Tag: government

Budget Simplified

Budget 2012 was being presented in National Assembly and it reminded me about my lab attendant. His newly born daughter died last month during labour at home  in a far flung village of KPK . He was not able to afford the delivery expenses in hospital and therefore he opted for labour at home. I came to know about it when he had already left home after hearing the sad news of demise. When he came back, he told me that he is earning about 10K and the charges of a hospital delivery were not bearable for him as the medical tests and medicines were quite expensive. I was thinking that whats in the budget for him.

Finance minister tried to convince people that they are living in a heaven while when we look around, its totally a different picture.  There is indeed a darker side which does not match with the claims of present regime. Are you confused in the budetary figures? That is why the budget does contain all this fuss. It is an attempt to show the brighter picture when there is dark all around. To cover up the bad governance and corruption of the government, people are trapped in heavy figures to show that the country is in best condition.

So what are these calculations all about? Lets make it simple, consider the following example. If there are only two persons in a place, one has earned Rs 100 and other has not earned anything. Now calculate their GDP, its Rs 100. Their per capita income is Rs 50.  GDP includes the earnings /spending of all, in which the rich elite becomes a significant factor, but poor people contribute little to it. Growth rate of GDP  depends more upon how much ‘richer the rich have gotten’. So even if growth figures are high, they are significant only for the rich elite. The facilities are available, but not affordable for the common people.

What is the real purpose of a budget then? Ideally speaking, the budget is an estimate of how much we are going to earn and how much we should spend. It allocates money for different projects. Its a document which reveals that how much of the previous targets were achieved and what are the new targets; that’s it. But the government tries to cover its ugly face by using heavy terminologies. A lot of time these figures are falsified, their impact is blown out of proportion, just to cover the mess the government has created.

Current budget is again a same budget with false promises. A huge part is being spent on defense, government expenditures etc. 70 billion rupees being spent on Benazir Income support program is a wastage of money. This huge amount could have been used for the better projects related to education, health, infrastructure and energy sector.These figures didn’t mean anything to the poor labourer who is trying hard to make both ends meet. It doesn’t mean anything for the person who is sick and spending all he could to get a proper treatment. Joblessness is becoming a huge problem in the country. Industry is closing down and millions are loosing jobs. Current Budget is in heavy deficit. It simply means that earnings are less and expenditures are more, government will not reduce its expenditures but will borrow more money. Rich industrialists are not paying taxes and common people have to pay tax on everything.

Now lets talk about increase in salaries. When salaries are increased by same percentage for all, it means peanuts for poor (low grade employees) and huge increments for high grade officers. It widens the already huge gap of rich and poor in the country.  A grade 22 officer earning in six figures, with all the benefits and previliages cannot think about the problems faced by a poor. While price hike and inflation is same for all, increase in income is not similar. It makes the poor ‘poorer’ & the rich ‘richer’

So this budget is a budget for elite class. They will get benefited. Poor will not get any benefits unless we change the system. Only one budget so far has ever been termed as a budget for poor people, and that was presented by Liaqat Ali Khan in 1946. Other than that, whichever party was in govt, circumstances were same for ordinary class. The capitalistic economy needs to be uprooted and Islamic system of finance needs to implemented, which ensures flow of wealth from rich to poor; only that is the way out.

Failed government and derailing democracy

I completely disagree and dispute the contention held by some upholders of democracy, politicians and law makers, that the process of removing a serving government before it’s mandated time period through democratic or by means of constitutional law and people’s pressure, would derail the democratic system.

I believe we need to view Democracy and Government separately through a different perspective. In Italy and Japan, government changes after a year or so, but still there democracy is strengthening day by day. The truth is that there may be the best system established, but if those who are supposed to run it are inept, it is bound to fail.

Democracy is a system, through which governments are formed. If a government is not delivering in accordance to the aspiration and welfare of the people, then it can safely be implied that it has failed and should go! This  cannot in any terms be considered as democracy as a system, is being derailed, as we are being made to believe in Pakistan.

If an elected government is delivering, then it has all the right to complete its mandated tenure, but if it proves to be inept and a failure and has lost the people’s confidence in them, then there is no compulsion that they should continue to misrule and destroy the country!

In the latter situation the best moral and democratic practice to be followed could be that they should themselves accept their failure, offer to dissolve and call for a fresh election.  Unfortunately there appears to be lack or rather total absence of such moral courage in politicians. In other words, when an elected government loses the popularity and confidence of the majority of the people, then it is wise not to stick around and wait to be booted. Best way around would be to go back to the same people and seek their fresh vote of confidence. My contention is that politicians should, by themselves evolve such moral courage that they should accept failure and desist from retaining power by hook or crook. Their stubborn attitude is what compels the third force to overthrow them and take over the reins. What should be most important above all considerations is the national interest and not self-interest.

I am not implying that any undemocratic or extra-constitutional methods of removal of an elected government should be deployed. But I see nothing fruitful in the argument that failed governance should be allowed to continue and endanger the very existence of the country.

It is due to the greed of retaining power by our politicians in spite of their failure, that the ground gets paved for dictators to move in and grab power! Their own selfish interests are usually the cause for their downfall. The truth is that the current government has been successful to survive all this time, only by appeasing oppositions and cuddling them, not by working for the welfare of the people at the grass root. The frustration within the masses has boiled to a point where they cannot wait any more.

Honestly speaking, practically all the civilian governments which came into power were supported by the same establishment with ‘external’ blessing, of course! It is a case similar to the pot calling the kettle, black. In all earnestness , if the politician’s wish for the establishment to become subservient to civilian rule, they themselves have to resist the temptations of coming in to power from the back door.

Popular and peaceful people pressures are part of the democratic norm. That was how the Judges got restored and a dictator made to resign. This is a recent precedent for our country.  It is fine, when a dictator has to be pushed to pack up bags, then why not a failed government which could be leading the country to certain doom. The objection to people pressure being accounted as undemocratic would appear to be maintaining dual standards.

The present government has completed 80 % of their tenure and the number of crisis confronting the nation compound day by day. How do you propose to convince anyone, that what hasn’t been achieved in this time would be eventually be fixed in this 20% of the stipulated period?

Thus in all fairness and in the best interest of the country, I believe it’s not a governments 100% right to govern till the end of a mandated period of time. Rather, if they want to strengthen democracy, they should gracefully step down and revert to the masses to seek a fresh vote of confidence.