It is unfortunate to see that the government of Pakistan has been primarily focused on implementing the reforms and solutions that provide temporary solutions to the national economic issues. Somehow, the government is not able to devise better economic strategies that may ensure permanent solutions for major economic issues.
As there is a need to reduce the ‘cost of agricultural production’ in the country, the government merely offered a subsidy on fertiliser prices. This is not a long-term solution for the farmers. Experts have repeatedly advised that: Reducing the high-taxes and ‘GIDC’ (Gas Infrastructure Development Cess) on fertiliser industry will bring down the costs of fertiliser-production in the country and help in permanently lowering the cost of cultivation too. Therefore, the authorities must also think about providing natural-gas and electricity at cheaper rates for the fertiliser producers. This way, the agricultural sector – which forms the back-bone of Pakistan’s economy, can be strengthened for higher productivity in future.
Similarly, in case of other economic problems too – the government has been opting for temporary solutions, instead of rooting out the primary causes, over the years. For example; while the Pakistani youth is faced with the dilemma of low-quality education, the government should have taken concrete measures to; improve the Syllabus, hire competent faculty and develop skills of the academia at every institution. However, the government has merely launched a scheme to distribute free ‘Laptops’ to a select category of students, thinking that it will solve a major problem like ‘Low standard of Education’.
In Pakistan, millions of qualified graduates continue to suffer due to unemployment, but the only solution the government could come up with, was to launch the ‘Rozgar Cab scheme’. Instead of offering incentives and concessions to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and industrialisation in the country, the government is simply distributing taxi-cabs among the unemployed people. This is not a solution to provide ‘Respectable’ livelihood to qualified graduates. Apparently, the authorities have failed to realise that; they must encourage industrialisation on a large-scale to create millions of sustainable job opportunities. This is the only way that the deprived segments can be included into the mainstream economic activity of the country and their productivity can be optimised.
More resourceful initiatives and long-term solutions will help the government in addressing the economic problems permanently, rather than offering short term solutions. The impact of a sustainable strategy will revolutionise the industrial and academic foundations of the country. It will promise great benefits to the deprived farmer-community, even if there are big political changes taking place in the national leadership.
Ammar Muzaffar
Karachi