Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan - Planning Commission

International conference on “Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan”above key areas for the transformationProgramme we can’t get out of the middleincome trap.Speaker: Dr. Ishrat HussainDirector, Institute of Business Administration, KarachiFirst of all let me thank Dr. Nadeem UlHaque for inviting here and to share mythoughts on this important subject. TheFramework for Economic Growth has takeninto consideration a very important elementof the governance structure. The overallgovernance structure is important because itis through this structure that economicpolicies are intermediated and translated intoeconomic and social benefits for the vastmajority of the population.I would like to focus on the governancestructure which consists of the executive,judiciary and legislature. The highest impacton day to day life is created by the executivebranch of the state. The present discussionwill, therefore, focus firstly on the executivebranch whose main pillar is the CivilService. The second important question I amgoing to ask is that if there is a need forchange then what different and new weshould do and present a package which willmake a difference to the lives of thecommon citizens of the Pakistan? The thirdimportant point is that if there is a consensuson the package then we should see that howit can be implemented.The present system of Civil Services hasbecome dysfunctional and is not doing thejob. The following extracts from the HumanDevelopment Reports on South Asia of 1999and 2005 depict a vivid picture of thegovernance in South Asia and which is evenmore applicable in case of Pakistan? HumanDevelopment South Asia Report 1999 and2005 presents the picture in followingwords:“South Asia presents a fascinatingcombination of many contradictions. It hasgovernments that are high in governing andlow in serving; it has parliaments that areelected by the poor but aid the rich; andsociety that asserts the rights of some butperpetuates exclusion for others. Despite amarked improvement in the lives of few,there are many in South Asia who have beenforgotten by formal institutions ofgovernance. These are the poor, thedowntrodden and the most vulnerable of thesociety, suffering from acute deprivation onaccount of their income, caste, creed, genderor religion. Their fortunes have not movedwith those of the privileged few and this initself is a deprivation of a depressingnature.” (Human Development South AsiaReport, 1999)“Governance constitutes for ordinarypeople, a daily struggle for survival anddignity. Ordinary people are too oftenhumiliated at the hands of publicinstitutions. For them, lack of goodgovernance means police brutality,corruption in accessing basic publicservices, ghost schools, teacher absenteeism,missing medicines, high cost and low accessto justice, criminalization of politics andlack of social justice. These are just fewmanifestations of the crisis of governance.”(Human Development South Asia Report,2005)A question that is often raised in Pakistan isthat why has India retained the same CivilService Structure as they had inherited fromthe British? Why is Pakistan moving to24