Our country’s budget is often presented in hot weather conditions. With temperatures rising above 40 degrees Centigrade, political temperatures are soaring even higher. Conflicts, price hikes and lawlessness have put the public heat on the state. As the prime minister claimed that very soon the per capita income in Pakistan will rise to $800, it has become apparent that such claims may be a mere statistical juggling than actual improvement in the life of the ordinary Pakistani.
This year has so far been a remarkable one as far as record-breaking sprees in the country are concerned. The price of sugar has almost doubled, the price of cement has registered new heights and the prices of petrol and diesel have broken all records. Unfortunately, either the government is itself living in a fool’s paradise or is bent on making a fool of the public. Whatever may be the case, the life of an ordinary citizen has become marginal and dismal.
Here, the comparison between where the world is heading and where an average Pakistani is moving is inevitable. While looking at pictures of survivors of the 1906 earthquake that hit the US one felt that being a hundred years old was not a fairy story any longer. Most of the survivors were hundred plus and looked as if they had still some years to live; and that seems to be the trend in most countries of the world — people tend to live longer and better with the passage of time. However, looking at the recent statistics on life expectancy in Pakistan it seems that we are sadly out of tune as far as socio-economic trends go with the rest of the world. According to a recent report published by the Pakistan Medical Association, life expectancy among Pakistanis have fallen from 63 years to 60 years; perhaps the only country which has the distinction of reducing life expectancy in this era.
Back to basics: Water, power, education and health are the basic facilities an ordinary citizen demands of the state. The quality and accessibility of these facilities to the ordinary man determine the country’s ability to progress from a submerged economy to an emerging one. Going by government claims and official statistics, it seems that there has been rapid progress on all these counts. However, reality shows a different picture. The water situation in the country is grave as Pakistan which was a water stress country has become a water scarce country surpassing Ethiopia. Water has become a huge issue in the country as provincial conflicts over water rights for agricultural uses and the poor quality of water for household use have put the progress and health of the nation at risk. The government’s response to this disaster is that by 2007 everybody is going to have access to clean drinking water. How that is possible given the deteriorating stage of water delivery services is an enigma which will be difficult to solve. The long-term solution to this problem is quoted as construction of five dams by 2015 including the Kalabagh Dam. The huge cost of building these dams and the socio-economic impact has not been given too much importance and active loan seeking activities have started to obtain these loans. The Bhasha Dam, which was reported to have a construction cost of $6 billion, has now been reported as having a cost of $12 billion. This escalation of cost is also being given as a reason to expedite the construction of these dams.
Quantity vs quality: Coming up with infrastructure projects has always been considered the solution to all the country’s problems. Whenever there is a socio-economic issue, announce another mega project. Take the example of education. The government has just announced the setting up of nine engineering universities in Pakistan. It is indeed a good step; but is it the solution to all our literacy problems? The real issue is the quality of education imparted by the existing and new places of learning. Time and again it has been proved that the quality of education at all levels, starting from the primary to the top, has deteriorated. The education-for-all government programme has again been acclaimed as a huge success in numbers by quoting an increase in the number of schools available, higher school enrolments and a greater number of university applicants etc., but the standard of education in almost all these institutions is appalling. According to government statistics, the literacy rate in the country has improved to almost 50 per cent. Reality shows different results. Even those who do get access to our public education are just as good as the uneducated.
For most middle pass or matric students it is difficult to write and speak in Urdu decently, leave aside any basic proficiency in English. The reason for it is the terrible instruction system in schools where teachers themselves are not literate and trained enough to impart any knowledge to the poor students. The methodology of teaching is so scary and outdated that they tend to close naturally curious minds of the children to any sort of learning for the rest of their lives. These children then grow up to become intellectual zombies who are bred on the forced diet of guess papers, sifarish and teacher bootlicking to get a degree which on paper makes very good reading but in practice makes them unfit for most practical assignments in life.
To acquire good education at higher levels and bearing in mind the deteriorating standards of public facilities force people to look for private options. Private education in Pakistan has flourished as the demand for education has grown and the gap left by the poor quality of education has created an open field for private schools and colleges to crop up right, left and centre. However, almost all of them are targeting the class which does not represent the majority of the nation, that is, the well-off. The fee structure of most of these institutions automatically eliminates the lower and middle class, thus not serving the purpose of providing quality education to the critical mass who actually contributes to the overall development of a literate society.
Our own education degrees have lost all values locally and thus we are mostly dependent on expensive imported degrees to create proper images in the minds of the market concerned. The devaluation of our local intermediary degrees are not just because foreign brands are more popular but because the local brands are far inferior in the type of syllabi, course contents, methodology of teaching and examination. It is sad that the government has failed to change the system in almost five decades.
If the coming budget and policy implementation related to it do not address the basic problems of the people, then nothing, including the support of the superpower for our rulers, will be able to stop the flood of frustration from inundating the country
The O level and A level degrees at school have now become a necessity and it is very difficult for any student who does not have these degrees to get admission to good colleges and thereafter compete for good grades. Thus the people, disillusioned by local education standards and no visible benefit in terms of better job opportunities, decide to either not pursue studies or become so frustrated at lack of job options after the acquisition of degrees that they become destructive and dysfunctional members of society. The current controversy on cartoons very visibly showed how these youngsters then take every opportunity to vent their frustration in the form of conflict and violence. The increase in crime in every city where young gangs are operating to take away any belongings which are available either in cars stopping at red lights or just breaking into unguarded houses in daylight and looting whatever comes there way, are a clear symptom of a young and aware mind going astray.
The cost of government: While the nation is in a fix, government expenditures are climbing sky high. As if the already bloated ministries were not enough, new ministries have been added to take the total tally to a record 61. In 2004, the prime minister administration had 28 ministers with each ministry supposedly given clear and accountable performance measures to be evaluated every three months. However, the three-fold increase thereafter in the size of the cabinet has nothing to do with the performance of the ministry in achieving national goals, rather it has to do with its ability to make the presidential seat more secure. This is a clear example of putting personal interest over national interest as the justification for this expansion was neither sought nor given. It is just another panic technique to secure support for the coming elections in 2007.
Government expenditure along with defence expenditure is by far the heaviest cost to our taxpayer and both keep on escalating at an alarming rate. It is again rumoured that the defence budget will be increasing by a good 15 per cent in the coming budget. This increase in the wake of the improving Indo-Pak relations is quite confounding, till you explain it as allocation for acting on US commands in the Waziristan area. The price for acting as a US ally is very high and with the passage of time it has become increasingly obvious that despite all our sacrifices, America is still unhappy about Pakistan’s performance and is likely to turn the other way any time.
Conclusion: While the whole world is reaping benefits of the post-9/11 economic recovery and has its eyes on Asia, especially South Asia, as the region to benefit most from this recovery, the Pakistan government is busy trying to legitimise its position to focus on capturing the economic opportunities that are lying in abundance in the global marketplace. Taking advantage of the political preoccupation of the Pakistani government the Indians, Sri Lankans and even the Bangladeshis have lapped up not only new opportunities but have made inroads into the industries which were traditionally Pakistan’s forte. The textile industry, especially the value added industry, was not prepared for the post-WTO era and has been badly suffering from an onslaught by not only Chinese exporters but lesser competitors like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s rice exports in the Middle East have been battered by India’s professional marketing strategies and better customer services. The government has made feeble attempts by trying to restructure the export promotion bureau but so far has failed to break into the iron clad bureaucracy in that department.
Internally, the failure to resolve the sugar crisis and later the cement crisis just goes to show the complete inability of the government to provide basic amenities and facilities to the people.
As the budget time is coming close, loud claims of an increase in education and health budgets have started dominating the media. This is deja vu; but the government must realise that the public has lost its patience with electioneering slogans, and empty words will not pacify them. In their frenzy to please the important MNAs and the menacing super power, leaders of this country are making the classic mistake of undermining the power of a disillusioned and disturbed public. If the coming budget and policy implementation related to it do not address the basic issues of the people of Pakistan, then all the MNAs in the world and all the support of the super power for our rulers will not be able stop the flood of frustration and destruction from inundating the country. It is, therefore, time for the government to re-prioritise and think long-term, as national interest is always the right path to take.
Our country’s budget is often presented in hot weather conditions. With temperatures rising above 40 degrees Centigrade, political temperatures are soaring even higher. Conflicts, price hikes and lawlessness have put the public heat on the state. As the prime minister claimed that very soon the per capita income in Pakistan will rise to $800, it has become apparent that such claims may be a mere statistical juggling than actual improvement in the life of the ordinary Pakistani.
