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Thursday March 28, 2024

Sindh’s development vision

By Mushtaq Rajpar
October 05, 2017

Transforming Sindh’s agrarian society into a modern industrial one is a daunting task. Without land reforms, structural socio-economic and political inequality will not end but sadly no one in power is talking about agrarian reforms. Public and private investment in province’s rural districts remains very low.

The PPP has been ruling the province for the past nine years. A review of the annual development plans of the past nine shows investment in higher education, new universities, and upgrading colleges into universities. A grand strategy to lift this province from backwardness does not exist at all – or at least no official strategy paper gives a roadmap.

In the initial years of the PPP, when Dr Qaiser Bengali was heading the planning and development department, the provincial government had an integrated plan of development. After Dr Bengali was shown the door, the plan was abandoned. At present, the development vision is guided by block allocation funds for unspecified projects and endless departmental development schemes. That is a traditional approach towards spending budgetary funds, and if the same approach is used for another 100 years things will not improve in Sindh.

Creating new opportunities for livelihood is the biggest challenge. According to the recent census, 48 percent of the population still lives in rural areas and agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. The educated youth spend years of their adult life in search of employment; one can see thousands of young people in small cities wasting their time running after the local political elite for patronage to get government jobs. The point is: how many people can the government employ? We already have a big government, with over half a million public servants. The government can add up to 25,000 more – not another half a million; and even that won’t fill the unemployment gaps.

Sindh’s development strategy has to take into account different geographical and regional needs, resources and opportunities. The desert region in Tharparkar, parts of Umerkot, Sanghar and Khairpur require a different strategy while coastal communities in Karachi, Thatta and Badin have different kinds of economic problems. Though the Thar coal project has created a small number of jobs for local people, it does not cover all the desert areas. If the mining company is able to invest in social services such as schools and education, the coverage will still be limited. Fifty-eight percent of Thar is still without health coverage, and the sources of income and employment are extremely limited to people in these two regions, where poverty is high compared to other regions like Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Khairpur where agriculture employs a major part of the labour force.

Punjab has a relatively better industrial base in central Punjab but, given the size of the population, the provincial government over the past 10 years made sure to provide credit access to young people so they could start their own small businesses. That is an excellent strategy to address unemployment and frustration and help the economy grow. Sindh could learn a lesson from Punjab. The Sindh Bank, with the help of the provincial government, can provide small business loans to young people. Micro credit has done wonders in many parts of the world, including in Bangladesh. FDI has been low since 9/11 and it does not seem to be changing. So, we have to rely on our own resource mobilisation for job creation.

Had the Sindh government started business loans for young entrepreneurs over  the past nine years, today we could have seen thousands of young people engaged in small businesses. The circulation of money in rural areas is confined to local seths, landlords, government contractors and some small business owners. Qaim Ali Shah was right when he said ‘We gave Rs1000 to people who had not even see a currency note of that size’. That reflects the magnitude of deprivation and lack of access to credit that rural people have. BISP, though necessary, is not a solution on its own; the amount does not even pay for monthly food expenses if the family size is of four to six people. There is no institutional mechanism at the provincial and local levels to help young people get employment. The idea of start-ups remains alien to the rural masses because first it is very competitive and, second, it remains confined to urban educated people.

Women in rural Sindh are least economically empowered. Sartyoon Sang, a project of the Sindh Rural Support Programme (SRSP) provided a good platform to rural women to showcase their works in big cities and earn a respectable livelihood. That is an excellent example of bringing women into small businesses and connecting them with the market. But the scale and scope of this model initiative was limited. This model could – and should – have been replicated in different areas and districts. It does not cost much, but opens up new avenues for women. A private factory in Sukkur employs over 50 percent women workers, and they have done wonders. Similarly, who would have ever thought that women in rural Thar would be driving commercial trucks, but the Thar coal project has accomplished that. And girls have already surpassed boys in school and college board exams, but we have shown least willingness to open for the girls.

Sadly, one of the finest projects of the Sindh government, the Community Development Programme (CDP), was shut down for lack of interest. This was not expected from Syed Murad Ali Shah: not paying attention to such existing arrangements. If the Sindh government has to shut down its failed programmes, there are many others, but CDP was definitely not one of them.

 

Email: mush.rajpar@gmail.com

Twitter: @MushRajpar