There is no denying the fact that economic growth is important, but the need for development is more overarching. Pakistan needs to create a balance between economic growth and development. In the face of current social and economic conditions, development means a better life for every citizen. A situation where people of all genders, classes, and groups enjoy reasonable health, education, social amenities, and political rights is the benchmark of development. Contrary to it, economic growth is usually elite-centric and devoid of focus on the issues of the periphery and people of lower social status.
Growth usually entails inequality, without improving the living conditions of the poor. In the context of Pakistan, this is a harsh and painful reality. There are various examples of this sorry state of affairs. The real estate boom in cities like Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad has failed to resolve the housing problems of the urban poor.
Millions of people have no other choice but to live in single-room houses in these megacities. These shanty towns are nefarious and lamentable examples of economic extremes. In those cities, the elites have mansions and gated communities, often no-go areas for the poor. Similarly, the skyrocketing figures of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have never brought visible improvement in the lives of the poor. This abysmal condition is a concocted mirage of development.
Contrary to it, development brings real improvement in the lives of the masses. Development enhances the overall standard of living for the people in aspects like better sanitation, schooling, healthcare, and social protection. Various development-related programmes and policies have been started and implemented by the government. These policies have resulted in actual and long-term improvement in society.
For instance, the Lady Health Workers/Visitors programme has drastically reformed mother and infant care in rural areas. It has empowered uneducated and poor women to take decisions pertaining to birth control and child healthcare. Similarly, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has brought a ray of hope to more than 9 million households. It has elevated the status of women in a deeply conservative and patriarchal society. But such programmes are chided and rejected by the elites.
It raises a burning question: Why do elites prefer growth over development in Pakistan? The Pakistani elite consists of politicians, business tycoons, landlords, bureaucrats, religious leaders, and businesses run by appointed institutions of the state. They always value short-term growth over sustainable development. The reasons are obvious. First, the benefits of growth are undeniably concentrated at the top. The GDP growth comes from the sectors where elites have stakes, like telecom, construction, banking, and gated real estate. For instance, the massively inflated housing prices in cities like Lahore and Islamabad have left the poor at the receiving end.
Similarly, growth is easy to manipulate, sell, and market. The elites play the game of statistics, which is beyond the comprehension and control of the masses. They create and circulate facts like GDP, GNP, inflation, FDI, and exports. It is easy to sell these stats to international media circles and international organisations, regardless of the ground realities. Therefore, one finds successive governments ignore health, education, and gender-related issues; they continue to prefer mouldable and malleable facts.
In addition, development demands transparency, equality, and minimum role of the elites. Development has an inherent character to empower the poor and marginalised. But the elites are living off the exploitation of the poor. In the words of Karl Marx, “The accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time the accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutalisation, and moral degradation at the opposite pole.” Evidently, growth supports and sustains the rent-seeking behaviour of the elites. Keeping in view all of these brutal realities, there is a need for social, political, and economic development.
Government—federal, provincial, and local—must adopt a comprehensive strategy for the development of society. In this regard, the first step is the provision of quality education and skill development. In order to market the skills of educated youth, there is a need for digital literacy and the provision of ample opportunities. It must be backed by resources and repeated policy analysis. It can bring South Korea-like development, if proper measures are adopted.
Moreover, there is a need to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of the social safety nets. Both federal and provincial governments are working on numerous laudable social protection programmes, but there is a need to have more transparency, accountability, and a result-oriented approach. The rights of women, the rural poor, and minorities should be safeguarded in such programmes without any compromise. Government must learn from programmes like Bolsa Família of Brazil and the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) of Ethiopia, which have improved the lives of marginalised rural poor.
In the words of a development scholar, Amartya Sen, “Development is freedom — freedom from hunger, illiteracy, disease, and poverty.” Government has the right time to bring political stability, rule of law, and protection of the weak. It will eventually yield better health, education, and economic opportunities for all.
Khaliq Dad Lak
The writer is a civil servant. He can be reached at khaliqlakk1@gmail.com
