Pakistan's Focus on Infrastructure (Hardware) at the Expense of Human Development (Software)
By RiazHaq
CA
American theologian and author James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) is reported to have explained the distinction between a politician and a statesman as follows: "A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.'
How does this apply to the current crop of Pakistani leaders in-charge of running the country? Are they statesmen or mere politicians?
I think the answer to this question can be found in how they invest available national resources, particularly their longer term investments in education, training, nutrition and health care sectors which do not show results as quickly as building roads, ports and other physical infrastructure.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor
Pakistani politicians, particularly Nawaz Sharif and his party stalwarts, love to highlight China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and their accomplishments in terms of motorways, ring roads and airports rather than education and health care. And the reason they do so is because such projects can be completed before the next elections.
Pakistan's M2 Motorway
In a recent piece titled "Pakistan's misguided obsession with infrastructure", The Economist magazine said Chinese diplomats assigned to work with Pakistan on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor acknowledged this problem. Here's an excerpt from The Economist:
"Lijian Zhao, a Chinese diplomat, says China is all too aware that Pakistan needs more than just big-ticket infrastructure if it is to flourish. Disarmingly, he praises the efforts of Britain and other countries to improve Pakistan’s ‘software’, such as education and the rule of law. ‘But China’s expertise is hardware,’ says Mr Zhao."
Education and Literacy Rates
Pakistan's net primary enrollment rose from 42% in 2001-2002 to 57% in 2008-9 during the Musharraf years. It has been essentially flat at 57% since 2009 under the PPP and PML-N governments.
Source: Economic Survey of Pakistan 2015-16
Similarly, the literacy rate for Pakistais 10 years or older rose from 45% in 2001-2002 to 56% in 2007-2008 during the Musharraf era. It went up by just 4% to aggregate 60% after 2009-2010 under the PPP and PML-N governments.
Pakistan's Human Development
Human development index reports on Pakistan released by UNDP confirm the ESP 2015 human development trends.Pakistan’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.537— which is in the low human development category—positioning the country at 146 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1980 and 2013, Pakistan’s HDI value increased from 0.356 to 0.537, an increase of 50.7 percent or an average annual increase of about 1.25.
Pakistan HDI Components Trend 1980-2013 Source: Human Development Report 2014
Overall, Pakistan's human development score rose by 18.9% during the Musharraf years and increased just 3.4% under the elected leadership after 2008. The news on the human development front got even worse in the last three years, with HDI growth slowing down as low as 0.59% — a paltry average annual increase of under 0.20 per cent.
Going further back to the decade of 1990s when the civilian leadership of the country alternated between PML-N and PPP, the increase in Pakistan's HDI was 9.3% from 1990 to 2000, less than half of the HDI gain of 18.9% on Musharraf's watch from 2000 to 2007.
Summary
The history of the industrialized world tells us that democracy, peace and prosperity cannot be sustained in the long run without a solid foundation of a healthy and well-educated society. Pakistani leaders must learn from history and pay more attention to accelerate human development while building the necessary infrastructure such as the CPEC projects. They must allocate greater resources and maintain sharp focus on improvingthe education and health of the people of Pakistan.
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