Thursday, August 2, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Road to success, high hopes but very hostile environment
FOR all that criticising `the system` seems to be Pakistanis` favourite hobby, matters have not reached such a pass that people have entirely lost hope at least so it would appear from a poll conducted recently by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre. Paradoxical as it sounds, the poll found that 81 per cent of over a thousand adult respondents in this country believe that hard work receives its due reward and leads to material success. Curiously, of the 21 countries in which the poll was conducted, it was Pakistan where the majority had not become disillusioned about the value of working hard. Less than half of those polled in Japan, for example, recognised a close link between hard work and success.
One of the ways in which the finding about Pakistan can be interpreted, then, is that the outlook may look bleak but the citizenry still has hope.
It could be argued, though, that when all else is lost, people have nothing left to cling to but hope.
The same poll found, for instance, that 76 per cent ofrespondentsbeheve thatthe economy will either stay in its dismal state or worsen during the next 12 months. Indeed, many of the indicators on the ground regarding peoples` welfare and their chances of success are deeply worrying. Take food and nutrition statistics. For years now concerns have been being raised about the very high levels of child malnutrition prevalent in the country. Most recently, at a workshop organised this week in Karachi by the international NGO Save the Children in conjunction with the Sindh Planning and Development Department, participants learned that 44 per cent of children under five in the country are stunted and 32 per cent are underweight.
The problem lies not just in food insecurity but also the quality of nutrition: 39 per cent of children in foodsecure households in Sindh were found to be stunted.
Quite apart from the implication this has for the overall loss to the country`s economy, it paints a distressing picture of the next generation`s chances of success. Hard work is all very well, but its benefits are offset by a hostile environment.
One of the ways in which the finding about Pakistan can be interpreted, then, is that the outlook may look bleak but the citizenry still has hope.
It could be argued, though, that when all else is lost, people have nothing left to cling to but hope.
The same poll found, for instance, that 76 per cent ofrespondentsbeheve thatthe economy will either stay in its dismal state or worsen during the next 12 months. Indeed, many of the indicators on the ground regarding peoples` welfare and their chances of success are deeply worrying. Take food and nutrition statistics. For years now concerns have been being raised about the very high levels of child malnutrition prevalent in the country. Most recently, at a workshop organised this week in Karachi by the international NGO Save the Children in conjunction with the Sindh Planning and Development Department, participants learned that 44 per cent of children under five in the country are stunted and 32 per cent are underweight.
The problem lies not just in food insecurity but also the quality of nutrition: 39 per cent of children in foodsecure households in Sindh were found to be stunted.
Quite apart from the implication this has for the overall loss to the country`s economy, it paints a distressing picture of the next generation`s chances of success. Hard work is all very well, but its benefits are offset by a hostile environment.
power politics
THIS time it wasn`t just the opposition and its protesters in the streets. The government`s allies spoke out in a chorus against power cuts on Monday, with PML-Q lawmakers handing in resignations, the ANP encouraging protesters, threatening to join them and walking out of the Senate, and the MQM speaking out against the government in the upper house. The power problem has come down to its simplest political realities: politicians have to respond when their constituencies suffer loadshedding for up to 18 hours a day, especially in Ramazan. And they have to respond particularly loudly just months before a general election.
At that point, when a governance problem threatens to become a serious political liability, coalition politics, mutual understandings and deals fall by the wayside. This week`s reactions to electricity shortages showed how, despite its savvy politicking, the ruling party`s neglect of the power problem has become a real vulnerability.
And the storm that damaged plants in Muzaffargarh and worsened power shortages showed how vulnerable Pakistan`s power system remains to shocks.
Occasional blackouts driven by unforeseen circumstances are possible anywhere in the world; the one in India this week has affected 600 million people. But here unexpected events become tipping points that dramatically worsen an ongoing problem stemming from fundamental weaknesses in thepower generation and distribution systems. Nor does the government`s response match the scale and urgency of the crisis. Apparently the ministries of water and power, petroleum, and finance cannot agree on the causes and solutions of the problem. The president and prime minister continue to hold meetings on the issue that at least so far appear to be little more than exercises designed to create the impression that the problem is being taken seriously. Meanwhile, the president`s public remarks on Sunday downplayed the problem and his suggestion that the government is satisfied with its performance appeared either obstinate or stunningly out of touch.
Overall, the most the government has done is address to a limited extent power shortages when they spiral out of control. There appears to be no long-term planning or structural improvement to speak of.
The other increasingly obvious aspect of the problem is its province-versuscentre dynamic. Punjab has long claimed it is being discriminated against in power distribution, but now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where an ally is in power, is claiming the same. Somehow a distribution that is more acceptable to these provinces will have to be worked out. Without that, if this week`s protests are anything to go by, the power problem threatens to become an increasingly serious liability for the PPP as it heads into the polls.
At that point, when a governance problem threatens to become a serious political liability, coalition politics, mutual understandings and deals fall by the wayside. This week`s reactions to electricity shortages showed how, despite its savvy politicking, the ruling party`s neglect of the power problem has become a real vulnerability.
And the storm that damaged plants in Muzaffargarh and worsened power shortages showed how vulnerable Pakistan`s power system remains to shocks.
Occasional blackouts driven by unforeseen circumstances are possible anywhere in the world; the one in India this week has affected 600 million people. But here unexpected events become tipping points that dramatically worsen an ongoing problem stemming from fundamental weaknesses in thepower generation and distribution systems. Nor does the government`s response match the scale and urgency of the crisis. Apparently the ministries of water and power, petroleum, and finance cannot agree on the causes and solutions of the problem. The president and prime minister continue to hold meetings on the issue that at least so far appear to be little more than exercises designed to create the impression that the problem is being taken seriously. Meanwhile, the president`s public remarks on Sunday downplayed the problem and his suggestion that the government is satisfied with its performance appeared either obstinate or stunningly out of touch.
Overall, the most the government has done is address to a limited extent power shortages when they spiral out of control. There appears to be no long-term planning or structural improvement to speak of.
The other increasingly obvious aspect of the problem is its province-versuscentre dynamic. Punjab has long claimed it is being discriminated against in power distribution, but now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where an ally is in power, is claiming the same. Somehow a distribution that is more acceptable to these provinces will have to be worked out. Without that, if this week`s protests are anything to go by, the power problem threatens to become an increasingly serious liability for the PPP as it heads into the polls.
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