THE word “development” implies a change from existing level to an advance level. This is the sense in which the term development is used to describe the process of economic and social transformation. But if development becomes an objective of policy, the important question arises, development for whom? Not so long ago this concept was considered almost exclusively in terms of growth targets, with very little regard to beneficiaries sharing output.
A concept of development embraces major economic and social objectives and values that a society strives for. This is not easy. It includes three core values life-sustenance, self-esteem and freedom. Pakistan is predominantly an agricultural country and her two-third population resides in rural areas.
According to any definition of growth and development, Pakistan falls among the developing countries in the third cadre. A lot of programmes and different projects have been executed but the result of all these efforts is very much less than the resources utilized. The first programme to uplift the living standards of rural masses was, Village agricultural industrial development programme (V-AID Programme).
In 1959, the system of Basic Democracies was introduced. It was aimed at decentralization of the governmental administration and to widen the scope for people’s participation in development activities. Many other different schemes started under its umbrella like the system of execution of development plans through four tiers: (a) rural works programme, (b) Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP), (c) Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), (d) Comilla experiment. All these programmes could achieve only negligible success for the rural development.
Common causes of failure of these experiments were loose and uncoordinated institutional framework; lack of mutual understanding and collaboration within the nation-building departments and with the departments of rural development; absence of efforts to help evolve rural leadership from the grass roots upward; lack of proper supervision, follow-up, research and evaluation of projects.
Then an Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was built on the model of ‘Shadab’ and launched with the avowed purpose of improving the quality of life and socio-economic status of the rural masses.
In recent years, President General Pervaiz Musharaf had introduced a new concept, ‘devolution of power’, based on three basic principles (a) people-centred development; rights and responsibility and service-oriented government.
A national strategy prepared by the Planning Commission under, the VISIOV-2030, will provide its framework within which, ‘provincial spatial development plans’ ‘district structure plans’, ‘tehsil master plans’, and ‘action plans’ for specific local areas will be prepared to guide the growth of urban and rural settlements under the Local Government Ordinance-2001.
A comprehensive Khush-hal Pakistan Programme (KPP) has been developed as a major initiative to be implemented during medium-term development framework (MTDF) 2005-2010.
It is envisaged that an additional one per cent of GDP will be added to social sector spending by establishing a Khush-hal Pakistan Fund, which will be augmented through grant support from development partners.
Tameer-e-Pakistan Programme launched in 2003 to advance the process of rural development will continue during MTDF.
Drought Emergency Relief Assistance-II (DERA-II) was launched to provide a systematic thrust to rehabilitate the drought prone areas. Through community participation and social mobilization, the NGOs are playing their role in the rural development.
Following are the key recommendations for achieving sustainable agricultural growth, increasing its share in GDP and making Pakistan self-sufficient in food and to uplift the rural masses:
Huge investment is needed in the development of the most neglected source of the economy, human capital; comprehensive land reforms are required; construction of the new dams to meet the ever-increasing demand for water; evolution of an autonomous accountability system for the evaluation of all the development projects.