Create a difficult situation and do anything to the public. That is the order of the day. The public will be looking for ways to ward off poverty and hunger. The ruling elites can do anything in the corridors of power. In the holy month of Ramazan what the ruling governments have said have had no impact on those that were supposed to implement the executive directions. Pakistan creates its own culture and we think we are the world's cat's whiskers. Macho culture emerges.
Pakistan has no chance in hell and we will keep on having a pathetic existence something that an Oxonian brother brought to my notice way back in the seventies. I was cribbing that the powerful bureaucracy was changing sides so frequently that one was taken by surprise. He replied 'Yes these heroes of yours have feet of clay'. They buckle down under pressure. Till then I had thought of the bureaucracy as 'Thalli ke baigan' rolling according to the tilt of the thalli.
The ministers are busy telling lies on commodity prices. Sugar in the international market is selling short because of glut (landed price at Rs 21 per kilo). If Pakistan does not know how to deal with the farmers then it is hell for leather for the urban consumers. Pakistan has been a very good country for the farmers of the other countries. If the income of the rural areas does not increase by more than the inflation rate you may as well say goodbye to welfare economics. Our markets have never brought the rural population into the economic equation. Any product that comes from Baluchistan (say Garma) is selling here at Rs 80 per kilo and one piece now is about Rs 400 but the edible part is only 10% of that. The middle man has roughed up the farmer on the one hand and has stripped the consumer on the other hand. The arthi is closed shop and one of the worst kinds of self gratifying communities. That is a simple equation which our policy planners do not understand. Powerful people think that they do not need this poor 'Katchra' from the rural areas. Last year's debacle in rice in terms of prices given to the farmers is followed by this year's price debacle in wheat. Why have a price support system when it is impossible to implement. Saddle yourself with the international pricing system but then do not give subsidy to any one - millers or farmers or industrialists or sugar mill owners. The subsidy that Pakistan gives is of another kind and that is for the inefficiency and lack of clarity by the politicians and the bureaucracy. We are dirty breed when it comes to economics of equality and equity.
The result is a blame game. The heatwave death tolls could have been avoided. We are a 'what' and not a 'how' nation. The agriculture world is easier to handle provided there is a will to understand. Three or four old trees can be created by a simple methodology. At one stage in the nineties I was asked by the PM whether that can be done and on my affirmative asked me for the cost. I told the PM that the cost per plant would be about Rs 25 each and they would be planted at a distance of ten to fifteen feet depending on the sun's path through the day. The PM thought that was costly. Imagine the cost today in terms of human life. When we build roads as the N League does then the tree structure on either side has to be such that the concrete does not absorb temperature during the day. In other words the canopy of the trees would be responsible for shading the roads. See the wisdom of the colonial masters. They planted peaple trees on either side of the Mall Road at Lahore. The canopy covers the road from Globe Cinema to Regal Chowk. The goras had it differently. In the GOR-1 the trees are so placed that the sun's rays do not hit the roof of the houses (80% of the heat comes from the roof) or if they do it should be for the minimum time. The result the temperature of GOR-1 is less by eight degrees from the rest of Lahore. The unfortunate form is that the other GORs have not learnt their lessons. We are so bright that we do not perceive and we do not imbibe.
I know the financial policymakers rather well. I know Ishaq Dar but I do not know the FM, so also some of the other ministers. Their persons are excellent but when a designation is added on they change their entire stance and become unavailable. Does the mere adding of the title make for such a change? The recent warning of Advani to Modi should be setting the tone in Pakistan as well. But haters will tell me that is Hindu talk, that is enemy talk.
How will the economy grow if the deal is not a fair one? Can we honestly say that when an opportunity arises everyone has a fair chance to get into the act? Think yourself. Matters are becoming worse by the day. The poor are supposed to chew the red Bus service. How then are priorities to be set. When Montek Singh Ahluwalia was Deputy Chairman of the planning commission in India there were no politician who could influence him. His wife Ishwar (Lahori girl) was equally competent was handling the industrial sector. Sartaj Aziz would know as he was chair of the seminar. What have we here? No academics and no pragmatism just a lot of hot air. Trumpeters all. The world belongs to the courageous and not to people who look over their shoulders and seek guidance because they suffer from inferiority complex. So the rules are simple - make your own mistakes and seek the most courageous to take on the most challenging sectors.
If the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission knows his job the work is easy. One of the best has been Asif Ahmed Ali [another Oxonian!!] and his manner of work was excellent. Is there a dearth of such people in Pakistan? Yes there is. What can be done to do away with the fear syndrome? Do the exact opposite of what is being done in the Punjab by the current government. At the end of the day there cannot be a personality cult running this country. Policymakers and beneficiaries may not like it but then they do not matter. No one matters except the public of Pakistan.
The more important from this is the poor lot. This country would be overrun by the poor. I did a mimeo for the President on Beggary at the behest of General Jillani the governor of Punjab. Unfortunately, the solutions could not be implemented because they had such limited time.
The economic practices in this country are subjected to the whims of the power structure, but here is a value system and with all caveats that you can add to it. The Musharraf Government was better than the present one and Benazir's government was better than Musharraf's. That is how the cookie crumbles. The bricks are coming off one by one. Watch out.
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