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budget Newswatch situation Inflated
expectations issue Drop
by drop, drip by drip
Perception
and reality
They say when one has to
tell that love is happening or justice is being done then there must be
something wrong. Everyone automatically finds out when there is love and
justice. I would add prosperity and development to this list. My submission
is that when governments have to repeatedly June is usually the month
when our rulers, during the launch of Economic Survey of Pakistan, and
presentation of annual budget, inform us how sincere they are with their
citizens. Since the launch of Economic Survey of Pakistan, government
spokespersons are busy painting a rosy picture of robust economic growth,
claiming that Pakistan is one of the fastest growing economies of the Asian
region with 7 per cent GDP growth, with per capita income of $925, foreign
investment of $6 billion and a recipient of $5.5 billion in the form of
workers remittance. The economic managers have
all rights to celebrate the above mentioned macro-economic achievements.
However, they should not forget that economic survey also revealed that all
was not well at economic front and the country would miss the export, import,
trade deficit, current account deficit, and large scale manufacturing targets
by the end of the current fiscal year. The survey also revealed that
contingent liabilities cost (specific government obligations defined by a
contract or a law), internal and external debts, and spending on defence as
well as on debt repayment go up. To me the most alarming
aspects of our economic performance are missed inflation target and In my personal opinion, the
intensity of food inflation would be much severe for low-income and bottom
quintiles of the society. What should the general masses eat if the
commodities like pulses, rice, chillies, onions, tomatoes and edible oil go
beyond their economic access? With this type of food
inflation do we deserve to celebrate the 5.0 per cent growth in agriculture
sector? Highest wheat crop and second highest sugarcane crop would turn
meaningless if these bumper yields fail to bring any improvement in the life
of their growers. Perhaps it is more to do with the lack of planning than
irony of luck that despite promising performance in agriculture sector and
despite the fact the Pakistan is a member of Cairns group (food exporting
countries) in WTO, our food imports grew by 5.3 per cent and touched a
historic figure of $2.3 billions during first ten months of the current
fiscal year. Major contributors to the rise in food imports include pulses,
milk and milk products, dry fruits, and edible oil. Government tries to defend
her position by pointing out that higher food inflation is a global
phenomenon and the global food price index is up by 16.1 per cent. This may
be true to some extent, but merits a detailed analysis. Government duties on
edible oil are major source of revenue generation. Pakistan imported edible
oil worth $763 million during first ten moths of this fiscal year (spent 24
per cent higher than previous year in this regard). Government levies 23
rupees per litre duty on edible oil. Is this duty not contributing to
increased food inflation? Now let us consider the
imports of milk and milk-products. Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of
milk and second largest producer of buffalo milk in the world. Despite this
massive production, is it not a dilemma that value of milk and milk-products
imports in current year saw a change of 36.9 per cent compared to previous
year? As a measure to combat food
inflation, government has announced supply of essential food items through
Utility Stores. This is an ad hoc solution that would lead to market
distortions as well as social problems. General masses have not forgotten the
agony when they had to queue up at Utility Stores for hours to obtain
subsidised sugar in recent past. The cases being investigated by National
Accountability Bureau against Utility Stores corporation high-ups reveal that
such subsidy lead to corruption. Government should try to check the hoarding
of food items to bring down the food prices at a reasonable level. In the
case of edible oil, the better option would be to reduce the duties to the
extent to an amount that government wants to spend in the form of subsidy
through utility stores. This would automatically lower down the price of
edible oil and ensure its supply to each and all at a reduced price. Coming back to the economic
performance and government's claim of bringing prosperity, let us ponder how
to define the type of development that widens the rich-poor gulf. According
to the economic survey the share of consumption of the richest 20 per cent is
far more than four times the share of the bottom 20 per cent population in
the country. The poverty line set by the government is Rs 878.64 per month
with caloric intake of 2350. The government claims nearly 10 per cent
reduction in number of people living below poverty line during last 5 years.
This claim is disputed by many non-governmental sources including
international financial institutes. However, going by government figures, it
is still sad that nearly a quarter of our population lives below a poverty
line of 48 cent per day. One way of bridging the gulf between rich and poor
is to use taxation system effectively. However, the three lucrative economic
activities i.e., gain in real estate, gain in stock exchange markets, and
agricultural income was not brought in tax net, thus leaving the salaried
class and to some extent corporate sector to be the major tax payers.
There is no doubt that
Pakistan's economy is growing at an average rate of 7.5 per cent during last
four years. However, one needs to recognise that macro-economic indicators do
not reflect the micro realities at grassroots level. It should also be
recognised that strategy for economic growth and the same for distribution of
gains of economic growth are two distinct things. For economic growth to be
pro-poor, generation of employment opportunities and an increase in real
wages is a must. This is certainly not the case in Pakistan. In 2000-01, GDP
grew by 2 per cent and unemployment rate (official statistics, independent
sources claim that it was even higher) was 7.8 per cent. In 2003-04, GDP grew
by 7.5 per cent but unemployment rate was 8.3 per cent. In 2004-05, GDP grew
by 9 per cent, however, unemployment rate remained almost constant i.e., 7.7
percent. In these circumstances, where GDP growth does not seem to have a
correlation with employment generation, there may be instances where labour
force is compelled to work on lower salaries due to scarcity of jobs. Economic growth, without
social justice is meaningless and certainly not a sufficient binding force to
keep the society and nation intact. During the 1960s, Pakistan had an
impressive growth rate. On an average it was 6.8 per cent from 1963-68. Just
before 1971, Pakistan had observed a marvellous economic growth rate nearly
9.6 per cent. However, due to lack of social justice, this growth alone could
not stop partition of East Pakistan. Unfortunately we are not
learning any lessons from our mistakes. One may observe infrastructure
development activities, but those are confined to elite areas of major
cities. These developmental disparities are giving rise to social injustice,
a major cause of social unrest. It is more than a coincidence that according
to a World Food Programme-SDPI report, the areas termed as 'axis of evil' in
Pakistan such as Dera Bugti, South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Hungo, Bolan,
Kharan are among the most deprived and food insecure districts of Pakistan. Things become even worse
when people find obvious disparities between developmental and
non-developmental budget, especially the disparities between the allocation
of resources for defence purposes and those for public sector development
including health and education. Situation gets worst when masses find out
that mere allocation for developmental expenditures do not mean anything and
one third of allocated funds for public sector development programme remained
unspent whereas there was an overexpenditure on defence. Along with these statistics
and facts are issues like bad governance, judicial and democratic crises, and
non-consultative, non transparent policies that widen the gap between
micro-realities and macro-indicators. This leads to a situation where masses
don't feel any ownership in the so-called 'development plans' of the
government, leaving government in a situation where it keeps claiming and
reminding that its policies are bringing prosperity and pro-people
development in the country. The
writer is an Islamabad based policy analyst and columnist. Email suleri@sdpi.org
The vast
majority of politicians have never regarded politics as the arena of morals.
To them, it is the arena of interests. American
consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who ran for president of the United States in
2004 on a Green Party ticket, once said, "What we have now is democracy
without citizens. No one is on the public's side! And the bureaucrats in the
administration don't think the government belongs to the people." What all
this translates into is not Lincoln's famous dictum about government by the
people, of the people, for the people, but government by the government, of
the government, for the government. Jerry
Brown, governor of California in the mid-1970s, and a man much given to
fuzzy, New Age-philosophy pronouncements, said, on his entry into the US
presidential race in 1976, "A little vagueness goes a long way in
politics." Nowhere
are prejudices more mistaken for truth, passion for reason, and invective for
documentation than in politics. Politics is a realm peopled only by villains
or heroes. In politics everything is black or white and grey is a forbidden
colour. Like history, politics often tends towards farce. Winston
Churchill, who knew a thing or two about politics, once remarked,
"Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at
times." Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev said, "Politicians are the same all over. They
promise to build a bridge even where there is no river." Warming to his
theme, he added, "If we should promise people nothing better than only
revolution, they would scratch their heads and say, Isn't it better to have
good goulash?" Mao
Zedong, however, took a somewhat different view when he observed, "A
revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture,
or doing embroidery. It cannot be so refined. A revolution is an
insurrection, by which one class overthrows another." In his
memoirs, Richard Nixon recounts a conversation he had with Mao during his
visit to China in 1972. "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if
it had been Khrushchev who had been assassinated in 1963 instead of John
Kennedy," said Nixon. "Well, one thing's for sure," replied
Mao, "Onassis wouldn't have married Mrs Khrushchev!" American
black radical Elaine Brown said, while commenting on Mao's successful
revolution versus her own problems as a leader in the 1970s of the US Black
Panther Party, "Mao didn't have to deal with people who were watching
seven hours of television every day." Then,
there is Aslam Khusra, a eunuch from Abbottabad, who worked as a waiter in a
ramshackle restaurant. Emboldened by the enthusiastic reception he got from
people when he announced his candidacy for a NWFP provincial assembly seat in
Pakistan's 1993 general elections, Khusra declared, in ringing tones, that he
intended to run for prime minister next time. "You've tried a woman,
you've tried a man, now try me," he thundered. His
words must have evoked a sympathetic chord in his audience because he ended
up getting 6,500 votes -- considerably more than the number some so-called
established politicians got. In his
'Notebooks' (published in 1962), the great French writer Albert Camus
observed, "Politics and the fate of mankind are shaped by men without
ideals and without greatness. Men who have greatness within them don't go in
for politics." That may
be too harsh a judgment. Politics, for all its faults, has had its great men.
Quaid-e-Azam, for example, was a very great man indeed. He created a new
country. There is probably no one else in history of whom that can be said. Everyone
knows the Quaid was a man of unyielding principles and of the highest
integrity. Less well known is the fact that he had a wonderful sense of
humour. When
Gandhi wrote him a long, rambling letter saying that he was writing to him in
his personal capacity because he (Gandhi) held no official position in the
Indian National Congress, the Quaid wrote back saying, "Mr Gandhi, when
are you going to clothe yourself in authority?" The
Quaid's retort was doubly pungent because Gandhi, by then, had taken to going
around bare-chested, dressed only in a dhoti. It is
one of this country's greatest misfortunes that the Quaid died only a year
after Pakistan came into being. Had he lived even a few more years, he would
almost certainly have ensured that the Pakistani people got a constitution
that was both truly democratic and truly federal in character. After
the Quaid's death in September 1948, Liaquat Ali Khan -- the Quaid's trusted
lieutenant and, like him, a man of unimpeachable integrity -- struggled
manfully to keep the country committed to the path to democracy. Only
three years after the Quaid's death, however, Liaquat was struck down by an
assassin's bullet -- a traumatic event over which his successors in
government promptly threw a veil of secrecy that has not been lifted to this
day. That's
when the rot set in, reducing the politics of this country to a cynical
jockeying for position, a ceaseless trading, a deliberate use of words not
for communication but to conceal intention -- as, for instance, when General
Zia-ul-Haq solemnly pledged to the nation on television in July 1977 that he
had taken over the government for only 90 days in order to hold free and fair
elections and then proceeded, brazen-faced, to rule for 11 long years. R.
Buckminster Fuller, an American engineer and the inventor of the
revolutionary geodesic dome, once remarked, "Politics is an accessory
after the fact." And that
is what Pakistani politics has become, an accessory after the fact of the
secession of the country's eastern wing, an accessory after the fact of
rigged elections, an accessory after the fact of a series of deviations from
democracy. The
American economist J. K. Galbraith once remarked, "Nothing in politics
is so admirable as a short memory." That is
certainly true of Pakistan where people's memories of political events seem
to be getting shorter all the time.
The
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT) has declared 'A safe
city is a just city' as the theme of World Habitat Day 2007. A growing
concern that is rising globally is the increased vulnerability of mega cities
to clandestine forces of crime and chaos, coercion and Whenever
such episodes have taken place, one thread has run in common: the
institutions responsible for managing such events have been ineffective. This
time too, nothing was any different. The city administration, home
department, police force and the most expensive-to-maintain Rangers repeated
their performance (which has remained their trade mark during a sizable
stretch of Karachi's urban history). The transport motivated riots after the
sad demise of student Bushra Zaidi in 1985; sectarian riots in Liaquatabad,
Nazimabad, Federal 'B' Area, Rizvia Society, Usmania Society, Malir Colony
and else where in the city in intervals during 1980s and 1990s; the notorious
ethnic violence at Aligarh Colony, Banaras Colony and Qasba Colony in 1986;
operations of law enforcing agencies on an ethno-political organisation in
1992 onwards and the street protests as a consequence of blasphemous cartoons
in 2006 were all events which saw the state authority diluted to a null
status. In other
words, the various types of miscreants, armed or otherwise, successfully
manage to break the law and spread anarchy after assurance of least (or no)
obstruction from law enforcers. Beyond all kinds of political and civil
concerns, this points to the decadent capacity of civic administration
without doubt. It requires a thread bare review. As per
the standing statutes, the maintenance of law and order is the responsibility
of local police. It is a civic force which functions under the administrative
authority of the provincial Home Department. Independent observers, insiders
and succeeding police chiefs have mentioned 'politicisation' of the force as
the biggest handicap that obstructs the police to function independently.
There cannot be two opinions about the truth of this statement. However, the
status and characteristics of politicisation need to be minutely analysed. In
yester years, the changing regimes would appoint a serving eligible officer
of choice to head the force. It was assumed that having a police chief
marginally sympathetic to the cause of regime would be sufficient. The
hierarchy of the force largely remained untouched. The situation has changed
drastically, more so during the previous decade. The regime now intends to
have its own faithful down to the level of station house officers (SHOs) or
even lower grades. Transfers, postings, suspensions and deputations are all
done in an absolutely politically motivated manner. Regimes consider this as
a safe strategy for multiple reasons. Provision
of safety and security to the ruling party's activities, victimisation and
coercion of opponents, documentation of cases / first information reports (FIRs)
as coercive tactics against opponents, total refusal of registering reports
against party workers or sympathisers of the regime as well as extension of
helping hand during political rallies of importance are the usual duties the
police force is supposed to perform. While following these loaded terms of
reference, the police has to do its essential work of maintaining law and
order, investigating crimes and preparing prosecution documents / challans of
the alleged convicts. Much of the latter category tasks are kept at the back
burner. No wonder that thousands of common people suffer from crimes of sorts
such as mobile snatching to kidnapping and even murder. Whereas
a common man on the streets is the ultimate victim in this high game, it is
most deplorable to note that most high profile crimes such as terrorism and
murder of notables also go unnoticed. The tragic murders of Hakim Mohammed
Said, Allama Hasan Turabi, Mufti Jameel, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, Maulana
Muhammad Yusuf Ludhianvi, Khalid Bin Waleed, Abdullah Murad, Munnawar
Suharwardy, Abdul Raziq Khan and martyrs of Nishtar Park are only a few cases
in point. It may also be noted that the capacity of police force to deal with
riots has declined sharply. The frequency of sensitive religious and
political events throughout the calendar year is on the rise. In contrast,
the security arrangements are normally undertaken by shoddily cobbled
together teams and patrols. This tendency has forced many of the organisers
to take their own security measures, much of which are dangerous and illegal
in nature. The
ownership, possession and usage of guns, arms and ammunition is on a meteoric
rise in Karachi. In certain locations, the common market places depict the
scenes of Waziristan or any other tribal agency. Similarly a visit to the
office of some political party would flicker images of a mafia sanctuary.
Every informal business operations are provided security by the gunmen
belonging to the same community or hired men. Operations in Sabzi Mandi,
transporters, whole sale markets, livestock herds, milk market and informal
money changers / lenders have private regiments of armed people. There
are ghettoes housing armed marksmen in certain peri-urban locations who can
be hired as killing machines, if the need arises. It is even claimed that
these informal battalions have 'better' quality and typologies of arms as
compared to some law-enforcing agencies. These are open secrets which are
well known to every relevant department of administration. A casual
response which is normally voiced is to launch a campaign of recovering
illegal arms. If initiated, such a campaign is undoubtedly destined to fail.
The ownership of arms exists due to multiple reasons such as personal
security, political usage, arsenal for communal / sectarian protection and
even for trading purposes. Until the root causes are not studied and dealt
with, disarming the society shall remain a utopia. The issue also needs to be
seen with reference to the various layers of governance. Those 'innocent'
beings at the main helm of the affairs know well that disarming may prove
harmful for various strategic reasons. Only the gradual but firm revival of
the strength and capacity of law enforcing and civil institutions can pave
the way to normalcy. Spread
of arms is a key cause of weakening urban governance and a prelude to
anarchy. The writs of the law only seem to exist for those who are powerless
and do not possess guns. The others use it as a 'pressure tactic' to resolve
their impending problems. During the construction of Lyari Expressway, when a
contingent of police marched towards Niazi Colony to evict some of the
households, they met with fierce armed resistance which made them flee the
spot. On the contrary, the same police force mishandled the occupants of
various other settlements who did not offer any such resistance. If such case
studies become representative examples, the peace of the city will be greatly
jeopardised. Some
steps are crucial to be taken without delay, given the chronological record
of armed uprisings in the city. The first and foremost is the neutrality and
reversal to professionalism of the police force. Legally
and institutionally, the significance of police in the routine law and order
maintenance is paramount. It needs a complete overhaul. Rules and regulations
may be suitably changed to ensure that the SHOs are departmentally appointed
on merit without political interference. A civil society link up may be
established to oversee the performance of area police stations. Community
policing is a useful practice that is likely to bridge the gap between police
and society. In sensitive areas, investigational capacity of the police needs
to be enhanced to wholistically analyse the root causes of trouble. A
charter of peace must be drafted and debated amongst all political parties
not to use, show or own fire arms in their routine activities. Sindh
legislature may consider it as a top priority for law making. Trust of the
people must be enhanced by encouraging them to come forward and report
violations of such practices. When
carried out, these basic steps will be greatly effective in bringing peace
and tranquility to the city. It may also lead to the eventual identification
of 'hidden hand' that is solely held responsible for all the troubles the
city had. It may also help relieve the Rangers to focus on their prime duty
of border safe guard. And finally, the judicial process of punishing the
crime must be established in a transparent manner. In contexts where crimes
go unchecked, circumstances give rise to many more crimes of greater
intensities.
Let us all bow to the great
gods of economic prosperity for bestowing upon us the manna of GDP growth. It
is being assumed that the average citizens have now on their hands, more
money than The official quarters have
been blowing their trumpets in celebration of the glorious phenomenon of
consumer spending. The top brass has been comfortably bragging that the
riches have finally come a knocking and it is possible to embrace them with
open arms. Well, there is somewhat of a twist to this entire consumerism
hullabaloo. In order to wallow in the luxurious convenience offered by latest
cars (though being the low-end models), housing schemes and electronic
gadgets, one may have to go on an empty stomach. It is indeed the edible
items that are inflating this hungry beast, now at a rate of 7.9 per cent. As stated by the Economic
Survey of Pakistan 2006-07, a stable inflation rate is the hallmark of sound
macroeconomic policies. This is exactly what has not happened in the case of
our country's economic profile over the past couple of years. Since 1999, the
net effect has been that inflation has accelerated. The inflation rate itself
has had an overall increase of around 30 per cent. This basically means that
the prices have been increasing but for the past two years and they have been
adding up even faster than before. The survey goes on to explain this as an
outcome of 'sharp economic recovery' and a tightening of monetary policy.
What with the food-group inflation at a dizzying peak of 10.2 per cent, the
only tightening has been that of the belts of the budget-conscious ones. Before, we simply had the
Price Monitoring Committee to regulate abnormal price increases by being on
the lookout for hoarders and black marketers. Then two years ago, a special
Prime Minister's Committee on Prices (PMCP) was constituted under the
chairmanship of the PM's favourite advisor. It is indeed quite interesting
that while still holding the office of the Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz
still needs to be advised by the likes of Dr Salman Shah. So with the
esteemed doctor being so intimately involved with the economic affairs of the
country, it is quite surprising that the period of 2004-07 has witnessed the
highest levels of inflation in recent years. The survey report does
concede that extreme levels of inflation and economic growth just don't go
together. Hence, it does seem rather incredulous that the economy of the
country has undergone the posted 7 per cent GDP growth. This situation is
akin to not having your cake and then eating it too. The largest component of
the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is after all the food-group, with the
perishable items being the usual suspects. These are the very items that
require the bulk of one's income. GDP per capita is already grossly
exaggerated indicator of the standard of living, as it just averages out the
GDP across the entire population. Even if the current figure of $925 had any
actual bearing upon the incomes of the common citizen, he or she would be
living beyond their means. Even if we discount the 10.2 per cent food-group
inflation rate, the overall one would drown out any aspirations of living
within one's means. However, the government's
claims of inflation being spurred on by the negative practices of the
suppliers are being challenged on certain fronts. Using the case of the wheat
support price, a working paper of the IMF reveals that it is monetary factors
that have been deemed to be largely responsible. The wheat support price is
the minimum guaranteed price that the government will pay in order to procure
the stock for its grain reserves. Any increases in that price only affect
inflation in the short run, as claimed by the paper. So if we extend this
finding to the relationship between the prices of other food items and
inflation, we may discern a similar scenario. It is the jumps in the latter
that lead to increases in the former in the long run, which really has been
the case. And as the paper correctly points out, after the inflation rate
crosses a certain threshold, it has an adverse effect on economic growth. The rate of inflation in
Pakistan has stayed above its set target of 6.5 per cent. This is indeed a
threshold value in Pakistan's case and any value above it will surely have a
negative impact on long term growth. Those above nine per cent have been
observed to even curb short-run growth. Low levels of inflation have been
found to either have no considerable effect on growth or have boosted it. A
stable inflation rate albeit below a threshold value does not necessarily
imply macroeconomic growth as claimed within the Economic Survey. For the
development of financial institutions, an even lower ideal range of three to
six per cent has been suggested. It seems that presently,
the only way to tackle inflation is inflated bank accounts. These are very
much in the possession of the folks living in the bari kothees of posh areas
such as the Defence societies of various cities. They readily ensure that
these elite and their roaring machines are always well-fuelled. As for the
lowly others, the only price they are going to end up paying is the one for
their subservience. issue Marine fisheries in crisis Non-compliance with universal health safety standards presents the risk of losing export markets, as demonstrated by the succession of European embargoes on fish exports By Shaheen Rafi Khan Pakistan's Marine Fisheries
sector has traditionally generated multiple benefits, earning precious
foreign exchange for the country, ensuring livelihood for coastal fishermen,
providing angling and tourism amenities and sustaining a complex and unique
marine ecosystem. However, the threats to this sector over the years have
been both severe and equally diverse. The marine habitat and its species are
at risk from sea water incursion, freshwater retention, effluent flows,
mangrove destruction and large trawler inroads. The first signs of
ecological irreversibility are becoming increasingly evident. The symptoms
are partially captured in the recent European embargoes on fish exports.
Pakistan exports its major Environmental, social and
quality standards have become a defining feature of global trade. Initially,
these were regulatory standards imposed by governments. In time, discerning
consumers became aware of the environmental and social risks embodied in
internationally traded goods. Their concern gave rise to eco-labelling
requirements; a certification that the goods were produced according to
specified social and environmental criteria. The standards are voluntary in
nature. If exporters fail to comply with these standards, they risk losing
markets. The products are screened for quality and toxicity (embodied
effects); equally important, the production process must not have adverse
social and environmental impacts (process effects). In the marine fisheries
sector, these voluntary product and process standards reach across the entire
supply chain, including pre-processing, processing and fish harvesting. The European embargo
affects processing and pre-processing activities, which are regulated by
sanitary phytosanitary standards--Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
(SPA–HACCP). These are universal health safety standards which have WTO
sanction under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). HACCP
refers to implementation modalities. These can vary across regions and
countries. Fish harvesting is governed
by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards. While MSC standards are
not presently being applied in Pakistan, they provide the appropriate context
for sustainable harvesting. A recent UN report predicts a severe depletion of
global fish stocks in the next 50 years. Therefore, it may just be a matter
of time before MSC standards are applied more universally and it would,
therefore, make sense to preempt them. Pakistan's Marine Fisheries
span a 700 mile coastline lying between Sir Creek in Sindh and Jiwani in
Balochistan and include the territorial waters of these provinces. They are a
direct source of livelihood for over a million people and support fishing
communities. The bulk of the fishing population resides in the Karachi
division. The other concentrations are in Thatta, Sindh; Gwadar and Pasni in
Balochistan. More than 15,000 fishing vessels of various sizes, ranging from
small to medium-sized boats, large launches and trawlers engage in fishing,
almost one third are shrimp trawlers; the bulk of these are owned by
investors outside the community. Boat and shore fishing is done in creeks and
within the 12 miles territorial limit which falls under provincial
jurisdiction. The larger launches go further off shore into deeper waters on
extended fishing excursions, some reaching as far as the Somalian coast. Setting the policy context
is also important. Pakistan's deep sea fishing policy was formulated in 1982,
in the wake of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. For the first time,
the convention defined territorial and exclusive economic zones for all
states in the world. Initially, the government allowed joint ventures between
foreign and local investors. However, the policy was changed in 1989,
permitting only Pakistani flagged vessels. This failed to restrict foreign
trawlers as local feudals and investors began to front for them. In 1995,
responding to pressure from local fishermen, the government altered the
policy by creating a buffer zone lying between 12-35 nautical miles (NM). The zone aimed to protect
territorial waters from incursions by trawlers and large local launches.
However, in 1999, the newly army-installed government abolished the buffer
zone. Commercial fishing operations were allowed up to the 12 NM limit but
transgressions into coastal waters and into the creeks were reported
frequently. Clearly, the primary focus of the policy is on commercial
fishing, completely ignoring livelihood and sustainable harvesting concerns.
The scarcity induced by such large scale inroads has given rise to a
phenomenon known as the poverty environment nexus, where poor and vulnerable
communities are forced to destroy the resource base they depend on for their
survival. Compliance along the supply
chain - Gap analysis Processing: Compliance with
health and safety standards is mandatory at the processing and pre-processing
stages. The analysis illustrates that such compliance is best when it is
market driven. The drivers of compliance at the processing stage are markets
and the underlying unpredictability of the business. If exporters fail to
comply with standards, they risk losing export markets, as demonstrated by
the succession of European embargoes. Second, processing is both high risk
and costly. Contamination in a single container means the entire consignment
has to be destroyed. Also, the plants are practically inactive during the
monsoon season, which coincides with the breeding period when fishing is
banned. Finally catches fluctuate daily. High risks, high capital and
processing costs involve owners closely in plant management. The EU
inspectors have noted high awareness levels with regard to HACCP among plant
workers, comparing it with conditions in India and Thailand. Pre-processing activities
require policy and institutional interventions and it is at this stage the
slippages begin to occur. HACCP standards are both plant specific and apply
to all stages of pre-processing. The three stages of pre-processing are: 1.On-board fishing vessels 2.On docks/auction halls 3.In transport to
processing plants The compliance with the
standards was poor. The EU inspectors pointed out high contamination levels
on board the fishing vessels, landing docks and auction halls. They found
insects and rodents on board the fishing vessels. Raw fish were being handled
with bare hands and placed in rusted buckets and cans. The larger containers
were made of jute and wood instead of plastic. The washing arrangements were
unsatisfactory. There was no proper washing area. The fish were flushed with
a mixture of fresh and seawater and placed on dirty ice.
On-shore handling also fell
below the basic sanitary and health standards. The handlers shoveled the fish
in to challas (reed, straw baskets) with spades and transported them in open
lorries, to the auction halls. Larvae were seen in abundance in the challas.
The auction halls were equally unsanitary with a profusion of cats and dogs
preying upon unguarded or rejected fish. The fish deposit areas were littered
with cigarette butts, discolored with paan (betel) spit; people walked over
these areas cockroaches were seen coming out of drains and scurry over the
fish. Storages constructed near the auction halls for storing unsold fish
exhibited similar unsanitary conditions. Fish tended to be dumped on floor,
rather than in the trolleys meant to hold them. Rodent and insect activity
was strongly in evidence. The transportation of fish from the auction halls
to the processing plants met acceptable cleanliness criteria if the
processors used their own mobile vans. Other forms of transport, including
open mode, tended to be sub-standard. Compliance failure has
institutional roots. In the absence of a market driver and facing a measure
of cultural resistance, the onus is on institutions to educate, inform,
implement and enforce. Three potential players in compliance are the
Fishermen's Cooperative Society (FCS), the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD)
and the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA). Overlapping responsibilities
are a source of tension among them and none of the three is technically,
financially or administratively equipped to cope with the various aspects of
compliance. Also, financial allocations tend to be misutilised, for instance,
a recent large allocation to the KFHA to improve harbour conditions was
diverted to build a shopping center. To some extent, official
apathy can be countered by the processors as compliance failure affects their
ability to export. Processors have been known to exert financial and
political leverage with harbor authorities. However, their involvement needs
to be institutionalised as part of an integrated approach to compliance.
Getting the fishermen on-board is more difficult; their primary concern is
getting a good price for their fish in order to feed their families and pay
off their debts. The second part of this
article next week shall look at the complex dynamics of sustainable
harvesting. (The
author is Research Fellow, Sustainable Development Policy Institute,
Islamabad)
Drop by drop, drip by drip Introduction of drip irrigation and use of windmill are just some of the innovative measures benefiting farmers in a remote Sindh village By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed Krishan
Lal, a farmer by profession, is a resident of village Khan Muhammad Rajar,
situated 11 kilometres away from Taluka (tehsil) headquarter Khipro in
Sanghar district, Sindh. Falling within the jurisdictional limits of union
council Hathongo, this 120 years old village houses around 1,050 people. Main
castes here are Rajars and Manghwar and main languages Sindhis and Marwaris.
The male and female population of the village is mostly engaged in livestock
and agriculture. Besides, there are labourers, masons, carpenters,
blacksmiths, tailors and so on, but in small numbers. For
Krishan, life was not easy, at all, till a couple of years back. To grow any
crop, fruit or even He often
recalls how tough it was to drill for water and irrigate small tracts of
land. Besides, he says, lot of water was lost due to seepage as the village
and its surrounding lands lie in a desert. "Thanks
to the innovative steps taken by the local community, we are in a much better
position today. While people of many developed cities have only heard about
drip irrigation technique, we are actually benefitting from it. The other
successful experiment that we have carried out is about using windmill to
draw underground water for drinking purposes," he says. Krishan
tells TNS that it was not an easy task to convince people to struggle jointly
for the launch of these projects. The villagers would turn a deaf ear to the
motivators working with Sindh Agricultural and Forestry Workers Coordinating
Organisation (Safwco), a non-profit body having an overwhelming presence in
the backward areas of Sindh. The main
contention, he says, was that these people were asking locals to arrange 20
per cent of the project costs. The remaining would have come from Pakistan
Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) that finances such projects in this part of
the country in partnership with Safwco. "Once we realised that we will
benefit a lot from these projects, all of us contributed according to our
capacity and arranged the required 20 per cent of the project cost," he
says. Drip
system in this village cultivates 17 hectares of land and benefits 140
people. The total cost incurred on its installation was Rs 10,89,172, of
which Rs 8,71,000 were contributed by PPAF and the community's share was Rs
2,18,172. Being a method that applies water, slowly and frequently, directly
to the roots with the help of perforated pipes, drip irrigation saved 60 per
cent of the water that goes waste in case of service irrigation. Abbas
Panhwar, an engineer working with Safwco, tells TNS that water is saved also
for the reason that there is no evaporation or seepage into ground where
there is no vegetation. This method is highly useful in cases where plants
are planted at a distance from each, for example in orchards, he says. The
types of crops which are sown through this system are tomato, potatoes,
maize, grapes, citrus, ber etc. Another
benefit of drip irrigation is that it conserves groundwater in areas where
there are rains after three to four years. By the time the gound water is
consumed, the rains recharge the acquifier. In the absence of this system,
the groundwater in such areas is consumed in just 1 to 2 years leading to
droughts, says Panhwar. The
other successful project in the village is about using windmill to pump water
for drinking purpose. Rahim Bux Rajar, general secretary of the village
organisation tells TNS that the windmill installed in their village pumps
water from 90 feet deep bore for drinking purpose. The structure is very
simple and the windmill is easy to operate and maintain, and that also free
of cost. Its result is best when the wind speed is 3 metres per second or
above. The windmill has the capacity to pump 12000 litres/10 hours a day, he
adds. This water is collected in a tank and used by all the households in the
village, adds Rahim. Panhwar
tells TNS that it was not an easy task to make people contribute financially
to these projects. "These projects could have been fully funded by PPAF.
But what we wanted was that people should develop a sense of ownership
towards the project. This was not possible without making them invest in
it," he adds. During
the visit to village Khan Muhammad Rajar, TNS found out that the locals had
formed a highly efficient system to manage village affairs. They had a proper
Village Development Organisation (VDO), called Goth Taraqqiyati Tanzeem in
Urdu. The organisation maintains all the important records related to the
village, accounts, collections from the community and expenses incurred on
the maintenance of drip irrigation and windmill projects. It was this VDO
that had visited each and every house in the village and asked the
inhabitants to contribute financially to these projects. The case
study of this village makes one believe that only those projects attract
public interest that have direct benefits for them. Those worked out by
policymakers in their air-conditioned rooms, without keeping in view the
ground realities, have little or no buyers at all. May be it's for this
reason that billions of rupees earmarked for disbursement through Citizen
Community Boards (CCBs) are lying unutilised all over the country.
Benazir
Bhutto in her recent article wrote that May 12, 2007 was one of the darkest
days in Pakistan. That implies there were many more darkest days. How many?
Commenting on her article some one opined that the common Pakistanis have so
far seen 60 (365) = 21900 dark days. This Millions
of automobiles, mobile phones and TVs do not represent our real picture. None
of us, from president to peon, is certain about the next day. Who will end
this uncertainty, the present dispensation or the one that would replace it?
None, unless we solve our problems, some of which we had inherited and many
were of our own making. The problems remained unresolved because the approach
to resolve them was the same that had created most of them. Some of
our problems are no problems at all. Some have immediate solution, and some
may take time. Difficulty is with the approach. Kashmir -- whose solution
would create more problems -- is not a problem; it has something to do with
the vision. The rulers are responsible for finding a solution to the
problems. They will do so if they are committed to nation's intellectual and
physical growth through a welfare state. They will do so if they are
political leaders. Our dilemma is that we have rulers, we do not have
politicians. All of
our rulers were and are from upper income groups. They were and are pro-west
or religious radicals or generals. All of them including maulanas were and
are modern and liberals in their life styles. All of them had and have double
standards. They send their children to the grammar schools or abroad while
the children of the common Pakistanis study in the madrasas. They do all
types of things to accumulate wealth but from ordinary Pakistanis they would
demand commitment to the low paid assigned job. They became rulers due to the
influence of their assets, land, gold and guns, and also due to their hold
over madrasas and shrines. Governance to them means a way to acquire more
land, gold and guns, for themselves, and for their kin, cronies, clans and
institutions. All of
them wanted and want that the people should live as silent servants or
slaves. That is why we spend least on social sector development, particularly
education. That is why law is only for the people and not for the rich and
the rulers. That is why whosoever talks about real change is treated as a
traitor. That is why the most powerful group among rulers, the
political-generals and their cronies reacted furiously to the speeches of the
lawyers that they made in the seminar held at the Supreme Court auditorium. For most
Pakistanis it was encouraging that for the first time in the history of
Pakistan and on such an auspicious forum the real reason for our problems was
highlighted. Our approach to take Pakistan as a security state is mother of
all problems. If a state is internally weak and has no external threat and is
run by the oligarchy, it has to be a security state. It will always remain
fearful. In this
age of enlightenment, peoples' revolt is not a remote possibility. It can
happen. It is not for nothing that we still have feudalism, tribalism,
spiritualism and urban extortions intact, which are instruments to keep the
people calm -- as calm as slaves. It is not for nothing that a strong army of
six hundred thousand men and a bigger police force protects these
instruments. Isn't the civil-military bureaucracy the biggest beneficiary of
this exploitative system? Things
worked smoothly till March 9, 2007, for our ruling elites. Then onward
lawyers' movement challenged their supremacy. For the first time a large
educated fraternity has come out in support of rule of law and a welfare
state. That on such a forum 'the approach', the mythical concept of 'security
state' was challenged should be taken as the first drop of rain for an
apparently politically barren land. We must think about our children and our
coming generations and stop misleading the nation with such slogans as
Kashmir, Afghanistan, Palestine, Ummah and Hindu hegemony. Our internal
weaknesses -- provincial disharmony, economic disparities and absence of
politics -- demand immediate and absolute attention. Distraction
has led us to a stage where governance is invisible. Due to poverty,
inflation, corruption and joblessness a common citizen is talking about a
better life in hell. Under such conditions if the lawyers and judges have
started talking about abject poverty and remedy, they deserve appreciation,
not censure. It has never happened before. Bhutto's socialist slogan did not
mean much. It rather turned a big number of our politically vibrant workers
either into opportunists or paupers. Bhutto's entry into the ruling clan was
initially due to his feudal background. Later on army patronised him. All
that he earnestly did as a ruler was to expand an already oversized army. An
oversized army is the biggest if not the only hurdle in solution of our
problems and emergence of a welfare state. And unless there is welfare state,
we will continue to live with the dark days.
Benazir Bhutto during her two terms spent huge sums on missiles,
tanks, submarines and fighter planes. If she somehow gets third term, would
she work for the good of common people? She cannot. Power in our country is
transferred with conditions attached. She cannot interfere with the fiscal
and foreign policies. Moreover she too is a part of the oligarchic clan. How
can she revolt? Assuming
she goes through a metamorphosis and turns into a rebel. In that case the
oligarchy will go to any limit to save its interests. It will use all cards
-- army, ethnicity, judiciary, media, police, opposition, wealth, treason
etc. -- to stop her. Yet, if she fights election with a mission, a pro-people
manifesto, she can own the strongest of all cards, the people's support. All
that she has to do is to disown the 'security state' concept and take up the
ideology of a welfare state, as Aitzaz Ahsan did. His book 'Indus Saga and
the Making of Pakistan' in a way favoured the security state perception. He
is a different Aitzaz now, a thoughtful leader and a fearless activist. Our
experiences of 60 years are enough to conclude that geopolitical dimensions
and military might are relevant only either in a homogenous environment or
when the people with different identities have economic and social justice.
It is
not going to be that easy for her. She will have to revise Pakistan's
policies regarding Kashmir and Afghanistan. She will have to find Pakistan's
well being within South Asia, and not in America and Arabia. Moreover she
will have to rewrite fiscal equation. She will have to make others realise
that external security is dependent on internal strength. She will have to
reduce state spending on defence and administration by at least 50 per cent
in terms of GDP ratio. She may do it gradually say within a decade, because
to transform a security state into a welfare state will take time. To be a
ruler or a politician, to do power-politics or people's politics, this is her
choice. In first case she will constantly work under the threat of card game
-- even if she remains loyal to the oligarchy. In second case she may not win
the coming elections, but even in opposition, she will have a say, and
whenever she would win, she would have people's card with her.
All
other cards have dangerous repercussion. Liaqat Ali Khan used bureaucracy and
police to maintain his rule, but became a victim of a conspiracy hatched by
the same elements of the state. Ayub used army and judiciary, but after a
decade army turned against him. Bhutto used army, and Zia used ethnic,
judicial, Islamic and biradari cards besides army and American cards, but
both had to leave in an abnormal way. In Karachi Benazir used police card and
Nawaz used both police and army cards. None worked. MQM became stronger. MQM
was used to play ethnic card on May 12, 2007 in support of Musharraf. It did
delay for a short while some developments -- arrivals and departures -- but
damaged MQM's efforts to become a mainstream party. Musharraf's latest, corps
commanders card, explains his increasing vulnerability. This
cruel game of oligarchy's cards will stop only when we will have politicians
as our rulers. Let us hope lawyers' movement besides restoring judiciary and
national respect produces some politicians as well. ahsanyatu@gmail.com
Behind the government's
attempts to clip the wings of the media by both legal (not necessarily Perception is how we think
and feel about the world. It is about how we interpret and reconstruct the
social reality. Perception may be close to the reality or divorced from it
but is important because human behaviour is determined not by the reality per
se but how it is perceived. The media are a most
powerful factor in shaping perceptions. They not only depict the reality but
also reconstruct it by presenting and interpreting facts in a particular way.
The media can turn a hero into a villain and vice versa. For example, the way
Al-Jazira presents Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda is different from how
western media project them. The way the Indian press presents Kashmiri
militants is different from how Pakistani press presents them. The way the
government-controlled media project the state of the economy, society and
politics is different from how independent media present the same. Though all media
reconstruct the reality, they do so differently depending on how independent
they are. The more independent a newspaper or TV channel, the more objective
is the reality it reconstructs. For the media to be independent, they should
be free -- not only of government control but also of a particular ideology.
The media which are controlled by the state or wedded to a particular
philosophy at best present only half-truths. Hence, the reality they
reconstruct is markedly deficient in objectivity. State controlled media
leave no stone unturned in extolling the policies and performance of the
government. They never let their readers or audience look at the debit side
of the government's balance sheet. Media which espouse the cause of
capitalism present free market economy as the panacea for all problems in
society. Media in thrall of socialist ideals propagate the class system as
the root cause of all ills that afflict society.
Generally speaking, it is
the power to reconstruct reality that accounts for the government's love-hate
relationship towards the media. The government loves the media, because the
latter can help reconstruct the reality the way the former wants. Conversely,
the government hates the media, because the latter can reconstruct the
reality objectively. Thus the government loves compliant media and hates
independent media. For the government's media
managers, the fundamental problem is how to use a carrot and stick policy to
turn an independent media into a compliant one. The government takes measures
to woo, control, harass and intimidate the media. Such measures may consist
in allocating government advertisements, press advice, censorship, physical
attacks on media establishments and persons, or complete suppression of a
particular channel or newspaper depending on the character of the government,
the prevalent political system, the power of the media, and the level of
social and economic development. In a democratic and
advanced polity, the measures to control the media are normally subtle and
moderate, while in a despotic and backward state, such measures are usually
rough and extreme. On balance, a democratic government is far more tolerant
of an independent media than a despotic one. In Pakistan, at best a
controlled democracy, governments by and large have been averse to freedom of
expression. Successive governments have looked upon a free media anathema to
their attempts to reconstruct the reality as they would deem fit and adopted
all the available tactics to control them. These tactics notwithstanding, the
media have gained in independence. A landmark development is the
establishment of private TV channels, which broke the government's monopoly
over electronic media. This means that now people can view the counterpoint
to which they did not have access previously, that they can see the other
side of the picture which had hitherto been invisible to them. All this
translates into a far more objective and complete reconstruction of reality
than that projected by official channels. The present government, in
a soup because of the lingering politico-constitutional crisis, galloping
inflation, large-scale, unemployment and worsening law and order situation,
wants to manipulate the relationship between perception and reality. Instead
of setting its own house in order and improving the ground reality, it is
desperate to improve its popular perception. Examples: • The government wants
people to believe that no real political crisis exists in the country and
that any perception of a political crisis is merely an illusion created by an
'irresponsible media'. Therefore, if the media are reined it, the perceptual
illusion will disappear. In other words, if the media do not talk about the
political crisis, it will cease to exist. • The government is
painting a very rosy picture of the economy: poverty is on the wane, the lot
of the common man is fast improving, the real per capita income has
substantially gone up, and the vast majority of the people have access to
clean drinking water, health and education. For the government, most of the
economic problems have as unreal an existence as that of the political
crisis. • The ruling party is
propagating that those who are critical of the increasing political and
economic role of a key institution and insist on its public accountability
are enemies of the state and the only way to deal with them is to 'shoot'
them. • The regime wants all
and sundry to believe that the security, integrity and economic life of the
country will be endangered if there is a change at the top. Therefore, those
who are voicing for such a change are bent upon playing havoc with national
security and the economy. Only a government
controlled media can present, and is presenting, the above picture of the
state, society and the economy. On the other hand, the media which have even
a modicum of independence and social responsibility will present, and are
presenting, a different picture, which is closer to reality. It is such media
that are a thorn in the government's side and are facing its wrath. The
message is clear: "Either you are with us or against us." Either
the media reconstruct the reality as the government wants or face the music. Obviously, the government
is barking up the wrong tree. By stifling the freedom of expression, the
government can at best manipulate the perception of reality and public
behaviour but cannot improve the reality itself. And it is the improvement of
reality that matters for the real stakeholders, viz the people of Pakistan.
Whether it is poverty alleviation, strengthening of democratic institutions,
or accountability of the high and mighty, the job is done only by addressing
the real issues and not by manipulating their perception. No doubt, it is the
right of the government to trumpet its achievements. But it is also its duty
to acknowledge its failings and failures, which is the first step towards
their rectification. E-mail:
hussainhzaidi@yahoo.com
For
generations, Pakistanis have shopped for food and groceries at open markets
and from roadside vendors. But the trend is now changing as some superstores
chains are catering to the country's growing middle-class. These emerging
food markets have changed the pattern of food consumption and consumer
habits. Mudassar
Ali, a vegetable seller in Kasur pura and adjacent areas in Lahore, is slowly
wheels his cart back home. His day begins at four in the morning, when he
sets out for the wholesale vegetable market a 30-minute walk from his house.
From there, it's another two hours to the market where he tries to get best
products available and then in the next four or five hours, sells these
vegetables by visiting different streets in his area. But the past few months
have been disastrous for him. A new superstore was opened in his area of
business and he lost almost half of his customers, even the ones he
considered 'permanent'. "I am struggling to sell my vegetables. Whatever
is left at the end of the day is sold at half the price or simply discarded.
I cannot store them," he says. He is not the only who is facing this
situation in Lahore. According to him, many of the vendors and small shops
are facing a similar situation. According
to the website, PlanetRetail.net, super and hyper markets are dominating the
markets all over the world, and 60 to 65 per cent of buying and selling is
done through them. At present, the retail sector, according to World Bank
statistics, is contributing 6-12 per cent to the world GDP and its share in
international trade is US$8 trillion. The processed food consumption is on
the rise in the lower-income countries by about 28 per cent per year. It
means that the target markets for the super-stores right now are the
low-income countries where the middle-class base is widening. The statistics
further reveal that highest growth-rate (48 percent) is observed in breakfast
cereals in low-income countries. According to the website, Pakistan, with a
population over 160 million, is the 9th largest consumer market for food. According
to household survey, an average Pakistani spends 42 per cent of his income on
food items. Experts think that these days, preserved food is being preferred
to fresh food, both by superstores and consumers. "For superstores it
has more shelf life while for consumer it is more nutritious and ready to
eat," says Dr Abid Qayyum Sulahri, Research Fellow and Head of
Globalisation and Rural Livelihood Program at Sustainable Development Policy
Institute (SDPI). According to him, Pakistan, in 2005-06, imported processed
food worth $0.5 billion but in 2006-07 the import bill of processed food
commodities has increased to $2 billion. Most of this processed food is being
sold by superstores. The situation is similar in many other low-income
countries where the food processing industry is doing a business of over $3
trillion every year. Because of this, a multi-country and multi-donor
research initiative, led by International Institute for Environment and
Development (IIED), UK 'Re-governing Markets' has been launched. According
to Dr Abid, the basic idea of this research is to study the success and
failure of small farmers or producers to integrate them in emerging food
markets. "The purpose of this study is to learn from those developing
countries where modern agro food markets have emerged fully, such as in Latin
America, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia Turkey and to recommend policy
measures for more recent markets like India, Pakistan and China, because due
to the increase in per capita income and liberalisation of markets, food
patterns have changed in these countries." The other purpose of the
research is to know whether the countries, where modern agro based markets
have emerged, are able to integrate small farmers or not. In South
Asia, SDPI is conducting this research and is trying to intervene on
different policy levels regarding emerging food markets in South Asia.
"We are trying to influence policy matters on public and private
(industrial level) levels to make them aware of the most recent phenomenon in
food markets; while, at the same time, we are also trying to consult farmers
to see their practices. We will try to change their cropping pattern
according to the needs of the emerging food markets," he tells TNS.
"At present, in Pakistan, we are facing greatest resistance from public
sector." Small
farmers in Pakistan are facing a lot of problems in integration in the new
atmosphere and the real beneficiaries have been middlemen. Dr Ali Abbas
Qazilbash, National Expert - Laboratory Accreditation of United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), believes that one reason is that
in Pakistan agricultural research is based on pre-harvest statistics and
there is no guide for farmers after that. "If a farmer has information
about markets and the standards and gets his products accredited, he can
dictate the price and there is no harm in value-addition to products,"
he tells TNS. He urges the need for research-oriented interventions in the
sector. He also stresses the importance of cooperation among various
government departments and civil society organization with the similar
objectives and mandates. "Extension system should be in functional form,
and should be able to deliver at the grassroots. There should be a link
between research and farmers through efficient extension services to enable
them to exploit the situation to their favour," he says. But
small farmers' representatives believe that it is hard for small farmers in
recent situation to exploit the situation. Shujaat Ali Khan, secretary
Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG), stresses the need for polishing
entrepreneurial skills of small producers. "Our small farmers should
have market information and should know how to make their products
market-oriented. But because most of small farmers in Pakistan are under huge
pressures and illiterate, they stand to be more marginalized in the emerging
food markets," he says. Shujaat thinks that as most of the policies in
Pakistan are made for landlords, who own more than 70 percent of total
agricultural land in Pakistan, while small farmers are neglected. ôI think
policy-makers should give importance to small farmers as well," he says.
According
to Shujaat most of the agro industry is in the urban areas and if farmers can
be provide with the food processing and storage technology, it can increase
their income and enhance their bargaining power. "Because most of the
agro products perish within one or two days, farmers are forced to sell them
on very low rates. Recently, in the Pakistani market both producers and
consumers are suffering. Producers are forced to sell their products at cheap
rates while consumer has to buy it on very high rates, while most of the
profits are going to middlemen and industrialists." Shujaat thinks that
the emerging food markets cannot do anything for small farmers, if they are
not trained. Shujaat stresses proper and objective-oriented harmonization
among departments, institutions and ministries to avoid horizontal
overlapping in agricultural sector. Dr.
Wajid Pirzada, Chief WTO Cell, Minsitry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock,
says that there may be some overlapping in public sector because there are
many departments working for agriculture and farmers in country. He thinks
that contract and cooperate forming is the best solution to increase
bargaining power of small producers in emerging food markets.
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inform that it is bringing
prosperity and development for masses then pro-public development is actually
not taking place. People would automatically acknowledge when such
development takes place. One can imply this principle to understand why our
rulers (civilians, semi civilians or military) have to inform the masses of
all the good things that they carried out in the 'larger national interest',
including the extent to which they changed the destinies of the common
masses. 
widening
of rich-poor gulf. According to the government sources the average inflation
for the year is likely to be around 7.5 per cent --100 bps above the target.
Food inflation during current fiscal year is expected to be 10.5 per cent as
against 7 per cent of last year. According to economic survey, "This
year's inflation has largely been driven by higher food inflation as opposed
to last year where the major culprit was non-food inflation". The type
of inflation (food or non-food) that hits an ordinary person is irrelevant as
both types would have equally negative consequences. It is just like asking
someone whether she/he would like to be killed by gunshot or by getting
stabbed.
conflict. Due to their
association with political and administrative interest groups, these elements
are able to stretch their tentacles to acquire control over the entire
performance of cities. And they keep demonstrating their strength to
blackmail the city dwellers, administrators and peaceful political groups.
The sad events of May 12 in Karachi were a bitter reminder of the fact that
the city can be held hostage in the shortest period of time. It was a
repetition of earlier events. 
ever to spend as they please. But before we all start to make
plans for going out and buying the latest must-have accessory that we have
been yearning for all this time, let's be on the lookout for that demon known
as inflation. 
catch of shrimp to the European market. Because of
its inability to comply with EU health safety standards, it faced embargoes
on its exports first in 1998, then in February 2005 and now recently, in
February, 2007.
shrubs in this water-deficient area was nothing less than
a challenge. Similar was the ordeal of the womenfolk who would walk endlessly
to fetch water for drinking. 
figure shows that we were in
trouble right from the beginning. It is a true opinion. As a nation we have
not seen in political context any good day in the last sixty years. We are
waiting for the one. One thing is for sure that it will not come, if our
political uncertainty continues.
lawful) and extra-legal measures lies the desperation to manipulate the
relationship between the reality and perception in Pakistan.