Basically a budget is a package of economic measures aimed at realising the goals of economic and social development.
But the concept of development has now changed tremendously; gone are the days when development used to be seen in terms of increase in per capita income or growth.
Now, the development is measured in terms of human development in which the social indicators like literacy, health, life expectancy, etc., are used as effective tools.
Amratya Sen, the noble laureate, has gone further and sees development as freedom. And in his model of development, Sen links development with political, social and economic freedoms. Development cannot take place unless the social choices are offered to people to participate in the whole process of developmental activity.
Sen further links development with governance and human rights and these two values can only be realised in democracy because it is the democracy that ensures the protection and realisation of fundamental rights.
While judging the Sindh budget 2009-10 in context of Sen's observations, it is less likely that the provincial government is going to achieve the targets it has set, especially for the rural development. One reason is that it has allocated meagre funds for the social development. For example education has been given around Rs6 billion and health Rs5.23 billion in comparison to Rs24 billion for worsening law and order.
However, the silver line on the dark horizon is that the Sindh government has launched Benazir Bhutto Youth Skill Development Programme for training 41,000 youths who will receive stipend ranging Rs4,000 to Rs7,000 per month.
For micro-financing scheme, Rs2.5 billion has been targeted. This scheme is designed to facilitate self-employment of youth. To empower women, the government plans to distribute around 41,000 acres of farmland.
The schemes sound great on paper but they will not have any tangible impact to change the lives of common people unless implemented transparently. And for that an effective accountable, democratic and judicious governance system is needed.
The question is where the 41,000 trained youths will end up since there is no industry to absorb them, especially, in rural Sindh. Karachi has millions of young men and women looking for proper jobs due to current wave of recession worldwide. The government has announced that it will create jobs, especially in education and police, but these jobs are not given on merit and are available to those who have political connections.
Development cannot be realised through money alone, it has to be coupled with other factors such as political commitment and effective governance. The PPP regime is not so committed as to bring the rural Sindh at par with urban areas. The rural-urban divide, widening, is visible in education, health, infrastructure, industrialisation, etc.
The system of education in Sindh is decaying and recently the education minister has blamed bureaucracy for it. The minister threatened that if teachers were not going to teach, the government schools would be privatised.
With no improvement in governance in Sindh after February 18 election, there is a serious problem of law and order and security. It is severely affecting investment, economy and development. The rural middle class is shrinking and leaving for cities. Rural Sindh is totally bereft of any industry. Occasionally, MNAs and MPAs visit their constituencies where their people ask for jobs and security.
Basically, development is local phenomenon, especially when there is worsening law and order situation. It prevents outside investors to come and invest. There is a need for local investors to come forward and establish agro-based cottage industry to generate employment. The microfinance scheme is good to encourage educated youths to open up small and medium businesses. But they need security of their assets.
The writer is a senior faculty member, SZABIST, Karachi
