The plight of the flood affected is no longer news worthy for the front pages of Pakistani newspapers or suitably sensational material for the many talk shows that provide prime time entertainment on our news channels. But it is not as if these people have been rehabilitated and reconstruction has been completed. We know that reconstruction has not even started fully and in many places people are still dependent of relief being provided. Peoples livelihoods need to be restored; some people are still in camps and there are issues of how to settle them and where. Yet, all this is now background to WikiLeaks and Maulana Fazlur Rahmans antics.
There are major issues that need our immediate attention. We, as a nation, need to debate them and formulate an action plan. Left to the government, we know not much will move; at least that much has been learnt from the earthquake reconstruction experience. The state and society need to be brought under pressure to ensure action.
There are approximately 10,000 schools that have been affected by floods. Hundreds of thousands of children are out of schools. Even where people have returned to their homes education has not been resumed for most. A lot of these schools need reconstruction and repairs. In some cases schools have become inaccessible as roads have been washed away. Whatever the reason, we need a strategy on how to rehabilitate and reconstruct schools and what to do with the children in the meantime. Furthermore, there are many children in many areas who have never been to school; we need to think through how we are going to provide for them too. And we cannot wait for 5 years for reconstruction to happen to address the education question.
But education is just one issue that requires urgent attention, deep thinking and thorough strategy making. Some issues just require disbursement of resources to those who need them: this is the case with house rebuilding assistance. People are more than capable of rebuilding their homes, with material that they can procure and with labour that they can muster, both likely at cheaper rates than the government can do. So the government just needs to quickly provide funds to people. Watan Cards can be a way of doing that but that system has run into a lot of problems. The problems with the Watan Card should be sorted out quickly so that it can be used as an effective vehicle.
Other issues are more intractable. A lot of local infrastructure has been destroyed and/or washed away: roads, bridges, public utility buildings, and health centers. There needs to be a plan of action on how these are going to be restored. The new infrastructure should be better than the older one so that we are able to provide better services than before. Past government action does not inspire much confidence in the governments ability, but there are few alternatives to government action where infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction are concerned.
There are many amongst the affectees who were landless tenants, some were caught in webs of legal and illegal loan agreements with landlords, and some were bonded in one way or another. The floods have caused misery but have also broken the bonds that held them. Many of these families do not want to go back. The state needs to step in to help these families settle somewhere and provide them with the basic means to be able to have a life of dignity. A land distribution programme is needed and new settlements in urban areas need to be created. Whatever the solution, these people should not be left unaided.
Physically or mentally challenged, the sick and the feeble, the old and the very young, expecting and lactating mothers, female headed households and people who are from marginalised castes and classes are usually the most difficult to get to in any large distribution system. If distribution is based on queuing, these are the least likely to be able to push their way through, and if distribution is through networks, connections and patron-client relationships, these are the groups that have the fewest connections with the formal systems. The state needs to be very aware of this issue. And given that the state has local presence, up to the union council level at least, it needs to ensure that the marginalised are fully represented in all distributions of benefits.
Livelihood restoration has not even been mentioned. It provides us with the biggest challenge as a nation. But it requires a separate discussion that will be done in a subsequent article.
Millions of people were affected by the floods. Just because the waters are gone does not mean their troubles are over. The need for rehabilitation and reconstruction is massive and requires deep thinking as to how, by whom and in what time frame. If public debate and discussion is a barometer to go by, it seems we have given up on these issues and have decided to let the affectees fight it out for themselves. We need to refocus on the important issues that face us, away from the storms in MQM, PPP, or JUI teacups.
The writer is an Associate Professor of Economics at LUMS (currently on leave) and a Senior Advisor at Open Society Foundation (OSF). He can be reached at [email protected]
