (some growers call them the seed mafia) which sell unregistered seed varieties at attractive prices. The temptation for the poor and illiterate farmers is too great to resist. While for some years, these varieties do well, in other times like the present one, the crops are more susceptible to pest attacks. Other steps that need to be taken to prevent a pest epidemic include more support to the farmer in the form of advice and the introduction of new seed varieties that are pest-resistant and also affordable. Given that cotton is Pakistan’s most important cash crop, more needs to be done not only to improve quantity but also its quality. The recent effort to introduce contamination-free cotton is a case in point. While it has received a mixed response from the textile sector, the potential of this cotton is immense if branded properly. On the whole, while the government is on the right track as it has managed to correct some of the major anomalies in the cotton industry, it now has to focus on more detailed issues, which if left unattended can assume more daunting proportions. Meanwhile, those concerned with pest warnings and quality control of pesticides should be checked whether they are keeping growers regularly updated with the latest information.
THE Karachi city government has reported a substantial rise in enrolment in the primary classes of government schools. According to the authorities, the increase is to be attributed to the literacy week drive undertaken in September. This success is to be welcomed because it proves that a little extra effort to motivate parents to send their children to school can produce positive results. It also shows that parents want to educate their children but fail to do so because of lack of information about schools, their inaccessibility, and the failure of the system to make education meaningful and relevant. It seems that some of these constraints were overcome by reaching out to the parents, as the teachers went from door to door and managed to enrol nearly 66,000 children.
It is a pity, though, that female enrolment lagged behind that of boys. Of the total admissions, barely one-third are girls. This points to the fact that the official policy statements notwithstanding, the special effort needed to close the gender gap in education is not forthcoming. Of particular importance is the question of accessibility of schools for girls. Given the high incidence of crime in the city, one can hardly blame parents if they are reluctant to send their daughters to distant schools and expose them to possible harassment and other dangers. The poor ratio of schools for girls compared to boys testifies to the government’s indifference to the gender factor, especially when co-education is not the norm in government schools.
While the authorities are to be commended for the enrolment drive, it would not be out of place to point out some fallacies in their approach. The poor literacy rate in the country and our dismal performance in the education sector underline some basic structural flaws in our approach to primary education. The main question to be faced is as to how many of the 340,000 new entrants for the current academic year in the primary schools of Karachi in the public sector will still be there next year. The fact is that an abnormally high dropout rate is the bane of the education system in Pakistan. It would be a worthwhile exercise to try to ascertain at the end of the school year in May 2004 how many of the children who enrolled actually attended school and were still on the rolls. This is important to determine the drop-out rate and its reasons. Simply launching enrolment drives is not enough. Equally important are measures against a high drop-out rate.
THE abnormally high rise in the number of suicide cases in the country is alarming. In 1996, there were 153 suicides reported. This figure jumped to 3,100 in 2002. According to the World Health Organization, approximately one million people commit suicide across the globe annually, of which 10 per cent of suicides take place in South Asia. A recent seminar on mental health was told that suicide is a complex issue for which no single cause or rationale could be cited. In Pakistan, one of the main reasons for suicides is the despair and depression caused by lack of employment. Statistics indicate that most victims in this category are men under the age of 35. But more worrisome is the revelation that on the whole, most suicide victims in Pakistan are women. While some of these women put an end to their lives on account of domestic disputes, a large portion resorts to suicide because of mental illness.
Mental health in Pakistan is an area that has been long neglected. Experts also say that the social fabric of Pakistani society itself is changing and this cannot be ignored as a factor in the rise of suicide cases. In the past decades, the great cushion against depression was the institution of family support. Owing to a number of reasons, this is not that readily and widely available any longer. In the West, where the lack of family support is more evident, help is at hand in other forms. In the absence of a professionally run system in Pakistan to cope with the demands for this form of specialized care, a number of people fall victim to their own circumstances. More attention obviously needs to be paid to a support system for people suffering from mental or psychological problems.