Saarc international I Thursday 20 September 2012
NEWS
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Pro-people system key to economic growth, says development report
South Asia has not generated adequate jobs or substantial poverty reduction despite witnessing some positive developments in people’s empowerment. Only pro-people as well as people-centered system of governance can ensure sustainable economic growth in the region. This was the crux of the presentations of speakers from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh at the launch of Human Development in South Asia 2012 report on ‘Governance for People’s Empowerment’ by Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) Mahbubul Haq Human Development Centre on varsity campus on Friday.Speakers say that a majority of South Asian countries continue to live under poor economic management with high fiscal deficit and public debt, soaring inflation, and significant unemployment and under-employment in the informal sector. Despite several poverty reduction efforts in the region, the report said, the absolute number of poor people is still as high as about half a billion poor people. The report says economic governance in most of South Asian countries has made their economies bigger, but not better. Former State Bank of Pakistan governor Shahid Kardar said the forthcoming elections would test the government in Pakistan as a large proportion of population was still living below the poverty line. He said neither the Public Accounts Committee nor civil society made political lead-
ership accountable. “Nature and the degree of crisis are mostly self-inflicted,” he added. Mr Kardar said the violation of merit by state institutions had damaged the governance
system. He said scores of industries without National Tax Number had commercial electricity connections. He also asked that who was protecting “kunda connections” in the country. Centre president Khadija Haq said South Asia was facing a huge empowerment deficit in terms of poor delivery of public services in education, health and justice. Despite the existence of strong judiciaries, she said, inadequate and ineffective lower courts were not providing timely justice to the poor. According to her, South Asia was a home to nearly 400 million illiterate adults, of which 250 million were women; over 160 million people were without access to drinking water; and one billion people were without ac-
cess to improved sanitation services. Dr Haq said the Governance for People’s Empowerment report had revisited the Humane Governance Index (HGI), first developed by late economist Dr Mahbubul Haq. She said the index measured the extent of humane governance, giving a composite figure for its three interlinked dimensions: economic, political and civic governance. “The South Asian countries have not fared very well in HGI, leaving scope to improve governance in all three dimensions,” she added. Dr Haq said the parliament, bureaucracy and judiciary could function in ways to either hamper or propagate human development and economic management. She said the adoption of poverty reduction strategies and social protection mechanisms could play a significant role in protecting the marginalized and the poor. ESCAP Regional Office New Delhi director Nagesh Kumar said the humane governance needed to empower people. Stating that the share of services had risen at a fast pace to 56 per cent that triggered colossal transformation, he said that still there was a need to pull more and more people out of poverty. “People need social protection but still most of them are on the verge of poverty line,” he added. He said job creation could be the only way forward and emphasis on education could never be over emphasised towards achieving this goal.
Taliban bomb kills 15 people in Lower Dir
A roadside bomb planted by the Taliban killed 15 people in Lower Dir on Sunday, police officials said, when it blew up under a truck carrying villagers to a market near the border with Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan said the attack, in the Jandool area of Lower Dir, was launched in revenge after villagers formed a progovernment militia. He said such attacks would continue. “We have informed them of the repercussions of supporting the government but they didn’t
stop backing the armed forces,” Taliban spokesman Sirajuddin Ahmad said by telephone from an
undisclosed location. A government official from the area said those killed were all civilians and none was a member of either the militia or the armed forces. Police said three women and three children were among the dead and seven people were wounded. Support for the Taliban has fallen in some areas in the north, analysts say, in part because their bloody bombing campaigns have claimed so many civilian lives. Since 2009, the army has increased its control in much of Pakistan’s tribal areas but insurgent attacks remain common.
Former Bangladesh finance minister M Syeduzzaman stressed the need for civil society taking up an active role to ensure that states should provide people access to education, health and other services as well as role in local governments. In Bangladesh, Mr Syeduzzaman said the local government system had weakened under the influence of Parliament. Acknowledging that NGOs were playing an important role in helping people attain empowerment, he stressed the need that good working conditions needed to be ensured for workers besides their skills development and right to making trade unions. LUMS Vice-Chancellor Dr Adil Najam said the earth as a whole was a poor country by any measure. He said that almost 80 per cent of resources were in the hands of 20 per cent population, while the 80 per cent of population was struggling with the remaining little resources. Stating that the planet earth was a poorly governed country, he added, “it is fragile and Third World country as a whole”. He said the number of Indians killed by Pakistan in the last 60 years was less than the number of children, who died in New Delhi every year because of dirty water. Same was true for Karachi in Pakistan, he added. Centre governing board member Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh and Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh, chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan also spoke.
Anna Hazare parts ways with Kejriwal
Team Anna on Wednesday suffered a vertical split with Anna Hazare and some top activists choosing to part ways with the Arvind Kejriwal-led group, opposing their plans to form a political party. After a roller-coaster ride of 18 months in which they came together to run a high-steam anti-graft movement, the group led by Hazare had acrimonious discussions with Kejriwal and his supporters including Prashant Bushan and Shanti Bhushan on the issue of forming a political party. Backed by activists including Kiran Bedi and Justice Santosh Hegde, Hazare told the other group during the nine-hour deliberations that they were free to form a political party but cannot use his name or photo for their campaign. “It is unfortunate that the team has separated...I will not join any party or any group. I will not go for their campaign. I have told them not to use my photo or my name in their campaign.
You fight on your own,” he told reporters here. Hazare refused to accept the survey done by India Against Corruption which overwhelmly favoured a political path, saying he does not agree with the exercise done through social networking sites. “My best wishes are with them (those taking political path). There is no harm in it. If they think that they can get majority in Parliament, it is good...The paths have been separated. Both of us have chosen our (separate paths). When pointed out that Kejriwal had earlier declared that he will not form any party if Hazare does not approve it, he said if that was the case, then the party should not be formed but ‘it is a good thing’. The discussions saw a section alleging that Hazare was ‘exploited’ by the Kejriwal group. It was countered by others saying ‘people in Delhi have made Anna what he is now’.