Shobo NobhoBorsho or Happy New Year as they say here in Bangladesh. Strangely for someone who had never been here before two and a half years ago, it is the third Bengali New Year that I get to spend in Dhaka. The fervor and joy expressed and witnessed in the homes and streets of the country are a strong expression of the enormous nationalism that dominates this wonderful country. I wish a very happy one to all my Bengali friends, brothers and sisters.
All around my home here in Dhaka, there is music and a cultural show has been going on all night. The folk are dressed in colorful clothes, there is dancing in the streets and children, adults, workers, the middle class, the elite are one in celebration. A wonderful occasion indeed, as are all celebrations here, of every religion. It takes one to the past in Pakistan when we too celebrated with fervor without being held hostage to marauding terrorists.
Bangladesh, like all developing countries, has the usual issues related to development. Power, roads, ports etc. all need attention; at the same time there is economic buoyancy in with a commendable and sustained growth rate and development of economic ties with neighboring India, China, Japan and others. An unfortunate recent stock market crash led to serious protests. Government stepped in very quickly but considerable damage was done. A committee was formed and the report has been presented to the Finance Minister. It emphasises that major decisions are required to ensure there is no repetition. The market continues to yoyo but appears on the mend.
It is interesting, too, that the finance minister is reviewing taxation proposals submitted by the bureaucracy in context to the success of such proposals in the past. He has publicly expressed skepticism about the success of the wealth tax measure that had performed without results in the past before being removed 30 years ago. He has expressed similar views about property tax recommended to rein in the current property bubble, which has prices at almost New York levels.
The last year in Dhaka, has witnessed interesting legislation and court decisions that will ensure solution to many social and governance problems. These include legislation that restored the countrys status to secular status. Proposed is a system of parliamentary confirmation for appointments to constitutional posts. Similar to systems in the United States and other countries it is a commendable step and one that we, in Pakistan, should be seriously looking at to avoid filling important posts with unsuitable candidates as has been the case in the past.
Seeing how this country of 150 million people is run in a unitary form lends credence to my belief that provinces are a huge hindrance to development in Pakistan. Simply the cost of running literally close to 270 governments at various tiers is bludgeoning growth through paucity of funds and serious corruption issues which lead to further depletion. Being bogged down in ridiculous exercises like the NFC award, water sharing issues and poor planning of development activities due to political considerations has dealt a disastrous blow to Pakistans economy. The critical issue of building dams has been delayed by almost a quarter of a century due to the need to submit to political polarization in certain provinces.
The dire need to think Pakistan has never been more necessary than now as we enter a crucial stage in our development. The need is to define areas for development based on natural endowments and economic necessity rather than political considerations. Creating expensive unnatural projects in areas where they are purely cosmetic has been the undoing of our development programs. This must stop if growth is to expand. Fiscal equalisation is required based on development on the natural resources of areas to bring all regions to a benchmarked growth level providing equality to all regions rather than the development of urban centers that devour rural opportunities.
What we have is development that excludes the rural areas and brings the entire population running to these urban centers for employment. There is little or nothing for them within the accessible zone of their homes. The only major industry running successfully in rural areas is that of sugar mills, and perhaps some smaller rice and flourmills and ginning factories. Infrastructure, to operate these assets at optimum efficiency, requires a complete overhaul. Road networks, for one, are completely insufficient. Effluent disposal, power, water are all issues. In Africa, Thailand and high growth countries, cane is moved in containers on flatbeds. There is no road in rural Pakistan that can accommodate these.
This is the tip of the iceberg. The greatest impact of doing away with the provinces will be the growth of nationalism, which has been sorely absent of late. And this to me has never been more evident than while interacting with a country where nationalism is literally the core of its existence. Perhaps we too can learn lessons, drive out terrorism, build a national growth policy and let politics follow the diktats of the nation and people and not vice versa.
The writer can be contacted at imranmhusain@me.com