Institution
Building
By Dr Moorthy Muthuswamy
New York
I have read with interest several commentaries,
including the recent one “An Institutional
Graveyard” by Shahid Javed Burki. Mr. Burki
is right that institution building is the basis
of nation-building and sustained economic development.
But the question to ask is why has institution
building not happened in Pakistan, unlike India?
In my view the difference between Pakistan and
India comes to this: Starting 1950s’ India
invested in building quality science and technology
higher educational institutions. But Pakistan
till today has not!
This is what has made wealth creation in India
possible, including recently in software industries.
This higher technical education has also created
a segment of Indian population that has understood
the importance of institution building that Mr.
Burki is referring to. In other words, building
quality education institutions is a necessary
precursor to the larger scheme of institution
building and nation-building.
Mr. Burki notes: “Nonetheless, Pakistan’s
first military ruler did not appreciate the important
point that the process he had begun could not
be sustained without a functioning judicial system,
representative politics and freedom of expression.”
China is an example that a strong and sustained
economic growth could be achieved without any
of what Mr. Burki is referring to – i.e.
without a democratic system. Before that South
Korea and Taiwan too progressed along these lines.
Now having achieved an educated population and
built solid institutional basis both have transformed
to functional democracies. Here again, China,
South Korea or Taiwan did what Pakistan didn’t
do in the Ayub era – they invested in quality
science and technology higher educational institutions.
The next important question is why many of these
nations, including India, decided to build quality
education institutions but Pakistan didn’t.
Let me first give an interesting statistics. Since
independence, more than 65% PhDs awarded by Punjab
University, Lahore had something to do with history
or theology. But no more than few percent received
PhDs in engineering! What this tells is a nation
that lives too much in its past and not in the
present, and importantly, lacks a vision for the
future. In developed nations such statistics are
typically reversed.
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