The federal government is all set to introduce a constitutional amendment bill to extend the system of representation of different regions in appointments – popularly known as the quota system – to the service of Pakistan for another 20 years. Since the major opposition party, the PPP, also favours the quota system, the constitutional amendment is certain to see the light of the day. But is the extension of the job quota in order?
The job quota runs counter to the principle of equal treatment of citizens. Article 27 (1) of the constitution provides that “No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.” However, the same article creates an exception by allowing the government to reserve posts “for persons belonging to any class or area to secure their adequate representation in the service of Pakistan.”
The regional job quota has remained in vogue in Pakistan through the last 66 years. Before the 1971 dismemberment of the country, 20 percent of the posts in the federal government were filled on merit, while 40 percent were reserved for the western and the eastern wing each. The 1973 constitution put in place the quota system for 20 years. Constitutionally, therefore, the quota system expired in 1993. However, appointments in the federal government continued to be made on the basis of regional representation. It was in 1997 that the quota-based appointments were challenged in the courts for being unconstitutional. Accordingly, vide the 16th Amendment, the period for the job quota was enhanced to 40 years with effect from August 14, 1993. The extension expires on August 14 this year.
At present, 7.5 percent of the vacancies in the federal government are filled on merit; 50 percent are reserved for the Punjab province including the federal area of Islamabad. The share of Sindh is 19 percent, which is subdivided into urban, including Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur, and rural, comprising the rest of the province, areas with shares of 7.6 percent and 11.4 percent respectively.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share in federal jobs is 11.5 percent, while that of Balochistan is 6 percent. The Northern Areas including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Azad Kashmir have representation of 6 and 2 percent respectively in the central government. The 10 percent seats reserved for women are also calculated from the quota of the province or region concerned.
The quota system is a form of affirmative action by the state, whereby through policy measures the government seeks to ensure adequate representation of the people who otherwise are at a disadvantage, in public sector education and jobs. The basis of affirmative action may be religion or region, ethnicity or gender. The basic idea is that without preferential treatment those in a disadvantageous position may not be able to compete with the rest of the society and therefore may be pushed further down the social ladder.
From an economic standpoint, the job quota makes for an inefficient outcome, as less qualified or competent people may be recruited at the expense of those possessing the necessary qualification or competence. The principle of economic efficiency, on the contrary, dictates that scarce resources – in this case public sector jobs – are optimally utilised.
That said, ensuring efficiency is not, and shouldn’t be, the only purpose of government policies. The government, particularly in case of a multiethnic polity, also needs to make for equitable development across regions and communities and make sure that broadly all sections of society have adequate share in the exercise of power. The failure to do so may beget an acute sense of deprivation among marginalised communities, which is dangerous socially and politically.
In India, for instance, job quotas are reserved for ‘Scheduled Castes’, ‘Scheduled Tribes’ and ‘Other Backward Classes’ for appointments in the union (central) government. The membership of these three classes is drawn from all the major religions of India. There is however no quota system for union government jobs on regional basis.
Coming back to Pakistan, the purpose of the quota system is to ensure that all the regions have adequate representation in the civil service of Pakistan. Since regions vary in their level of development and education opportunities and standards, it’s feared that appointments purely on the basis of merit may result in the exclusion of some regions from the federal services. Job quotas are thus deemed an effective instrument of redressing the disadvantageous position of comparatively backward regions.
The quota system however is open to criticism on more than one account. To begin with, if the job quotas are meant to redress regional imbalances in terms of development and education opportunities, the present system, which is based on provincial representation, is not the right solution. Within every province, different levels of development and job and academic opportunities can be seen. Not all the regions of the Punjab are equally developed; nor are all the regions of Balochistan, KP or interior Sindh are equally backward.
Take for instance, the DG Khan division. Located in southern Punjab, it’s among Pakistan’s least developed regions. But for entry into the civil service, the candidates from DG Khan don’t get any preferential treatment and have to openly compete with those residing in such thriving divisions as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. Only the other hand, the job-seekers hailing from Quetta and Peshawar, both provincial capitals, have the benefit of drawing upon the share of Balochistan and KP respectively at the expense of their competitors domiciled in less developed regions of their respective provinces.
In many cases, the candidates for the prestigious Central Superior Services (CSS) examination, who claim domicile from Balochistan or Interior Sindh, are graduates from such elite institutions as the Government College, Lahore or the Aitcheson College, which means that they had access to the best possible education opportunities that the country offers. But they use the domicile of a ‘backward’ province or region and are entitled to discriminatory treatment for government jobs.
Thus the provincial distribution of the quota system is essentially flawed and self-defeating. Instead, posts should be reserved only for backward regions in a province, not for the entire province. There is no point in treating Lahore and Layyah, Islamabad and Sadiqabad, Peshawar and Lakki Mawrat, Quetta and Lasbela on the same footing. The term ‘backward’ also needs to be defined on the basis of objective criteria.
The proposed reform of the job quota doesn’t mean that the arrangement itself offers a durable solution to the problem of backwardness. In fact, the job quota may be compared to a programme for the income support of the poor. Income support at best provides a respite to the poor and in no way can it constitute an instrument of poverty alleviation. By the same token, while job quotas may promote the representation of backward regions in the government, they can’t help overcome underdevelopment. For this, heavy investment, particularly in health, education and infrastructure, in the regions concerned needs to be made.
Seen in this context, while the decision to extend the quota system for another two decades may be politically correct, it can hardly be regarded as constituting a credible solution to the real problems of the backward regions.
The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: hussainhzaidi@gmail.com
Hussain H Zaidi, "Politically correct but…," The News. 2013-08-05.Keywords: Social sciences , Social needs , Government-Pakistan , Constitution 1973 , Social development , Civil society , Civil services , Policy-Pakistan , Society-Pakistan , 16th amendment , Employment , Poverty , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan , Islamabad , Karachi , Balochistan , Kashmir , PPP , CSS