The difference between management and the administrative structure is one which Pakistan will have to go to very soon. The alternatives of not doing that will create tensions in the system. Governments cannot be job-providers to the nation and the sooner we realise that the public sector does crowd out the private sector from doing usefully what the governments do atrociously the better we will be. The struggle between the bureaucracy and the political sector needs to be seen in a different manner.
There is a calling for all professions and not necessarily the theological side of a nation. The maulvis have their roles cut out, so have the various groups in a society. The bureaucracy has a mandate just as the politicians have one. The conflict of thought is not there for, if that was the reason then the principle of positive friction would come in to play. Positive friction is likened to a necessary kind and a good example of that is the requirement of a car for friction to move forward. Jung called it 'enantio dromia'. The minute one has no friction between the tires and the road the vehicle goes in to a free fall.
Pakistan has to come to terms with its friction. Unfortunately, the issues confronting the bureaucracy and the governance are one of futuristic nature. There are a number of fallacies that have to be sorted out. First, no one can be right as the matter relates to not the present but the future. Both sides have lost out on what will be the requirement of the future for the population in terms of food security or in terms of nutritional security. How will the growing population have the means to get themselves adequate employment opportunities so that the nation is in harmony and the population does not have to worry about what is going on and why. The recent Balochistan discussion in the American political system is proof enough, if we do not put our own house in order the other nations will jump in.
The PM was at no ends in the National Assembly as having stated that the package for Balochistan has been provided and that the matter will be put to rest so far as rights and obligations are concerned. Once a perception emerges that the rights of a province have not been considered and that feeling goes around then the matter assumes significant social importance. It is, when Balochistan's elected representatives perform then the matter performs better. If they do not perform and they get into the same rut, that was there in the past, then the work is not going to be done. No job is a sinecure job and the days of thinking that one more inefficient and inconsequential worker does not matter (presuming that the appointee is a relative of the political system). The government is no longer a blotting paper that can absorb all kinds of inefficiencies. The blotting paper is saturated and will not take any more of that kind of recruitment. The impact of that on the economy can well be gauged by the price that the economy has to deal with.
The recruitment to positions in government and especially research requires a more systematic, systemic and thoughtful assessment. The qualifications for job are meaningless if the ethics of the appointee are not there. How does one check on something as ethereal as ethics? There are rules of the game and these can be put into place. Those that do not want to play according to the rules have a problem of their own power and ego. I have stated that in the past the research system had had ministers who violated the recruitment procedures and there were people who did not violate these procedures but who were and are being made to suffer the consequence of a rigorous recruitment that was done to meet the ever-growing demands of the system. Here the conflict was between those who entered the service without due process and were the result of perverted policies. Exams were held and the exam papers were destroyed and whatever the minister wanted was done to appease him. In the process those in the research system managed to appoint their own relatives to the jobs. For, out of fifty what does it matter to the political system if a couple of the localised jobs went to the relatives of those that were doing the job. The consequences for the public were that the inefficiency was reflected in the price structure of the commodities (speaking of agriculture). The commodities price structure went into an inflationary spiral; rightly so when we start importing from India because our own system has broken down, even for perishables. Tomatoes, onions and what not are crossing from the Indian border at Wagah.
Why has this happened and why is our nutritional and food security so abysmal? Well, go back to the agricultural research system. NARC has not made any attempt at changing the vegetable seed structure and when this was done the new lot came in after January 2012 threw the system out. The net result is that the vegetable prices have shown unprecedented increase and Pakistan seems to be helping the farmers of India.
Seventy-three hybrids of vegetables were developed by the project on hybrid seeds and these were being tested in NARC. As soon as they could, the system was thrown out and when the devolution part came in the negatives in our system made sure that the project was not approved. The advantage of these hybrid seeds of various vegetables was that the productivity would have increased by 80 to 150%. Ossified thought will not let these things come through. What is the reason? The reason is that the previous recruited individuals are not given to work and do not want to do so. Now, it is learnt that the new recruits that are coming in are even worse than before. I recall the first government under PPP in Punjab where the matter of recruitment came up. Some of the ministers were of the view that this was good chance for getting their third rated relatives into jobs. Skipper Kardar (then a minister) refused to budge from his position that this would be counterproductive. The matter went to the then PM Shaheed ZAB and the position that skipper had taken was accepted. Why can't this be implemented now?
Why does the PM package be short shifted by interested individuals and why can't a policy of meeting the requirements of our times be implemented now? What you do now will be implemented in two years.
There is much that can be done! There is much that has to be done! There is much that has to go through by better utilisation of humans. There is much that can be done for Balochistan. That requires decision that only non-parochial actions will be able to do. The money that is being thrown at individuals in the name of political sagacity will not work. Take it from me, I have seen the debacle of East Pakistan. Money thrown around like this is counterproductive. What is productive is the use of decency and the rights of all. What will the system gain from budget allocations to political electives if the system is in turmoil? Short term is even out for these kinds of things. Need a governance system based on governors and doing away with the current system. There are men enough and to spare of goodwill in Balochistan but these have not been dealt with fairly or even given there due. The old fogies must go. Try replacement on the basis of honest assessment not on connectivity and parochialism. Good men of goodwill are there. Use them usefully. Fools do not deliver. Idiots are worse. The demands of a calling are very strong for the politicians and as much as they are for any one that has a stake in this country. They go beyond the here and now. Failure is not an option.