Economistan

Management Pakistani Style – Part I

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:03:23 +0000

ORGANIZATIONAL STATUTES OF GOVERNMENTAL/SEMI-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION IN PAKISTAN

Saad Sarwar Muhammad

Rule No. 1 – I am the Law:

It should be abundantly clear to your subordinate that rules are subservient to the you the boss he is required to report to. Even the antiquated rules of organization would not be followed because its your personal judgement that is the most important regarding your subordinate. It would be worthwhile for your subordinate to do personal favors in order to get a promotion. Merit or qualification only matters at home.

Rule No. 2 – Rules Have to be Followed:

Of-course you cannot let your subordinates get away with the rules as well especially when you have to promote some over others on the perceived basis of following the procedures while chastising others. You have to make sure all your juniors know that rules are paramount, so at least they have an impression you are a person who respects rules. Now the trick is to make so many rules and procedures that no normal human being is able to abide by all. Since you know for sure nobody can possibly follow all the rules, you can pick and choose the person who you don’t like and throw him out of the organization based on non-conformance to organizational rules and procedures. This way you can even throw out the most competent and qualified person in the organization whom you perceive as a threat to you.

Rule No. 3 – Do the Mistake and Blame it on Others:

You the boss might or might not have the best or highest degree out of the lot but since you are not a professional in your field or at least don’t take your field of specialization that seriously, certainly not above and beyond what pleases your superior (It is the boss who has to promote you, not your merit remember). So, even if you have a phd from the best university in the world what matters here is obsequious flattery. You are the boss already, so we know you have done a good job at it. Now since, the only thing you do is spend time with your superior doing ego massaging you are bound to make some mistakes or many mistakes for that matter. Well, the easy solution is to blame it on the people who are actually doing their job like they are supposed to. They make you look miserable because they are doing their job and you are not. So the more work they do the more chances of mistakes. No work, no mistakes. This means that the hard working people are bound to make at the very least a few mistakes. Now your job is to magnify those mistakes (to cover yours) and if you are lucky you can have them kicked out of the organization. So long suckers! (hmm… you the boss is the real sucker but hey no harm in saying that)

Rule No. 4 – Nobody is Indispensible:

There is always room for firing a few people and hiring fresh blood who is good at buttering up. We all know nobody is indispensable especially the good, honest and hardworking ones. Because if they remain in the organization and make a difference the organization might grow and become a beacon for all to benchmark with for years and years to come. Well, the person(you the boss) is more important than the organization because you are a living being while the organization is a virtual concept. If you are not happy how are your subordinates (the toadies, the good yes sir ones) going to be happy. Dispense the dispensable and let you the indispensable remain.

Rule No. 5 – Emotional Intelligence:

There is a great likelihood the people who are hardworking and doing a good job might be honest as well. If you blame them wrongly or you yourself are doing something unethical(which you are bound to do…duh), there is a good chance they would raise the issue and naturally become angry. Especially, if they have any love for the organization. No worries, you can tag them as lacking emotional intelligence if they speak up about any unconscionable practice, particularly, if they lose any calm. Still if they don’t, you can create situations where there is no option left for them except to show their anger. Nobody has IQ in the government organization anyway (that is exactly the reason why they are here in the first place), so you can easily rate and promote people based on emotional intelligence.

Rule No. 6 – Your Subordinates Have to be Tactful:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs demands that you have a need for self-esteem and self-actualization. That is, you are deemed as a respected individual in the society. Hmm…you know that respect is gained through positions and to gain even higher positions you have to be tactful. Well tell your subordinates to be tactful as well. exactly like you are. Tell them not to stop you from taking “well-gotten” money (remember Maslow’s low order needs) or even stop you from doing anything unscrupulous, the bozos need to respect their bosses’ needs or at the very least keep their mouths shut at things unethical and immoral. In other words, your juniors need to be “tactful” in order to climb the ladder. If you don’t want to use the word tactful while addressing them, you can always tell them to be more diplomatic or mature. Childish, immature subordinates, no wonder they are your juniors.

Rule No. 7 – Its Not What You Know, Its Who You Know:

You are in this governmental organization thanks to your contacts and your connections within the organization also remind you time and again (they throw hints) and make it abundantly clear to you about your competence and how you got in. Which means you have a lot many people to please now through unethical and dishonorable means. But hey, we know you don’t shirk away from such duties. You are always at their service. Even if you somehow made it into this organization without any contacts, by a miracle, it is imperative, that you try to establish as many contacts as possible within the governmental unit to consolidate your position. The other people would be as eager to have a “good working relationship” with you as you are (You scratch my back i scratch yours). Being the incompetent buffoon you are, the other inefficient flunkies would lend full support to you in the hour of need or otherwise. There is security in numbers. Fill the organization with similarly inept maladroits and start using your contacts. Be the linked-in one.

Rule No. 8 – Age is Qualification:

With universities all around the world churning out degrees at a fast rate, there is a good chance that the new people you hire might have studied from the best institutions in the world and are experts or professionals in their fields. But hey, these are the rotten people, the very same people who are going to destroy the status quo of incompetence in the organization. The best thing is to demoralize them from the very start. Show them they are not welcome and that they made a mistake joining this organization and still if they want to serve this organization, show them their true place. If they come to you the very first day with all their credentials and they say, they have a degree from a university of repute or a terminal degree in so and so, as a boss your answer should be a quick “So What?”. Make it abundantly clear to them that their superiors are going to be people with years of so called governmental administrative experience. Experts or not, age is qualification. Even if you are the expert marksman or sniper in the field or the best in the entire world, your incompetent senior will tell you exactly how to shoot. Learning begins again as soon as you join the organization. Your boss is your new teacher. Even if the whole army loses the battle because of bad shooting techniques that your boss teaches you, thats fine. The organization can go down the drain. Age is qualification and the government/semi-government organization is the retirement home or orphanage for all the government servants who have already enjoyed the perks of their active duty in this nation of millions of people. The same people have to be given jobs again after retirement while nobody else should be given a chance. In each department the head should be an inefficient person just like you who has preferably retired from years of government service and played a great role in taking the government down to a state where good governance is a casualty for all to see. Now your job is to destroy the semi-governmental organization you have joined just after retirement and take it to oblivion. Use your age/so called administrative experience as an excuse to take this semi-government non-self sustaining organization to extinction. Hey its the government who pays, who cares.

Rule No. 9 – You Cannot Benchmark:

If some junior comes to you with a problem and says we should do something in a certain way because they are doing it in some other country and it works like a charm for them, then give him a straight answer right away. Tell him that this is not that country, this is Pakistan. And those organizations in those countries are many years old. We are a young organization. Or tell him that we cannot do so and so because they have plenty of money and we are restricted. Change in management style hardly takes any money or time but hey ward off your juniors like that. Tell them its your way or the highway. As far as money is concerned we know, you the boss is enjoying all the perks that many even in the West do not enjoy. Years of government service with many benefits plus pension. Along with that this new job of yours with chauffeur driven cars and an army of subordinates willing to do anything for you. Even at the airport twenty thousand people from your staff come to receive you, you are the king. But hey money should be spent on your perks and if it is going to be spent on something useful you can always say we are a third world country, we can’t possibly afford such and such.

Rule No. 10 – Use a “Line of defense”:

You have to protect your own inefficiencies and incompetence. In order to do that you have to create a line of defense. People have to first get through these unprofessional broods before they can even think about your competency. Make sure you place equally inept people as heads and provide full support to them. All the professional and qualified people who can be a threat to you will have to deal with your line of defense first before they can even think of getting you.

Rule No. 11 – Code of Silence:

Gary Hamel’s “Code of Silence” should permeate your entire organization. Nobody should be able to question your unscrupulous behavior in any way possible. Make sure you make an example out of a few subordinates especially some otherwise proficient ones but not good enough for the competencies you are looking for(that is they are lacking in respect for you, not tactful enough or emotionally intelligent) and throw them out of the organization. All your employees efficient or otherwise would fall into place. Also, let the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy flourish. If you do something unethical nobody should be able to ask why you are doing that, on the other hand if they see something unconscionable you do(hey that is your forte) they should not tell it to anybody within or without the organization.

*Not all managers in the Pakistani government/semi-governmental organization follow the above mentioned unwritten rules (many are principled, efficient and professional), but sadly the vast majority follows these dishonorable and unconscionable Machiavellian practices.

A Fleeting Glimpse of Heaven

admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:05:33 +0000

Jean-Paul Cassone’

The planet’s Arab World consists of 25 countries and territories with a combined population of 358 million. Obtaining precise figures of the world’s Jewish population are difficult to calculate because the definition of “Who is a Jew” is a source of controversy. According to estimates for 2007 of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, the world population of Jews is 13.2 million. The Adherents website cites figures ranging from 12 to 18 million Jews. In 2007 41% of the world’s Jewish population lived in Israel and according to a 2002 study by the Jewish Agency, the population of Jews is declining at a rate of 50,000 per year!

Of the 307 million Americans living in the U.S., approximately 300 million are non-Jews! Yet complaints continue to abound from non-Jewish Americans that they are sick and tired of both Israeli influences in their lives and aspects to the following:
- A conspiracy-like control of U.S./Israeli nuclear policy via the AIPAC.

(Where are the weapons inspectors for Israel?)
- A conspiracy-like control of the US Federal Reserve Bank.

- A conspiracy-like control of the US Treasury Department.

- A conspiracy-like control of the US Execute Branch via Goldman Sachs.

- A conspiracy-like control of the Judiciary via Goldman Sachs.

(i.e.: Kagan Supreme Court appointment)

- A conspiracy-like suspect in Assassination of a U.S. President

and 3,000 American citizens on U.S. soil via the Mossad.

(i.e.: The J.F.K. assassination and the 9/11 incident)

- A conspiracy-like control of an environmental hazard and market

manipulation via Goldman Sachs and the Mossad.

(i.e.: The Gulf oil disaster)

- A conspiracy-like attempt to reduce or eliminate the Social Security benefits

of U.S. citizens and outsource of U.S. jobs overseas via The

Hamiliton Project.

-         A conspiracy-like control of the US media.
-         A conspiracy-like control of the US State Department.
-         A conspiracy-like control of U.S. foreign policy via the AIPAC

by inciting Americans to commit hate crimes against Arab people.

If you combine the proper figures listed above it correlates into “a group of 658 million” vs. some “15 million of Jewish/Israeli descent”. The majority of Americans don’t hate or dislike Arab or Muslim people; they are being programmed to! They are fully aware of the vast array of marketable and lucrative potential for business that their cultures possess between them for the future of their own offspring. If we are going to take that daring step towards averting Armageddon then it is high time for both Americans and the Arab, Muslim and/or Islamic World to reach across the aisle and denounce terrorism of any kind and to hold fully accountable all entities and enemies who oppose this.

Furthermore, Americans need to “take control of their own government” and stop permitting it to be used as an Israeli terrorist organization, in and of itself! The numbers are obviously there for a vast success to a constructive and highly lucrative and productive, peaceful future. We are sadly ruled today by government officials who have been bought and paid for by either the AIPAC,Goldman Sachs or both. This includes both the present sitting U.S. President and Vice-President. ”Change” only takes the courage from individuals with “backbone” who can’t be “bought” or “feared away” from taking action! If this is not aggressively sought now for the following decade then Americans will not only lose the last breath of democracy, but all of humankind may very well perish!

Author:

I was born in Manhattan and patted on the head at the age of 3 by Howard Hughes on the steps of an old New York A&P which had sawdust on the floors. I’ve had close associations with former vice presidents of Aetna, Merrill Lynch, IBM, Smith Barney and Black Enterprise and was previously in wholesale distribution for Polo Ralph Lauren. After I married, I remained in China for 3 years doing business language coaching, conceptual instructions, negotiations and research for 25 separate organizations and companies such as Total-Fina-Elf, Rockwell Automation, Whirlpool, New Oriental School, Nanhua University of Industry and Commerce, Sci-Head Patient Lawyers and True Alaska Bottling. I’m currently employed with a small publishing firm in Palo Alto, CA.

Losing Sleep Over Ipad

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:09:30 +0000

Saad Sarwar Muhammad

I bought my Ipad in the first week of May and its almost been a month now that most of my senses have been captivated by this very visually stimulating and sensory gadget. Ipad is widely touted to have ushered in a new era of computing and very rightly so. The rich plethora of applications or “apps” as they are widely called along with the touch interface has truly revolutionized the face of the computing industry. All of a sudden everybody from HP to Dell to a vast number of Chinese clones have jumped on the band wagon of the next big gadget that they feel would take the world by storm as the previous iphone of Apple did with the smart phone industry by coming up with their own tablet computers. The jury is still out on whether the Ipad is a niche market or a substitute of the laptop or the netbook market. One thing is for sure that the Ipad is here with a bang and its here to stay. In the process it has propelled Apple to become the largest technology company in the world by market capitalization. Beating to the top its long time rival Microsoft. Apple’s founder Steve Jobs has earned a reputation for innovation with killer products like the Ipod with its Istore along with the huge hit Iphone and now Ipad. Mr. Jobs is said to have thought about the development of the Ipad even before he thought of the Iphone but the latter made it to the market more than a couple of years earlier than Ipad did. At the core of Mr. Jobs fascination with innovation is his attention to detail along with the focus on the minute design aspects of his computing software and hardware. Apple’s slick hardware is usually meant as a delivery system for its most valuable commodity; the software, rich media like songs and videos along with myriad variety of apps available to the customer for a small fee with the click of the button thereby ensuring a constant revenue stream for the technology company. Emulating Apple’s success is no easy feat for any company. Apple sold out around 9 million iphones world wide just the last month alone while the traditional mobile industry giant Nokia just managed to sell a total of a hundred thousand of its top end smart phone since the many months it was launched. However, the incumbent Apple is not without a rival. Google is coming up strong with its operating system Android especially made for the smart phones and is also set to launch its new operating system which would be known as the Chrome OS for the traditional PC market. Android is poised to become the top competitor of the iphone OS with many Android apps already available to be downloaded to smart phones like the Motorola Droid.

The launch of the Ipad is also meant as a stepping stone for Apple’s Mac OS operating system. As more people become familiar with Apple’s way of operating a system by using Iphones and Ipads, the switch from Microsoft Windows to the Macintosh would become easier with this slow and steady acclimatization. Google has already made it mandatory for all of its employees in China to stop using Windows and instead switch to either Macintosh or Linux in a bid to secure the work of its employees from hack attacks. That is, till the time Google’s own operating system Chrome OS becomes fully operational.

The Ipad could not have come at a better time to rescue the slagging publishing industry from its steep decline. The publishing industry has hailed the Ipad as a device designed for information consumption. Its no surprise then that the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today were one of the first ones to roll out the apps for the new Ipad, some even before the Ipad was actually launched.

The Ipad for me has totally changed the way i computed before. Its more of a gadget for information consumption rather than one that can be used for creative work. It is an amazing tool for watching Youtube videos, surfing the net, playing application games, listening to music and radio. However, in order to download apps directly through the Apple store one has to have a US bank account it seems. It is also a great device for watching movies. Netflix is one amazing application where one can download even free movies to watch provided you have a US credit card. Its battery time of at least ten hours without a charge is its biggest plus which makes the Ipad a truly mobile gadget. Its very light and thin with crystal crisp resolution. The Wifi works amazingly well on the go and the on screen keyboard is good for most tasks. However, it might give one a Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for works which require a great deal of typing. I have personally bought a blue tooth keyboard to work on the Ipad through which i am currently typing. I bought an Apple bluetooth keyboard, however Apple says the Ipad is compatible with any bluetooth keyboard from any other company in the market.

Some of the major drawbacks of the Ipad is the lack of support for multitasking, a lack of a camera along with over-dependence on a traditional laptop for syncing applications. Saving documents is also not that easy however there are many free apps available which would do just that. Another problem is printing from an Ipad. One needs a Wifi printer to print directly from the Ipad. I have personally found it convenient to email the documents to myself in order to get them printed from another computer. I am typing this Ipad review on the pre-installed application called Notes, after which i will be emailing the document to myself. I have yet to purchase the apps that are most required for creative work on Ipad. Apps which are a substitute to Microsoft Office like Page, Keynote and Numbers each costing 9.99 dollars. I would personally like the Ipad to be a substitute to my laptop. However, at present it seems that it would not be possible in the very near future, unless there are software apps available for program coding, html editing and blogging etc. There are apps available of IMing but still lack multitasking capabilities. Currently there are around nine thousand applications available through the Apple store with hundred more added each day. It is estimated that around ten percent of these apps are free to download and i have about more than a hundred free apps already downloaded on my Ipad. Apps available through the apple store mainly fall in the games, entertainment and productivity category with plethora of apps relating to news publishing, books and other software utilities. The Ipad also has a variety of Atlases and books available for Medical students with 3d graphics. I think an Ipad is a must for a student of medicine and would go a long way in rendering clarity to a doctor’s medical brain when it comes to graphic images of the human body functions available through the Ipad. My Ipad is a 16 GB one and its only a matter of time when the space runs out. I feel my best bet would be the 2TB Time Capsule that costs around thirty thousand rupees in Pakistan if it is allowed to sync with my Ipad. I have yet to find out whether it does.

On the whole I would say the Ipad is the best information consumption device especially designed for the most common consumers. Those who belong to the new generation of Youtubers and even the die hard book worms. Its a treat to the eye but beware it eats up your time and before you know it its 12 am. Not that I am suggesting people go to sleep at 12 but that it would definitely keep you awake past bed time.

The Core of Western Contagion

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:57:38 +0000

Jean-Paul Cassone’

The time leading up to WWII was met with different conditions than the ones we live with today. The United States had its Great Depression, yet it also had justice too which history accentuates by witness of The Pecora Commission. Back then “the fat cats” actually met with some form of “consequence” and sense of “accountability” for their actions. Israel too was only in it’s infancy of having any influence in American society.

Since that time we have seen the Korean War and the rise of the US industrial military complex through Vietnam and beyond. As America and Europe now head into their Great Depression II there remains many troubling and unanswered aspects to it. It is void of the gold standard, justice to “the fat cats” and of not having any Zionist influences. That industrial military complex Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower often warned us about has since run rampant and unchecked. There was ample evidence long ago for a need to return to a gold standard, yet nothing was done. There has existed for a long time a need for far sharper oversight in our financial markets, yet again no improvements were made, and in fact the opposite occurred. As for those “Zionist influences” well they don’t only exist presently, they pretty much have a domineering control of America’s government, not to mention its financial markets, military, garments, diamonds, furniture, mortgages, gambling, advertising, insurance, media, motion pictures, law and food industries. Vice President Biden has not only been the poster child for Israel , but he has often boasted that he is a Zionist himself. President Obama as much as he might hate to admit it has been for the most part, bought and paid for by Goldman Sachs, a corporate centerpiece of immoral and unethical Zionist-American market making.

The US has been brought to the edge of economic extinction, yet only one man Bernie Madoff is in jail. Evidently the other 25 responsible are still roaming free because they are not held to the same standards. This lends to the assumption that US justice is no longer functioning in sync with its democracy’s demands in fact; it is a democracy currently attempting to operate counter intuitively to itself. Having presented these examples, need I remind you that contrary to popular Zionist beliefs, the international economy has watched this for a long time coming and has taken enormous precautions to decouple themselves from this western contagion! Take a look around the globe on any given day at S. America, Brazil , The Middle East and Asia and you’ll find that they have been loading up on commodities, divesting large portions of US investments and have been diversifying their currencies in receivable payments from overseas. This has left a detached western “Great Depression II” due for arrival in just three to four months from now. What will doubly kick Americans in the chin as they someday try climbing out from under it is both the size and scope of Generation-Y that’s due to hit the jobs market at full strength in less than a decade! By that time it would only seem logical for America to change its name to something more fitting like “The Israeli States of North Mexico ”! America “wake-up”; you helped rescue Zionists from the genocide of Hitler and in return all you’ve received is to be ground into extinction by a far more damaging, systemic, toxic wrath! “All people are believed to be equal” under the American system, but there are now too many in it who are behaving as if they were a superior race!

Author:

Rationalizing Americans’ Will to Attack America

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:31:12 +0000

Saad S. Muhammad

America is all abuzz these days with the Times Square bombing plot by the US national Faisal Shahzad with Pakistan increasingly coming under fire for the reason that Faisal went to Pakistan to get explosives training. What the US has failed to recognize is that not all terror incidents can be traced to Pakistan. What about the case of the American born US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan who killed 13 US Army personnel and ended up wounding 30 people before he was finally shot down? The only major similarity of interest between Faisal and Nidal was that both of these US nationals were living a privileged life in the US or what the US people are programmed to call as the so called “American Dream”. Now we have to find out exactly how this “American Dream” turned out to be an ” American Nightmare”. Is it because Muslims are unfairly victimized in the US or discriminated against or is it because Muslims find themselves under severe scrutiny along with harassment through a constant barrage of anti-Muslim comments or sentiments from the general public? Is the US media playing a major role in alienating the American Muslim population or the fault lies with the right wing extremist Christians omnipresent in the continental United States? Do these right wing Christian extremists consider this war on terror as another crusade against Islam or a war which is against all acts of terror including those by their fellow Christians like Timothy McVeigh and those by the IRA and the Basque separatist movement in Spain where all are equally condemned?

The other question now is how these US Muslims feel about the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. What do they think about the abuses in the Abu Ghraib prison and Gautanamo Bay and the use of biological and chemical weapons by the US forces in Fallujah in Iraq where children are born everyday with birth defects due to the lasting effects of the use of such weapons. What do the US Muslims feel about the prolonged war on terror where the real terrorists like Osama are still at large and condoning a philosophy of suicide which has no justification is Islam. Do they think this prolonged war is actually a coverup for religious convictions of the crusaders or the noecons or the christian zionists who want to settle Jews between the Euphrates in Iraq and Nile in Egypt so that the second coming of Christ takes place according to the prophecy in the Christian bible or do they think it is the US corporate greed or the thirst of oil that is responsible? How do the US Muslims make sense of this new world where Muslims suddenly find themselves under siege in the 21st century as soon as the cold war between the communists and the capitalists came to an end? Is the “United States of Warica” constantly looking for new conflicts to boost its war economy with big corporations like Halliburton and Northrup Grumman running the show? Is the Muslim religion suddenly being hijacked by certain vested interests in the US or abroad in the twenty first century or Muslims have always coexisted like that for centuries? Is there a real conflict between Islam and christianity and between the east and the west or it is being suddenly hyped by certain vested interests in the twenty first century?

Now considering all this how do the US Muslims and other Americans feel about Islam itself? Is islam to blame for all this or the Muslims? Should the US Muslims denounce true Islam and change it to suit their mother country or the real islam has a place in the US society? And if the US Muslims do feel anger about the so called injustices or discriminations against the Muslims is there a better way to vent this anger or is blowing a bomb the only vent of anger? Are these lone wolfs or members of extremist organizations? If these people are lone wolfs would such attacks be the last or in a series of many to come? What can the US do to bridge the divide between the US Muslims and the majority predominantly Christian state? Does the US media have a positive role to play if the rich diaspora in the US has to have a harmonious existence or should it always blame other countries like Pakistan for whatever happens in the US?

Reasons Behind the Precipitate Fall of the Dow Jones Industrial Average

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:41:09 +0000

Jean-Paul Cassone’

It is ironic that an administration who has been guilty of illegal “market manipulative practices” itself via the “Plunger Team” (President’s Council of Economic Advisors) is now trying to beat the heather that they will investigate the possibility of “market sabotage” in the most recent market plunge.

The truth of the matter is that “reality has finally come home to roost”. There is a very simple answer as to why the markets are reflecting so much panic; it is because the majority of working and voting members of society are no longer buying into the hype of lying politicians. They are beginning to see things for what they really are and they have become fearful of what inept elected officials they are stuck with in dealing with it. They have become completely disgusted with their leader’s corruption and lack of fortitude to do what needs to be done; America’s Barack Obama being a prime example of this.

Simply put, people are finally seeing things for what they really are. The blatant evidence of this being in the demand for $1,200 an ounce gold surpassing that of the US dollar, or any American government paper in general. Ratcheting this panic up is the August mortgage reset just around the corner, which will total $97 billion, with an average monthly reset for 2010 coming in at roughly $83 billion. “Debt” in general is obviously the theme to the West’s economic demise this time round; something both European and American societies will have to evolve out of over the next 100 years. In the meantime, the current levels of young Americans leaving the country is now between 3 to 4 million a year. However, the US is about to get body slammed with something it has never had to anticipate before; “a golden age flight” of both body and capital. With the average wage of a graduating RN (registered nurse) in the US now reaching the $45 to $90/ hour level (you can imagine what the graduating physicians’ will be asking for), the aging population is starting to make plans to avert getting literally “robbed into death” (health care wise at least) by moving to a more affordable country which will not rob them of both their life’s savings and longevity! You can plan on seeing this new group of disgruntled expatriates to triple that of the younger generation over the next decade!

Wall Street’s current panics and jitters are a manifest of what you get when a society’s leaders are proved to be too cowardice to prosecute the powerfully guilty and too corrupt to deliver on both the promises of a better course and need for positive change and direction in a “results oriented manner”! As I speak Timothy Geithner should be under indictment, along with Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Larry Summers, Chris Dodd and his wife, just for openers. US Federal Marshalls should be storming Goldman Sachs, along with the FBI and the IRS, be charged with conspiracy and the attempted undermining and overthrow of the United States Government, and have its assets frozen until further notice. But if the general population continues to just look the other way, avoid thinking about it, or continue to take what these people say at face value, then you can plan on watching your democracy not so slowly, vanish from in front of your eyes, along with most of your life’s savings! It’s just one of the aspects that coins reality “the real deal”!

Author:

Pakistani Stocks Beat BRIC Shares 1999-2009

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:00:02 +0000

Riaz Haq

Karachi shares market significantly outperformed Mumbai in the last ten years. But this fact is not enough to get any positive attention from Fareed Zakaria, India’s best-known cheerleader in the West.

As expected, Fareed Zakaria’s discussion of “The Rise of the Rest” sings praises of the BRIC nations, particularly mentioning his native India in the most glowing terms. There is nothing wrong with that, except that Zakaria omits any positive mention of India’s neighbor Pakistan in the context of economic performance in the decade of 1999-2009, and chooses to strike familiar themes of “Islamic jihadists” and “terrorism” when he does make any references to Pakistan.

What Zakaria has omitted is the story of the extraordinary returns Pakistan has produced for investors. Pakistan’s key share index KSE-100 was just over 1000 points at the end of 1999, and it closed at over 9727.40 on Dec 31, 2009. Pakistan rupee remained quite stable at 60 rupees to a US dollar until 2008, slipping only recently to about 80 rupees to a dollar. In spite of the currency decline, Pakistan’s KSE-100 stock index surged 55% in 2009 in US dollar terms and 65% in rupee terms. During the same period of 1999-2009, Mumbai Sensex index moved from just over 5000 points to close at 17,464.81. If you had invested $100 in KSE-100 stocks on Dec. 31, 1999, you’d have over $900 today, while $100 invested in the Mumbai’s Sensex stocks would be worth $274. Investment of $100 in emerging-market stocks in general on Dec. 31, 1999, would get you about $262 today, while $100 invested in the S&P500 would be worth $91.

Pakistan’s KSE-100 stock index surged 55% in 2009 in US dollar terms and 65% in rupee terms, in a year that also saw the South Asian nation wracked by increased violence and its state institutions described by various media talking heads as being on the verge of collapse. Even more surprising is the whopping 825% increase in KSE-100 from 1999 to 2009, which makes it a significantly better performer than the BRIC nations. BRIC darling China has actually underperformed its peers, rising only 150 percent compared with energy-rich Brazil (520 percent) and Russia (326 percent) or well-regulated India (274 percent), which some investors see as a safer and more diverse bet compared with the Chinese equity market, which is dominated by bank stocks. This is the kind of performance that has got the attention of some of the top investors and investment firms around the world.

Unlike Zakaria and his fellow media Indophiles in the West, however, the smart investors are paying attention to the outsized returns produced by the Karachi Stock Exchange listed companies. Not only has Goldman Sachs reaffirmed Pakistan’s place on the list of its top 15 emerging economies for 2010, smart international investment gurus are investing in Pakistan. For example, Mark Mobius of Franklin Templeton International Funds recently said he is “overweight compared with everyone else” in Pakistani stocks.

In late 2008, Pakistan asked for IMF’s help in recovering from a severe economic crisis resulting from political turmoil and a balance of payment crisis. The Letter of Intent that Pakistan’s PPP-led government signed with the IMF for the $7.6 billion bailout acknowledged that Pakistan’s GDP jumped “from $60 billion in 2000-01 to $170 billion in 2007-08 with per capita income rising from under $500 to over $1000″. The LOI with IMF also acknowledged that “Pakistan attracted over $5 billion in foreign direct investment in the 2006-07 fiscal year, ten times the figure of 2000-01. The government’s debt fell from 68% of GDP in 2003-04 to less than 55% in 2006-07, and its foreign-exchange reserves reached $16.4 billion as recently as in October (2008).”

Pakistan’s KSE-100 shares trade well below the price-earnings of Mumbai or Shanghai, and its KSE’s market cap is only a fraction Pakistan’s GDP, which is a healthy sign for future increase in valuation. By contrast, the Indian stock market capitalization already exceeds India’s total GDP. That’s the sign of a bubble that can not be sustained for long.

Lower current valuation relative to BRIC markets means that there is greater potential for growth and higher returns on investments in Pakistan in the future. That’s what many smart professional investment firms such as Franklin-Templeton and Goldman Sachs are expecting by being bullish on Pakistan. Pakistan has defied low expectations repeatedly in the past. Let me quote what Mark Bendeich of Reuters wrote on Jan 10, 2008:

“A little more than six years ago, immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities, few sane investment advisers would have recommended Pakistani stocks.

They should have. Their clients could have made a fortune. Since 2001, the nuclear-armed South Asian country, blamed for spawning generations of Islamic militants and threatening global security, has been making millionaires like newly minted coins.

As Western governments have fretted about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of militants, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s main share index has risen more than 10-fold.”

Pakistan is just too big to fail. In spite of all of the serious problems it faces today, I remain optimistic that country will not only survive but thrive in the coming decades. With a fairly large educated urban middle class, vibrant media, active civil society, assertive judiciary, many philanthropic organizations, and a spirit of entrepreneurship, the nation has the necessary ingredients to overcome its current difficulties to build a strong economy and a democratic government accountable to its people.

Growers Left on Mercy of Traders

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:48:49 +0000

By Abbas Kassar

Government of Sindh Food department has thrown the wheat growers at mercy of traders who are exploiting the situation arising out of failure of the department to procure wheat from them. The deparment has announced to purchase 1.5 million tons of wheat from the growers and for that purpose it said that it was setting up 343 procurement centers throughout province where department would purchase wheat at rate of Rs.950 fixed by prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Jeelani before start of wheat harvest. But the conditions for purchase has been set so difficult including shwoing the record of rights ( copy of Tapedars’ book) showing that the seller is owner of the land from where he has brought wheat. In opinion of many grower organizations this condition was to discourage the small growers to sell their wheat produce at hands of food department. The next step that has discouraged gowers to sell their produce at procurement center is that they are not getting Bardana ( empty gunny bags) from the center for supply of which the food deparment has made tall claims. Then the gowers who sell their wheat at procurment centers are forced to open their accounts at the nearby bank branch which has been linked to that particular center. For purchase of wheat the food department shall have to provide approximately 15 million empty gunny bags to growers but if has only 6 million bags that are also not being supplied to growers in full but reports from all over Sindh suggest that district food controllers were selling these empty gunny bags to private traders to discourage growers to sell commodity to government. The growers have taken out protest demonstrations in almost all taluka and district towns of the province against non supply of Bardana to them. There are reports that food officials were selling Bardana at hands of traders.One example of which can be given of Tando Adam where PPP president Mukhtar Shoro took out rally against food officer who then admitted that he had sold Bardana to traders instead of growers and asked for apology. The inefficiency of food department to supply Bardana to growers and lengthy procedure for payment of wheat has compelled the majority of growers to avoid sell their commodity to procurement centers for which they have to make so many rounds first to go to Tapedar to ask for copy of Khata which itself is not only lengthy procedure but costly too.The to go to center to request for Bardana and then if lucky ones get Bardana they have to go back to fields and bring wheat to centers and then to make rounds of bank for payment. Sensing the unnecessary procedure laid down for food department for procurement of wheat and also shortage of Bardana, the traders and smugglers have jumed into arena and were busy in purchasing the wheat from growers at their fields at reduced rate of Rs.800 to 850 per maund to make difficult for government to meet its target of purchase of wheat. In case of purchase of wheat at hands of smugglers and traders there was possibility of shortage of wheat in country resulting one again in flour crisis with prices of flour running high and out of reach of common man.

Apart from shortage of Bardana food department was also facing shortage of storage as at present it has capacity of only 1.5 million tons of wheat. At present the food department has around 2.5 million bags of wheat stored in their warehouses while according to food deparment announcemnt it has so far purchased 3.2 million bags of wheat of new crop the purchase of more wheat was in progress. It was learnt that food department was going to hire private warehouses in district towns of the province to ensure proper storage of wheat. However, said aspects of this seasons wheat harvest include purchase of wheat by smugglers and traders on rates lower that fixed by government which was causing financial loss to agriculturists on one hand and on the other the wheat purchased by them was bound to be smuggled to Afghanistan and India creating food crisis in country. It was further learnt that government was planning to sell 2 millions tons of wheat it was having stocks from last year and it that was sold abroad then country, which was already facing crisis of power, water shortage, price hike, unemployment, was to face flour crisis to aggravate the miseries of man in the street.

The author writes from Hyderabad, Sindh and is the Bureau Chief of PPI.

email: abbaskassar@gmail.com contact: 923453585137

Assessing Pakistan’s Decade 1999-2009

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 07:22:21 +0000

Riaz Haq

Last December 31, 2009, was not just the end of the year; it brought a momentous decade of achievements in Pakistan to a chaotic and bloody end. After a relatively peaceful but economically stagnant decade of the 1990s, the year 1999 brought a bloodless coup led by General Pervez Musharraf, ushering in an era of accelerated economic growth that led to more than doubling of the national GDP, and dramatic expansion in Pakistan’s urban middle class. The decade also cast a huge shadow of the US “war on terror” on Pakistan, eventually turning the nation into a frontline state in the increasingly deadly conflict that shows no signs of abating. Along with the blood and gore and chaos on the streets, there are hopeful signs that rule of law and accountability is beginning to prevail in the country with the restoration of representative democracy and independent judiciary, largely in response to an increasingly assertive urban middle class, vibrant mass media and growing civil society. Let’s look at some of the highlights, low lights and then discuss the shape of things to come.

High-lights:

1. Pakistan’s tax base and government revenue collection more than doubled from about Rs. 500b to over Rs. 1.2 trillion.

2. Pakistan’s GDP more than doubled to $170 billion (nominal) since 1999. It has reached $440 billion in terms ofpurchasing power parity (PPP).

3. Pakistan attracted over $5 billion in foreign direct investment in the 2006-07 fiscal year, ten times the figure of 2000-01.

4. The country has experienced a mass media revolution. There are now multiple, competing television channels catering to almost every niche, whim and taste—from news, sports, comedy and talk shows to channels dedicated to cooking, fashion, fitness, music, business, religion, local languages and cultures etc. It seems that this media revolution has had a profound influence on how many young people talk, dress and behave, emulating the outspoken media personalities, actors, preachers, singers, sportsmen, celebrities and fashion models. In addition to a smorgasbord of TV channels born out of a surge in advertising spending, there are many newspapers and tabloids, and serious and glossy magazines, and many FM radio stations providing local news, sports, weather and traffic.

5. The strong consumer demand in Pakistan drove large investments in real estate, construction, communications, automobile manufacturing, banking and various consumer goods. Millions of new jobs were created. By all accounts, the ranks of the middle class swelled in Pakistan.

6. Pakistan’s KSE-100 stock index surged 55% in 2009, a year that also saw the South Asian nation wracked by increased violence and its state institutions described by various media talking heads as being on the verge of collapse. Even more surprising is the whopping 825% increase in KSE-100 from 1999 to 2009, which makes it a significantly better performer than the BRIC nations. BRIC darling China has actually underperformed its peers, rising only 150 percent compared with energy-rich Brazil (520 percent) and Russia (326 percent) or well-regulated India (274 percent), which some investors see as a safer and more diverse bet compared with the Chinese equity market, which is dominated by bank stocks. According to Tariq Iqbal Khan, Chairman of Pakistan National Investment Trust(NIT), KSE-100 equities provided investors with average annual return of 21 percent during the decade 1999-2009 while the average inflation during this period was 7.2 percent.

7. The Wall Street Journal did a story in September 2007 on Pakistan’s start-up boom that said, “Scores of new businesses once unseen in Pakistan, from fitness studios to chic coffee shops to hair-transplant centers, are springing up in the wake of a dramatic economic expansion. As a result, new wealth and unprecedented consumer choice have become part of Pakistan’s volatile social mix.”

8. The PPP leadership under former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 2007 following a US-sponsored amnesty signed by former President Musharraf. Unfortunately, Ms. Bhutto was assassinated before the elections in December 2007. However, the results of the free and fair elections held in 2008 were respected by former President Musharraf that allowed the PPP, led by Benazir Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari, to assume control of the government. Later, Mr. Zardari forced President Musharraf out and succeeded him into the office of the president.

9. Persistent and powerful mass movement led by Pakistani lawyers forced the PPP government to restore Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and several other senior judges earlier this year. The NRO amnesty that facilitated the PPP leaders’ return has since been annulled by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and all of the corruption and criminal cases against Mr. Zardari and many of his ministers have been re-opened. The chief justice appears determined to pursue accountability and rule of law against all odds.

10. Pakistan’s information technology(IT) sector revenue grew from almost nothing to about $2.8 billion in 2008, with about half of it from exports.

11. Higher education reform initiated by Dr. Ata-ur Rehman Khan under President Musharraf resulted in over fivefold increase in public funding for universities, with a special emphasis on science, technology and engineering. The reform supported initiatives such as a free national digital library and high-speed Internet access for universities as well as new scholarships enabling more than 2,000 students to study abroad for PhDs — with incentives to return to Pakistan afterward. The years of reform have coincided with increases in the number of Pakistani authors publishing in research journals, especially in mathematics and engineering, as well as boosting the impact of their research outside Pakistan.

12. The telecom boom increased mobile phone penetration from near zero in 1999 to over 50% now, along with the expansion of Internet access to double digits.

13. Pakistan joined the ranks of the top destinations for business process and technology outsourcing. According to oDesk, Pakistan experienced 328% growth in its outsourcing business in 2007-8, second only to the Philippines (789%) on a list of seven top locations that include US (260%), Canada (121%), India (113%), the Ukraine (77%) and Russia (43%).

14. Over two dozen Pakistani scientists are doing research on large hadron collider at CERN in Switzerland. More scientists are engaged in research at Pakistan’s Jinnah research station in Antarctica.

15. Urbanization is not just a side effect of economic growth; it is an integral part of the process, according to the World Bank. With the robust economic growth averaging 7 percent and availability of millions of new jobs created between 2000 and 2008, there has been increased rural to urban migration in Pakistan to fill the jobs in growing manufacturing and service sectors. The level of urbanization in Pakistan is now the highest in South Asia, and its urban population is likely to equal its rural population by 2030, according to a report titled ‘Life in the City: Pakistan in Focus’, released by the United Nations Population Fund. Pakistan ranks 163 and India at 174 on a list of over 200 countries compiled by Nationmaster. The urban population now contributes about three quarters of Pakistan’s gross domestic product and almost all of the government revenue. The industrial sector contributes over 27% of the GDP, higher than the 19% contributed by agriculture, with services accounting for the rest of the GDP.

16. Along with increasing internal rural to urban migration, there has also been a wave overseas migration from urban areas in Pakistan to urban centers overseas, especially the Middle East. The Middle East, with its vast oil wealth, has provided many opportunities for overseas workers to work and earn a living building and maintaining infrastructure in various Arab states, especially in the Persian Gulf. In recent years, overseas Pakistanis have been contributing to Pakistan’s economy with remittances exceeding $8 billion a year.

17. A new class of entrepreneurs has emerged in Pakistan during this decade who, in small but significant ways, have challenged the religious orthodoxy. They present a sharp contrast to the rising wave of Islamic radicalism that the U.S. and others in the West view as an existential threat to Pakistan. And with many well-traveled Pakistanis importing ideas from abroad, they are contributing to Pakistan’s 21st-century search for itself.

18. Pakistan’s arms industry came a long way from making small arms as a cottage industry in the last few decades. The US and Western arms embargoes imposed on Pakistan at critical moments in its history have proved to be a blessing in disguise. In particular, the problems Pakistan faced in the aftermath of Pressler Amendment in 1992 became an opportunity for the country to rely on indigenous development and production of defense equipment. Not only did the country become a significant arms exporter, the defense production went high tech this decade, with the growing private defense production sector.

Low-lights:

1. There appears to be a serious lack of leadership in the face of daily carnage unfolding in Pakistan’s cities and towns. In the 51 weeks so far in 2009, Pakistan has suffered at least 44 attacks. The death toll from this steady stream of violence stands at more than 650. And if the past few days are any guide, that horrifying annual tally is not yet complete.

The past three months have been particularly bloody. More than half of Pakistan’s terrorists attacks this year have occurred since the beginning of October, a few weeks after the Pakistan military launched an operation to drive the Pakistan Taliban out of its stronghold in South Waziristan.

The country has suffered at least 25 terrorist attacks in that brutal ten-week phase. The latest one was in Peshawar, killing at least 4.

2. In spite of the IMF bailout of Pakistan, the economy is practically in recession, barely keeping pace with the population growth. According to Economic Survey 2008-09, presented by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Pakistan’s economy grew by a mere 2.0 percent, barely keeping pace with population growth. The growth fell significantly short of the 4.5 percent target for the year, which was already very modest compared with an average of 7% economic growth witnessed from 2001-2008.

3. Long, recurring and daily power outages are severely impacting all business, economic and social activities in Pakistan. Adding further to the public pain are the multiple crises of sugar shortage, food price rises, and water scarcity, and deteriorating security situation making life extremely difficult for ordinary people.

4. In spite of the fact that Pakistan’s Human Development Index (HDI) has risen by 1.30 percent per year from 0.402 to 0.572 during 1980-2007 period, and it has accelerated to 1.9% increase since 2000 when it was reported to be 0.499, its progress is not yet sufficient to improve the nation’s ranking relative to other countries in regions like East Asia, which have been moving considerably faster. Pakistan’s index grew by 1.75% in the 1980s but slipped to less than 1.3% during the lost decade of the 1990s.

5. Low levels of literacy continue to threaten Pakistan’s future. Although literacy in Pakistan has grown by about 13% this decade to about 56%, it remains woefully low when compared to other South Asian nations. Ranked at 141 on a list of 177 countries, Pakistan’s human development ranking remains very low. Particularly alarming is the low primary school enrollment for girls which stands at about 30% in rural areas, where the majority of Pakistanis live.

6. Lack of opportunity in rural areas is pushing more and more young people to cities and towns which is further straining the already overburdened infrastructure and municipal services in major cities. In a recent interview with Wall Street Journal, Pakistan’s former finance minister Salman Shah explained that “Pakistan has to be part of globalization or you end up with Talibanization”. “Until we put these young people into industrialization and services, and off-farm work, they will drift into this negative extremism; there is nothing worse than not having a job,” Shah elaborated. But increasing urbanization in South Asia represents both a challenge and an opportunity for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is a challenge because it imposes a rapidly growing burden on the already overcrowded megacities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Dhaka and Karachi. Such a massive challenge will require a tremendous focus on providing housing, transportation, schooling, healthcare, water, power, sanitation and other services at an accelerated pace.

7. There has been rising intolerance and violence against minorities in Pakistan. This year has been particularly traumatic for Pakistani christian community. In August, an angry and armed mob of radical Muslims attacked a Christian village in Gojra, Punjab, firing indiscriminately, throwing Molotov cocktails and looting houses. About 70 houses were burnt to the ground and at least seven Christians died in the flames. Sectarian violence has also increased against Shia and Ahmedi minority communities.

8. Violence against women and wide gender gap continue to hold Pakistan back. The status of women in Pakistan continues to vary considerably across different classes, regions, and the rural/urban divide due to uneven socioeconomic development and the impact of tribal, feudal, and urban social customs on women’s lives. While some women are soaring in the skies as pilots of passenger jets and supersonic fighter planes, others are being buried alive for defying tribal traditions.

9. Pakistan’s water crisis became more acute during this decade. According to the United Nations’ World Water Development Report, the total actual renewable water resources in Pakistan decreased from 2,961 cubic meters per capita in 2000 to 1,420 cubic meters in 2005. A more recent study indicates an available supply of water of little more than 1,000 cubic meters per person, which puts Pakistan in the category of a high stress country.

10. Even after significant reduction in poverty, the number of poor people earning less than $1.25 a day remains high. Center for Poverty Reduction (CPRSPD), backed by the United Nations Development Program(UNDP), estimated that Pakistan’s poverty at national level declined sharply from 22.3 percent in 2005-06 (versus India’s poverty rate of 42%) to 17.2 percent in 2007-08. The poverty has most likely increased in 2008-09 with the disappearance of economic growth.

The Future:

While Pakistanis must accept responsibility for their own unwise actions in the past, there is no doubt that the US presence in the region has had a huge negative impact on Pakistanis. Some of the actions by Americans, starting with the use of the “Mujaheddin” during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, have clearly contributed to the problems Pakistan faces today. These problems have been further exacerbated by the use of heavy-handed US tactics in the region, American policy of targeted assassinations by the CIA, and the use of private contractors like Blackwater who view themselves as “Christian Crusaders tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe”. There were few religious militants and no incidents of suicide bombings in Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. There was only a small presence of the Taliban or al Qaeda in Pakistan prior to the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. But in recent years, thousands of Pakistani soldiers have died fighting, killing or capturing the militants who fled into Pakistan from Afghanistan. And the civilian death toll from terrorist attacks in Pakistan is continuing to increase on a daily basis.

Pakistan is in the midst of multiple crises of confidence ranging from lack of basic security and political stability to continuing economic stagnation, many of which are of their own making. More than anything else, what the nation needs now is sincere, strong and wise leadership to deal with both internal and external threats. Pakistan needs leaders who can not only respond to the urgent national security problems now, but those leaders who can also ensure a better future looking beyond the current “war on terror” and US demands on Pakistan to a time when the US will leave the region and Pakistanis will have to live with the consequences of their actions in support of the United States. Pakistanis should use force when necessary against the militants and murderers, but they must not shun other avenues of political dialog and necessary reforms to build a national consensus for peace, stability, social justice, and shared economic benefits.

Here is a slide show of some of the infrastructure development projects underway in Pakistan:

India Receives Billions in Foreign Aid

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:45:01 +0000

India is Home to One Third of the World’s Poor
By Riaz Haq

In spite of all of the recent news about aid to Pakistan dominating the media, the fact remains that resurgent India has received more foreign aid than any other developing nation since the end of World War II–estimated at almost $100 billion since the beginning of its First Five-Year Plan in 1951. And it continues to receive more foreign aid in spite of impressive economic growth for almost a decade. At the recent G20 meeting, India has asked the World Bank to raise the amount of money India can borrow as soft loans, generally considered aid, from the bank for its infrastructure projects, according to Times of India. At present, India can borrow up to $15.5 billion as per the SBL (single borrower limit)in soft loans fixed by the Bank.

Britain will spend over $1.5 billion during the next three years in aid to Shining India, a nuclear-armed power that sent a spacecraft to the moon recently, to lift “hundreds of millions of people” out of poverty, the British secretary of state for international development said last November, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Douglas Alexander, the first cabinet minister to visit India’s poorest state Bihar, said that despite “real strides in economic growth” there were still 828 million people living on less than $2 a day in India.

UK’s Department of International Development says if the UN’s millennium development goals – alleviating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates and fighting epidemics such as Aids – are left unmet in India, they will not be met worldwide. Some 43% of children go hungry and a woman dies in childbirth every five minutes.

British Minister Alexander contrasted the rapid growth in China with India’s economic success – highlighting government figures that showed the number of poor people had dropped in the one-party communist state by 70% since 1990 but had risen in the world’s biggest democracy by 5%.

After the increase of British aid to $500 million (300 million pounds) a year, India will still remain the biggest recipient of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) in the near future. Since Japan’s first ODA to India in 1958, the country has received monetary aid worth Rs 89,500 crore (Rs 895 billion) so far, according to Noro Motoyoshi, Japanese consul general in Kolkata. In 2008, Japan’s ODA to India was up by more than 18% compared to 2007 at Rs 6916 crore (Rs 69.16 billion).

The World Bank said recently it will lend India $14 billion by 2012 to help the country overhaul its creaking infrastructure and increase living standards in its poor states, according to Financial Express.

The Indian government has estimated it needs $500 billion over the five years to 2012 to upgrade infrastructure such as roads, ports, power and railways.

“Under the strategy, the bank will use lending, dialogue, analytical work, engagement with the private sector, and capacity building to help India achieve its goals,” the World Bank said on its website.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development would lend $9.6 billion and the International Development Association would make available $4.4 billion of funding in soft loans, according to India’s Financial Express.

Only 30 per cent of India’s state highways have two lanes or more, and the majority are in poor condition, the bank said. Electricity generation capacity has grown at less than 5 per cent in the past five years, much slower than overall economic growth of about 8 per cent over the same period.

The funds would also be used to help reduce poverty in seven low-income states; Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the World Bank said.

The biggest direct aid donor countries to India are Japan and UK, as well as multiple international humanitarian aid programs supported through NGOs, in addition to the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, WFP, and a whole alphabet soup of organizations active in helping the teeming population of the poor, the illiterates, the hungry and and the destitute in India.

India, often described as peaceful, stable and prosperous in the Western media, remains home to the largest number of poor and hungry people in the world. About one-third of the world’s poor people live in India. More than 450 million Indians exist on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. It also has a higher proportion of its population living on less than $2 per day than even sub-Saharan Africa. India has about 42% of the population living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitute 33% of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people, according to a Times of India news report. More than 6 million of those desperately poor Indians live in Mumbai alone, representing about half the residents of the nation’s financial capital. They live in super-sized slums and improvised housing juxtaposed with the shining new skyscrapers that symbolize India’s resurgence. According to the World Bank and the UN Development Program (UNDP), 22% of Pakistan’s population is classified as poor.

There is widespread hunger and malnutrition in all parts of India. India ranks 66th on the 2008 Global Hunger Index of 88 countries while Pakistan is slightly better at 61 and Bangladesh slightly worse at 70.

Indian media’s headlines about the newly-minted Indian billionaires need to bring sharper focus on the growing rich-poor gap in India. On its inside pages, The Times of India last year reported Communist Party leader Sitaram Yechury’s as saying that “on the one hand, 36 Indian billionaires constituted 25% of India’s GDP while on the other, 70% of Indians had to do with Rs 20 a day”. “A farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes. The gap between the two Indias is widening,” he said. Over 1500 farmers committed suicide last year in the central state of Chhattisgarh alone.

Among the Asian nations mentioned in an October 2008 UN report, Pakistan is more egalitarian than the India, Bangladesh, China and Indonesia. Based on all the UNDP data, Pakistan does not have the level of hunger and abject poverty observed in India or Bangladesh.

According to the new UN-HABITAT report on the State of the World’s Cities 2008/9: Harmonious Cities, China has the highest level of consumption inequality based on Gini Coefficient in the Asia region, higher than Pakistan (0.298), Bangladesh (0.318), India (0.325), and Indonesia (0.343), among others.” Gini coefficient is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1: A low Gini coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini coefficient indicates more unequal distribution. 0 corresponds to perfect equality (everyone having exactly the same income) and 1 corresponds to perfect inequality (where one person has all the income, while everyone else has zero income).

Violence is rising in India because of the growing rich-poor gap. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself has called the Maoist insurgency emanating from the state of Chhattisgarh the biggest internal security threat to India since independence. The Maoists, however, are confined to rural areas; their bold tactics haven’t rattled Indian middle-class confidence in recent years as much as the bomb attacks in major cities have. These attacks are routinely blamed on Muslim militants. How long will Maoists remain confined to the rural areas will depend on the response of the Indian government to the insurgents who exploit huge and growing economic disparities in Indian society.

In 2006 a commission appointed by the government revealed that Muslims in India are worse educated and less likely to find employment than low-caste Hindus. Muslim isolation and despair is compounded by what B. Raman, a hawkish security analyst, was moved after the most recent attacks to describe as the “inherent unfairness of the Indian criminal justice system”.

Ironically, there are some parallels here between the violent Maoists movement in India and the Taliban militants in Pakistan, in spite of their diametrically opposed ideologies. Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers, as are the Taliban in FATA and NWFP. Though their tactics vary, both movements have killed dozens of people, including security personnel, in the last few weeks. Both movements control wide swathes of territory in their respective countries. Both continue to challenge the writ of central or provincial authorities.

I have always been intrigued by Kerala and I wonder if there is a Kerala model that could be replicated in the rest of South Asia. With the exception of Kerala, the situation in India is far worse than the Human Development Index suggests. According to economist Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on hunger, India has fared worse than any other country in the world at preventing recurring hunger.

In addition to its high literacy rate, Kerala boasts one of India’s best healthcare systems, even for those who can’t afford to pay user fees and therefore depend on government hospitals. Kerala’s infant mortality rate is about 16 deaths per 1,000 births, or half the national average of 32 deaths per 1,000 births.

Freelance journalist Shirin Shirin thinks Kerala’s success has something to do with the fact that communists have ruled Kerala for much of the past 50 years. The CPI(M) successfully pushed for three major reforms in the 1960s and 1970s. The first and most important was land reform. While nearly everyone looks on land reform as a huge success in Kerala, the policy was controversial when it was first proposed in 1959. Land reform, after all, is an attack on one of capitalism’s founding principles – the right to property. The central government intervened and effectively blocked the implementation of land reform for 10 years. But planners and unions in Kerala understood that building a more egalitarian economy required attacking the old feudal system at its roots, and small farmers weren’t going to stand for anything less.

But even Shining Kerala is plagued by hunger and malnourishment, just as the rest of India. The first India State Hunger Index (Ishi) this year found that Madhya Pradesh had the most severe level of hunger in India, comparable to Chad and Ethiopia. Four states — Punjab, Kerala, Haryana and Assam — fell in the ’serious’ category. “Affluent” Gujarat, 13th on the Indian list is below Haiti, ranked 69. The authors said India’s poor performance was primarily due to its relatively high levels of child malnutrition and under-nourishment resulting from calorie deficient diets.

A recent issue of San Jose Mercury News has a pictorial about grinding poverty in India done by John Boudreau and Dai Sugano. This heartbreaking pictorial illustrates the extent of the problem that India faces, a problem that could potentially be very destabilizing and put the entire society at the risk of widespread chaos and violence.