The federal government paved its
way to the Islamabad by offering deliverance from the impaired economy and
promising peace and prosperity. During the campaign the government in center
vowed to take the nation out of misery, eliminate the corruption and put an end
to the epoch of violence which has been haunting Pakistan, causing the spoil of
social-economic fabric of Pakistan.
The Nation desperate and
uncertain took their chances and voted Pakistan Muslim League-N. In the first
budget speech, new promises were made and old were repeated. After six months
of the budget speech nothing has been done to fulfill the promises which now
seem to have eluded the desperate nation, yet again.
At the end of 2013 we analyze
what government has achieved, in these six months, and where it has failed. The
unfulfilled promises and it’s cost which Pakistan had to bear. The PML-N
government made array of promises to earn the trust and the support of the
disappointed Pakistani nation, we will discuss few of those promises and their
impact on the social-economic system of Pakistan.
Revival of Economy
The impaired economy of Pakistan
is at decline since the power issue has taken its toll. The flight of capital
in Pakistan has halted the economic progress which inflicted serious damages
not only on the different sectors of the economy but also on social and
political dimensions.
The federal government promised
to provide provisions to facilitate the declining industry and agriculture. But
so far nothing has been done on ground for the revival of the shattered
economy. According to the stats issued by the IMF, the GDP for the year 2014
will be around 2.6%. The PML-N promised to double the GDP, but the harsh and
sad reality is that the growth has declined in comparison to the last year,
3.7%. The Pakistan economy seems to be a paradox for the current government.
The IMF program curtails the prospects of GDP growth, creating Stagflated
economy and massive un-employment as the bi product.
Solar Panels
For the last decade Pakistan is
home to darkness which haunts the citizens across the country in the
“intervals”. The energy crisis of Pakistan, considered by many, “instrumental”
to impair the economy. Not only that, load shedding has also inflicted
psychological adverse effects on the average Pakistani. During the campaign for the Islamabad the
PML-N promised salvation from the ghost of load shedding. The much of the
emphasis remained on providing un-interrupted supply of energy so that the stagnant
economy may grow once again.
But the reality on the ground is
grim, apart from paying the circular debt nothing substantial has been done by
the government to bottle the genie of load shedding. The federal government
assured to exploit all means, conventional and alternative, to end the menace
of energy shortfall.
The government had the design to
introduce solar panels to generate electricity. The idea was good as it holds
the key to electrify even those regions which lack infrastructure for the
conventional means of electricity.
The memorandum was signed by the
Punjab government with the German company, AEG, for cooperation in solar energy
sector under which solar energy projects of at least 50 to 100 megawatt will be
set up in Punjab in 2013 and of at least 300 megawatt in 2014. But the
memorandum is proving to be another photo session. The year 2014 knocking on
the door and still the work on ground on the aforementioned issue is yet to be
seen.
Terrorism
Energy crisis coupled with
terrorism became the true challenges for the state of Pakistan. The last decade
was hallmarked by the terrorism. Pakistan has lost more than 45,000 lives
(civilian and security personnel) and $ 100 billion fighting the threat of
terrorism.
The ambiguous policy of the
government in center has complicated the security situation. It all started
with the sabotage of peace talks with the outlawed Taliban as the chieftain of
TTP died in the drone attack by the Americans. The situation further
deteriorate from Punjab when the government of Punjab installed flawed measures
to prevent unpleasant incident on the Ashura.
The sectarian violence erupted on the Ashura
exposed the weaknesses of the police system not only that as the consequence of
Rawalpindi’s Ashura incident sectarian violence erupted in different parts of
the country. This was after an epoch Pakistan witnessed sectarian un-rest on
the masses level.
Drone attacks, negotiations with
the Taliban and now sectarian un-rest is getting better of the government.
Diminished economy appended with terrorism and sectarian issues is the perfect
recipe for the disaster.
3G and Telecom sector
The evolution in the telecom sector has reshaped the world,
revolutionized the lives on the micro level and contributed to the economies.
Social overheads have been modernized courtesy the advancement in the telecom
sector. The developed world introduced these technologies give quick access to
the information and to facilitate the people by the modernized services, today
know as e-services.
3G technology played its part in
achieving aforesaid objectives. The technology was introduced in the developed
world, on the commercial, scale in 2001-2. Till then evolved form of this
technology has been serving the state machinery and people around the world. The
Third Generation technology has seen its pinnacle with Long Term Evolution
(LTE) or 4G, which provides 300MBs/sec where the predecessor, 3G, provided
200Kbs/sec.
T
he government seemed serious to
introduce the 3G technology in Pakistan. The auction of 3G spectrum was initial
phase to expose Pakistan with the 3G tech but the slow progress has
disappointed the interested “investment”. The auction of 3G spectrum technology
not only promise huge revenues but also the improvement of state machinery by
introduction of e-services.
Three million jobs for the youth
It was always the million dollar
question that how the government will provide three million jobs in the economy
which struggles to reach GDP growth of 2.5%. According to the Economic Survey
of Pakistan, labor force of five million will be enlisted to the list
“unemployed” in next four years. The narrative of tragedy and sorrow does not
end here, according the IMF report, for the next 4 years Pakistan will witness
slow economic growth, GDP development would be around 3%. In short, the misery
of Pakistan will continue to divest the nation for next four years.
The desperate nation is waiting
impatiently to witness the realization of promises made by the federal
government, the key to their salvation. People of Pakistan hope that the vows
were not just gimmicks by the federal government to deviously delude the
suffering masses and they were indeed made by true intent.
Note: The article has exclusively been written for the More Magazine.
No comments:
Post a Comment