111 510 510 libonline@riphah.edu.pk Contact

The trying times of budget: Conflict of visions

Unlike all times this budget does not have to be based on number crunching. A budget is much more than merely an exercise in money terms and in terms of filing gaps. It is a fulfillment of a vision based on ideology[ies] of the political system. That lobby groups have been busy in distorting the options that Pakistan’s limited budget formulators make of it.

They are only concerned with what gets what in terms of money and since all of them are status quo personnel one cannot expect anything exciting from them. Ideally, a budget should be debated before and not after the event or after it has been presented to the parliament and if the fear is that the taxation proposals will be leaked out then that portion of the budget may not be discussed. What can be discussed are the priorities that the budget has to address. The answers to the first query are more or less answered when the policy politicians have said that there will be no new taxes. So where is the secrecy element?

Let me explain for a conflict of visions differs from a conflict of interests. When interests are at stake it is the gain or loss of individuals that matter. When there is a visionary conflict then the underlying assumptions may not be known to the contending parties. Visions are not emotional drives but they seem to have logical consistency-even if those devoted have seldom examined the logic. Since all of us have visions these are then the shapers of our actions and have an impact on our values. There are two main kinds of visions – one that is constrained and the other that is unconstrained. For nations have suffered the consequences of their visions and suffered setbacks. Since the budget is always contentious most of the players will line up on different sides of the arguments. The issues may not have any intrinsic values but if what one sees on the TV then the issues are likely to be muddled and reason will be lost. Shouting is obvious and the reason I am afraid has to do with the loyalty factor. The other side is always held to be a scoundrel. Reality is not possible for it is well nigh impossible to examine the complexities of reality. It is the visionary aspect that takes us through the complexities of life. Because of the complexities the visionary aspect takes us through the meandering maze. In visions concrete matters are left out much as in maps thus allowing for the gaps to be filled as the circumstances and facts emerge. The basic issues now seem to be with runaway expenditures of governments and the fact that this is a cruel world and if one is stuck with the West they like the proverbial Shylock must have their pound of flesh.

The new imperialistic forces are now based on this interactive process where the developing world is mortgaged to the West and the developed world. Anything that is not liked by the West and the imperialistic forces is to be dismantled and given a propaganda tinge. That will take place as ordained for they have the means to influence and even terrorise the lesser nations into submission. This arrogance flows from the new-found ways of influencing policies and work arrangements.

It is good to have a giant’s strength but then it is tyranny to use it like a giant. The current world is no longer gentlemanly in its approach. The West does not believe in any sustainable development of the lesser nations for then there own system is at stake.

The above statements are made with a view to understanding the logic of the current requirements. A constrained vision is one in which the line of least resistance is taken and the status quo is observed. This form of budget making is not going to get us anywhere. For the constrained vision to change to unconstrained vision a considerable amount of courage is required. It will mean a complete somersault of thinking. That will not happen with the current culture that is available. So how do we get from one to the other way of thinking? The way is possible if the institutional affairs of this country are removed. The white elephant no matter whose baby has to be got rid of.

The political system has to get on board and I have already stated that the Parliament is to be taken into confidence if the rationality of the unconstrained vision is to come forth. It is not some kind of mumbo jumbo that is set off as black magic. It is articulated and the policymakers have to avow their actions and assign the reasons upon which these measures are founded. The plain dictates of justice is what is required and when this becomes a norm then society will automatically veer towards reason and rationality. In that sense justice and fair play is the password to unconstrained vision coming through. Te unconstrained vision is exciting and iconoclastic. That is what is required now to contain the downward slide. Up to it? No?

This would mean wholesale revamping of expenditures that are wasteful and more based on outputs. The requirement is for each productive ministry to be a profit center. The current culture is one in which reason and effort take a backseat. I am especially vary of the current civil servant. They belong to the post era of Shoaib Sultan Khan and Dr Tariq Siddiqui who trained the civil servants of the 1964 onwards batch till the reforms of Waqar Ahmed [then Cabinet and establishment secretary] did the civil servant in. No one was allowed into the establishment division. Funny. Himself a creation of accounts group, he brought with him hate and prejudice to the management of the administrative groups. Rules were undone and the executive orders were used to demolish an edifice that took over 100 years to build. Worse was to come with Zia and Musharraf and the demolishing of the culture of management so astutely built by the directors of the civil service academy. Third raters full of prejudice were brought in to manage the new system. Unaware of the courage that is required to mange under adverse conditions the culture of courage was given to mummy-daddy boys topping the examinations under the garb of competition. The common batches of the academy post-1973 are indicative and epitomise what can happen to the civil servant. Hush puppies to the fore.

Look around you and you will see a situation worse than mediocrity. That suits the graft oriented as the weak and inefficient will do anything to hang on to authority. The rules of business have stood the strength of time. These are based on a rational approach. Why should a minister intrigue against the management when all that the bureaucracy has to do is to go to the net above for a decision? Is the rule only to be invoked without understanding or when a tricky situation is to be publicly defended?

Pakistan has a long way to go to understand the budget is about choices. These choices can make or break a nation and a country. The East Pakistan debacle is an example of unfairness and inequitable actions that doomed an ideology. Let it not happen again. Let the people of Pakistan have a fair share in the countries pie and you will see wonders. It is when the system seems so unfair that the ordinary citizen has no recourse but to take to the streets. What is happening in Lyari is not an aberration. It will happen elsewhere. It had already happened in KPK, in Balochistan and it will permeate top all and sundry. Look at the management leadership and you will see cronies in position of power no matter what the colour of the government. This was brought to the notice of Musharraf when his favourite was busy dismantling the organisational structure under instructions from the fair-weather friends. The UNDP chief at that time was a Turk and I asked him why he was struck with this. The money required was supplied through the fair-weather friends.

The net result is that the budget in the decade following Musharraf has been developed by people that have no understanding of the grassroots and whose actions are limited to IMF/WB and the summoning that is done by the developed countries. Go on. Carry on and be a vassal.

The budget will lead to much more social unrest. There is no philosophy and I dare say no reason to the numbers that will be presented. The conviction as to what to do is not known. The usual budget discussion and the usual statement lamenting the lack of resources will be made.

The budget is not an exercise in numbers. Sure numbers may be important but one has to know what kind of aspirations people have and what can be provided by the policymakers not to themselves but to the nation at large. The constrained vision is a status quo one and the unconstrained one is one in which flight of imagination can take the country places. It is going nowhere at the moment.

The productive sectors will have to be looked differently. The knowledge that will come forth will be a rehash of obsolete economics. The study and practice of economics leave much to be desired. The books are from other economies. The relevance of these books and these concepts has not been adapted to Pakistan. Try telling the affected about marginal and elasticity and you will get a burning car tire on the road. The nation has been unusually given a structure that is untenable. The wise are really the ones that need a lesson from the majority who suffer the consequences of bad management practices. The social cancer that has spread will continue unless the current budget is taken to release the pressure on the poor. Ever lived in Lyari or anywhere the population density is 1000 persons to a square mile. See what kind of services will come to you. Islamabad has to do better. Check on the visionaries in the secretariat and see how their lordships come and go. They merely come and go in green number plates. One minister has three luxury Prados in Islamabad and five in Karachi. Guess who? You have fifty-five guesses or whatever the number of ministers!!! It is now crystal clear that budget is about catching criminals in the bureaucracy, political or uniformed systems. That will remove parasites and predators of the budgetary system.

Dr. Zafar Altaf, "The trying times of budget: Conflict of visions," Business recorder. 2013-05-26.
Keywords: Social issues , Social problems , National development , Foreign aid , Economic issues , Economic system , Taxation , Taxes , UNDP , IMF