| 18 May 2004 | Tuesday | 27 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
NFC award stalemate
Nearly a third of Pakistan's population lives below the poverty line. There are a host of reasons for this. Some of the more obvious factors include the lack of access to income-generating assets, a weak economy unable to generate productive employment opportunities at a pace commensurate with the demands of a growing population, and a poor mix of skills among those seeking work.
Other factors include the inability of small farmers to obtain inputs at market rates or get fair prices for their outputs because of constrained buying power and limited access to markets.
A lack of social networks further limit the opportunities of the poor to improve their economic position; for example, their exploitation by government functionaries when they try to exercise their basic rights (which could be as simple as filing a complaint at a police station).
The limited coverage of the government's delivery system and the poor quality of services it provides (such as education and basic health care) further reinforces poverty, making it even more difficult for the poor to improve their lot. Factors such as the lack of income-generating assets and remunerative jobs are instrumental in holding back the poor from moving out of the poverty net.
This discussion focuses on the dimensions through which poverty is reinforced because of lack of access to quality services. The solution to a lack of employment opportunities does not lie in the state being directly involved in providing jobs through an expansion of its role.
We see the state playing a more critical part in improving the quality of basic services that either perpetuate poverty or make it difficult for the poor to compete with the better off segments of the population.
The focus should be on helping the poor to develop basic skills through the provision of good quality education and by providing adequate health coverage. Since they are priced out of the private market, the poor can only look towards the state for the provision of these basic services.
In addition, the low social indicators, especially for education and health, are also reflective of weaknesses on the demand side, with the poor preferring more targeted transfers like subsidized inputs instead of public services like education.
The government needs to provide, and build on, incentives (such as those for households for sending their children to schools and lower the cost of education through the provision of free textbooks) to encourage parents to enrol and retain their children in schools.
Similarly, awareness campaigns on the importance of seeking prompt medical attention in the event of disease, instead of looking towards spiritual healers and quacks, are also required to avoid prolonged illnesses and the consequent drain on the household's resources. However, overcoming this weakness requires consistent efforts over the long run to produce a more educated population.
According to a survey carried out in 2001, the poor are more susceptible to diseases as a result of inadequate nutrition, the unhygienic conditions under which they live and the lack of access to safe drinking water.
The high cost of medical treatment was highlighted as one of the major reasons for the economic deprivation of many households. The survey revealed that the majority of poor households (around 54 per cent) relied on private allopathic medical practitioners, reflecting on the poor quality of services delivered through government-managed medical facilities.
However, since a large number of private medical practitioners in rural areas are not adequately qualified and often lack requisite diagnostic facilities, the poor often suffer from prolonged illnesses that require huge outlays in the form of medical bills.
In many instances, protracted diseases force low-income households to either sell their assets or resort to borrowing money to finance their medical treatment.
Therefore, the government can reduce the expenditure of poor households on health because of illness and poor drinking water facilities by investing in basic public services and through qualitative improvements in the delivery system.
Similarly, greater emphasis on providing a certain minimum standard of basic education services to the poor would equip them with the ability to read and write and carry out simple numeric calculations (for instance, calculating the salary and bonuses due to them), thereby creating better opportunities for themselves.
Ensuring improvements in service delivery requires changes in delivery arrangements and in the public sector institutions mandated to provide them. Corruption and political patronage come in the way of merit-based appointments and of ensuring that service providers (like teachers, doctors and nurses) turn up for duty in remote locations.
They also come in the way of putting in place appropriate arrangements for monitoring the quality of services provided by government functionaries, especially because service providers dominate policy-making and the rules and regulations governing service delivery.
Moreover, even those turning up for duty and who are committed to their work have to operate under difficult circumstances reflected in dilapidated buildings, non-functioning toilets, lack of electricity, delayed salary payments and lack of appropriate complementary non-salary inputs and other resources critical for service delivery.
To satisfactorily address the issue of poverty, given its scale, requires a more efficient and cost-effective use of resources than is the case at present. Worldwide experience suggests that if the choice and participation of service recipients can somehow be ensured in the policy formulation of service delivery and in monitoring oversight and accountability of the service providers, the provision of good quality services to the poor can be improved.
Recognizing the importance of providing good quality social services to the poor to address factors that enhance the magnitude and severity of poverty (huge expenditures incurred on medical treatments and low levels of human capital resulting from poor education), there is a need to bring about improvements in the public social service delivery system.
Reforming the delivery of social services will not only involve significant increases in the allocations for education and health, it will also require a shift towards higher non-salary expenditures to provide essential complementary inputs for services delivered by educational institutions and health outlets.
Moreover, since the presence of staff is critical to ensure a certain minimum standard of services through government service outlets, strengthening the mechanisms to hold service delivery staff accountable for a careless attitude to duty is crucial for maintaining a basic standard of social services.
However, the above discussion raises the question: why the poor do not organize themselves to demand better services rather than subsidized inputs which are inefficient and unsustainable, and why they continue to receive poor services even under representative governments.
The poor delivery of services by democratically elected governments to the less affluent segments of the population cannot be attributed to their lack of participation in the political process, since they tend to vote more than the middle or upper income groups.
The reason may well be the nature of their participation and in the credibility of political promises. Also, in some areas like rural Sindh, southern Punjab and parts of Balochistan and the NWFP, the poor are helpless, being coerced socially and economically by more organized and powerful interest groups (the large land owners) to favour certain groups, even if voting for them is detrimental to their interest.
NFC award stalemate
Commenting on the continuing deadlock on the National Finance Commission award, Kawish writes that following the refusal of provinces to accept 47 per cent of the divisible pool, the federal government is reportedly making preparations for distribution of funds among provinces according to the existing award. Another factor which has prevented provinces from reaching an agreement is Punjab's insistence on resource sharing only on the basis of population factor and other provinces' demand for considering multiple indicators.
The daily says that if the seventh NFC award is not announced before the budget, a sense of deprivation already prevailing among smaller provinces will intensify. It says that denying an equitable distribution of resources in the name of the financial stability of the federation is not a wise approach. Congenial relations between the federation and the federating units are more important for a strong federation than the centre having funds.
The paper writes that a formula for distribution of financial resources should not be imposed on small provinces in an undemocratic way, as has been done in the past.
If the award is not announced now because of the provinces' refusal to accept 47 per cent of the divisible pool, will they agree to it next year and abandon on their demand for 50 per cent share? And the paper further asks, will the seventh award be announced only after the provinces accept what will be unilaterally offered by the centre? It is better to resolve this controversy this year than to let it linger on, Kawish concludes.
Barsat writes that representatives of the government, farmers and traders of Punjab have told the parliamentary committee on the water issue that their first and last priority is the Kalabagh dam and no other dam is acceptable to them. And a representative of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce went as describing the opponents of the Kalabagh dam as enemies of Pakistan.
The paper recalls that the dam had been rejected by the provincial assemblies of Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan. It says that even the federal government has announced that the project would be taken up only if there is a national consensus on it. But the Punjab is adamant on its construction even before the technical committee on the water issue comes up with its report.
Hailing the announcement made by the president about the establishment of an independent national commission on human rights, Tameer-i-Sindh writes that lack of political freedom and increase in violence against women and other weaker segments of society have made the country a target of harsh criticism by the international community.
Some efforts made by the government have failed to reverse the situation. Therefore, the announcement about an autonomous commission on human rights is like a breath of fresh air in a suffocating atmosphere. However, the daily insists that the commission must be independent in the true sense of the word, and free from any kind of government or political interference.
Besides, it adds, there is a need for effective legislation to safeguard rights of the marginalized sections of the society, as pointed out by the president. Ibrat says that last week's incidents of wanton killings in different parts of the country reveal people's helplessness and the administration's failure to protect their lives.