Going to war without knowing the number of enemies…

LAHORE: Countries like Pakistan that were unable to look after their jobless population before the pandemic also lacked proper stats; this unavailability of data has now become the biggest hurdle in the way of the economic planners on how to reach those who lost jobs.

The government was slow in responding to the emergency of unprecedented nature.

There was some justification as well because identifying the coronavirus victims were the first priority and isolating them the next, which forced the state to go for the lockdown.

The state was slow in opting for lockdown although many private sector companies and even some newspapers/media houses exercised the option of “work from home” wherever it was possible. During this period the impact of lockdown was not fully visualized.

We heard our ruling party leaders talking about the plight of daily wagers only. Daily wagers are impacted even in normal strikes in the market or during slowdown in economic activities. The planners realised quite late that the problem goes much beyond daily wagers as many regular jobs were also lost after the lockdown.

There has never been a complete halt of economic activities in Pakistan. Even during strikes or agitations the industries operated normally. Construction activities continued without interruption, trains and flights operated normally. Hotels and restaurants were not disturbed. Parks and recreational facilities were closed. Public transport was disturbed sporadically and there was seldom any interruption in intercity transport. Goods transport was only halted for a while when the transporters had issues with the administration. Only in curfews that are seldom imposed did all the activities stop in specific area for few days.

This time around everything has come to a standstill. The industries are not operating, public transport is banned both within city or between cities and towns, train services are suspended, all airports are closed for normal daily flights, over 80 percent of the shops are closed only grocery stores are operating.

And this is going on for almost a month. The fear of pandemic has kept general public away even in instances when some provincial governments have allowed partial opening of some trades. The crowds that we see in most places is that of people waiting for charity in hordes in the streets and markets. Their unchecked presence has scared the people more and has forced them to stay at home.

The federal government announced a big relief package in cash and provincial governments in shape of food rations. One wonders where all these distributions are going. The number of families seeking help is increasing with every passing day. There is definitely something wrong with the distribution system. Some families might have got more, and some did not get anything at all. There are few chances of fraud in distribution of cash because of the use of technology. But then the number of eligible persons has been evaluated on the basis of pre-pandemic data available with the federal government.

The actual number might have doubled after the pandemic that is not available with the state, which is creating chaos.

The government also has not made the provisions yet to include the new entrants in poverty pool. It also lacks expertise to evaluate as to who has slipped under the poverty line after pandemic. As far as distribution of food ration is concerned the distribution lacks clarity. Besides the federal and provincial governments some NGOs or private philanthropists are also distributing food. Some families manage to take these rations from all sources ending up with tons of food much beyond their requirement. Others get nothing at all. Collective effort needed in food ration distribution is lacking. Another problem in this regard is that the ruling party is trying to do it all alone. The party simply lacks the capacity and capability to do this enormous task without the cooperation and active participation of other political forces.

In times of such natural calamities the governments seek cooperation from all segments of society. This is time for political scoring. The notion that by assisting the electorate from government money the ruling party would gain immense popularity is highly flawed. In view of limited resources, it would not be possible to come out of this crisis with flying colors.

The government might end up losing its already truncated popularity. Fully-fledged and sincere efforts with cooperation of opposition would be helpful in sharing the success and failure of relief efforts. And with opposition fully on board the efforts have more chance of success than a solo flight.