KARACHI: Sindh is home to the biggest army of unemployed men and women in the country. Reasons are not difficult to found. A process of de-industrialisation has set in more than 15 years ago. Almost a 35 per cent cut in share of Sindh's irrigation water supply has been applied since the signing of water accord in 1991. The immigrants flow from Punjab and NWFP show no signs of respite all through these years.
Taj Haider, a former Senator of Pakistan People's Party and a member of Policy Planning Cell is convinced that out of total 8,000 closed industrial units all over the country, a very large number-may be over 5,000-were in Sindh. "How many have lost their jobs from closure of these units is anybody's guess," he remarked.
Persisting drought and a 35 per cent cut in share of irrigation waters in last decade has caused more than Rs365 billion loss in terms of damages to crops and livestocks fatalities that has rendered hundreds of thousands if not millions jobless in the rural areas.
The year 1983 is considered the starting point when the de- industrialisation process was set in pace in Sindh. The then finance minister Ghulam Ishaq Khan imposed an excise duty on ships that were brought to Gadani coast in Balochistan near Karachi for dismantling. Gadani provided cheap billets on which Karachi and Sindh's construction industry thrived and provided jobs to thousands.
This was done to help Ittefaq Foundry gain a foothold in steel market. In 1978, the military dictator late General Ziaul Haq offered nationalised Ittefaq Foundry to Sharifs without inviting any bids. Banks provided generous loans to put House of Ittefaq in order. A rough estimate indicates loss of 35,000 jobs because of the levy of crippling excise duty on ships.
What happened after 1983 is a story. The trend continued and in the year 2002-03 Sindh reported a decline of 2.36 per cent in industrial employment.
Official statistics based on a monthly survey of industrial production and employment in 30 selected large scale industries covering 482 industrial establishments in the province for 90 items show that federal government's crippling taxation policies are responsible to a great extent for a decline in industrial production and unemployment.
The most hard hit industries in 2002-03 were the vegetable ghee and cooking oil. The federal government collects more than Rs20,000 on import of one ton oil by the organized industrial sector. This gives enough room for small operators to buy palm oil from the open market and bring out their products for open sale at very cheap rates. It has resulted in closure of a few vegetable ghee and cooking oil factories.
The official bulletin of the Sindh Bureau of Statistics for the month of June 2003 reports that employment in organized cooking oil units dropped by 8.32 per cent and in vegetable ghee units showed a reduction of 4.65 per cent.
Other sectors that report unemployment are jute textiles, cotton fabrics, tanneries, electric bulbs and cotton ginning and pressing.
The much awaited rains came last summer and recent showers in winter is expected to help in recovery of agriculture in the province. But quite a sizable chunk of population has moved away from their homes to places near canals and in towns and cities. Officials say that the return of people to their original abode and resumption of agricultural activities will take time. It needs bank loans, seeds and implements.
The PPP senator Taj Haider looks rural unemployment from an entirely different angle. He is convinced that once the shelved 1977 land reforms of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto are put into operation there is bound to be a qualitative change in rural scenes. The late Bhutto introduced tax on agricultural income and proposed a maximum ceiling of 100 acres holding of agricultural land in 1977. Soon after coming into power, one of the first acts of Zia-ul-Haq was to put all these reforms in abeyance. In return Zia got support from big land lords.
According to Taj Haider, the 1977 land reforms would help in reclaiming vast tracts of land from the feudals. An attractive package for farmers should look after rural unemployment problem.
For the urban areas too, the PPP proposes a maximum ceiling of 250 square yards on houses and a 60 acre residential plot at nominal cost for every citizen. The PPP leader said that the construction policy of present government will never work because it targets rich and affluent. The construction industry boom will come only if poor people are targeted.
He strongly defends his party's government policy of giving employment to people in public sector industries. "The solution is not laying off the workers or closing down units," he argued and point out that increase in productivity and growth are the real solutions.