This refers to Abid Hasan’s thought-provoking article ‘Resetting priorities, building consensus’ (The News, August 3). It is true that our major institutions do not seem concerned about the people’s plight. I agree with all the seven points which Abid mentioned in his article except for the one about raising taxes, as increasing taxes would mean providing the ruling elite with more money to squander. We need to focus on empowering people, not rulers. However, my basic concern is: how do we accomplish what Abid has suggested? Many countries, which faced a similar situation, were able to revive their economies due to the efforts of their hardworking and imaginative bureaucracy and technocrats. In our country, no civil servants or technocrats want to come forward with any initiative because the cost of doing anything new is tremendous here.