#CSS #ArslanZahidKhan #BookReview
In the last five decades, Pakistan’s economy has, as they say, gone
places. Undoubtedly, this economy is much more broad-based, with
increases in productivity in all sectors, incomes (even if nobody believes it),trade, infrastructure, social sectors. Living standards and consumption levels and patterns are more diversified than those in the early years, though the benefits are unevenly distributed. Such disparity and imbalances created additional complications because of a rise in expectations, which is invariably faster than production capacity and income increases. Developing countries, soft societies as these are, must face problems emerging from the resulting frustrations and frictions.
Pakistan itself is a case study of the consequences of rapid growth
outpaced by both frustrations (due to unequal distribution of the fruits of
such growth) and friction (between regions). The decade showing the
highest growth rates per annum ended with the breakup of the country,
which is a reminder of the fact that growth is a mixed blessing.
There is no dearth of explanations of what went wrong with both
our politics and our economy, and the mistakes committed. There are
troubling questions to answer and to re-examine past policies to make sure that the same mistakes are not committed again.
S. Akbar Zaidi, one of Pakistan’s more creative intellectuals and
economists, in his fourth book has undertaken the task of not only
describing Pakistan’s development efforts in its totality but also rationalising why our national policies failed to hold the country together, how the social inequalities were created and also if all this was inevitable. Capitalist .Zaidi’s analysis of past policies, and his appraisal of sectoral and national policies, of the nature and quality of economic development is forthright and categorical. There is no attempt to soft-pedal opinions that are likely to be challenged. He criticises Ayub Khan’s functional inequality in terms of the Marxian criticism of the capitalist system. He is also sharply critical of the structural adjustment programme of the IMF. His explanation of Bhutto’s economic difficulties as ‘bad luck’ and sympathetic treatment of his policies may not be acceptable to many people. But the author has produced impressive evidence and sufficient arguments to produce a credible case. He also decries the poor performance of the social sectors, largely because of lack of political will and commitment on the part of the ruling elite and the government. The discussion on why economic development, even at the best of times, failed to promote the growth of the social sectors is remarkable for its clarity and strength of arguments.
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