EDITORIAL: In a very welcome development, the ministry of planning, development and special initiatives has announced a programme to provide “off-grid electrification solutions” to 20 backward districts across the country.
This is an ambitious initiative, no doubt, and one that will test the planning and other ministries to the limit. But it shows proactive thinking and a long lacking desire to move in the right direction, which stands out in the muddle and confusion of the wider economic crisis.
But since the historic inflation and unemployment of the last year has hit backward districts the worst – exactly the ones this programme intends to work on – this “special development initiative for poor districts of Pakistan” can and should help control poverty trends, worsening since Covid, and also cure some of the finance ministry’s most troubling headaches as it prepares for the “upfront conditions” of the next IMF bailout programme.
The project is designed to adopt a “comprehensive approach” that will “integrate intervention across various sectors such as physical and digital connectivity, productive sectors and livelihoods, social development and social protection”. Furthermore, these interventions will “encompass infrastructure development, access to broadband services, value chain enhancement, skill development and education”.
It must be pointed out, though, that impressive as all this is on paper, the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. And success will need sincerity of purpose and a sense of commitment above and beyond the call of duty across sectors and ministries, especially considering this country’s historic trend.
However, there’s no doubt that the planning ministry has been hard at work in the little time it has had since the formation of the new government. It has also, for once, made good use of the otherwise unappreciated and unutilised services of the statistics department and incorporated indicators like the MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index), which has been used for classification and identification of the 20 less-developed districts that will be targeted in the programme.
Such steps are necessary to keep the country’s youth bulge from turning into a demographic disaster. Pakistan is one of the youngest countries in the world, as it is called, because a vast majority of its population is below 35 years of age.
If this demographic is mired in poverty – and a lot of them have fallen back below the poverty line since the pandemic – then all important social and economic indicators will plunge and the country, so close to default, will struggle to grow out of its misery.
But if this bunch is taken care of, and equipped with the training and tools necessary to survive and thrive in the 21st century, then it can turn into a demographic dividend and do wonders for themselves and the country. This is, no doubt, the thinking behind this initiative.
And, considering the state of the country, it’s very important for all political parties to support it at every step. There would be no bigger shame if such pro-people programmes get lost in the noise of dirty, degenerative politics.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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