Development 2.0--by Nadeem Ul Haque

Raza Rumi argued recently that there are 5 myths in the Pakistani discourse that need to be put to rest. In his view these are the ‘Doctrine of Necessity,’ ‘Strategic depth,’ ‘Use of Proxies’, ‘Ummah’ and ‘China will fix all’. Raza is right. A large part of our media and intellect involved full time in discussing these myths.   However, in my mind these myths stem from another very big myth: that we have system of governance and it is called democracy. The fact that we have an election once every five years and elect the same families again and again and leave them to do as they please is thought to be democracy in our intellectual circles. The fact that dynasties are becoming secure in this electoral system is raising no suspicions. Indeed, many are rushing to groom princes and princesses. This is not democracy Standard argument given by many senior analysts is “the system must not be derailed!” So, what is the system we are talking of.   The way for imperia...

The flood of 2010 showed me (I was Deputy Chairman of Planning then) how dysfunctional policy was in Pakistan and yet how good our administration was at handling crises. When the flood struck, our foreign office did not consult the key economic ministries but only with a few donors to make tall claims in the international arena. Speeches were made in the UN that we had suffered a loss north of $40 billion. Immediately, the Friends of Pakistan (FOP) forum was activated. At the Planning Commission, there was no such estimate and our people told me the loss was much lower. Upon checking I found that the FOP was a figment of our imagination. The group had met when the Zardari government came in and there was a sympathy for the new democracy and the memory of BB was fresh. Since then the pledges never materialised and the group did not want to operate outside the multilateral framework. Upon talking to both the Foreign ministry and foreign secretary, I leant that FOP was their economi...

We take up this important subject with Adil Najam Who you have met before. Adil is the Dean of Pardee School in Boston University.   Fascinating discussion.  Adil framed the debate very well examining technical and economic issues. He also discussed why the dialog has turned antagonistic and political. Yet the fact is climate change is real.  We discussed solutions to the problem most of which are at the global level. However, all countries must however respond to the challenges presented by climate change. And those responses may not be simple but will require a lot of thought as well as research.  So, do listen and learn. Lots of ideas. 

Street-vending through kiosks (khokhas or dhabas) or mobile vendors (chabri wallahs, truck, bicycles or motor cycles) are all legitimate activities which allow the poor opportunities. All societies through history have had these activities.   An unemployed person can with a small amount of money buy some fruit and serve it on a small platform or a cart. Used to be a time we would see these vendors all over Pakistani cities selling all manner of things. There was guy selling the most awesome wire puzzles that I wish had kept. There used to be the guy in bicycle who used to be only supplier of used Marvel comics and science fiction books. As teenagers, we used to walk or bike to local khokhas to learn how pick up all manner of goods as they were conveniently located and often cheaper than bigger stores. They were also willing to do things like give you one cigarette from a pack or one biscuit from a pack as opposed to buying a whole packet. Then somewhere in the 80s when we serio...