Demolished lives
KARACHI has witnessed mass economic discrimination far too often, making the PPP’s ‘roti, kapra, makaan’ slogan seem rather aspirational. The misery of 9,632 families displaced in a flattening action in the name of an expansion plan for Gujjar, Orangi Town and Mehmoodabad storm water drains was noticed by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Wednesday. Prior to this, the top court directed the provincial government to disburse rent compensation to affectees within 30 days — they have been deprived of resettlement and recompense for two long years. But the monthly amount of Rs15,000 as rental support is hardly sufficient consolation for the destitution weathered by them.
Perhaps there isample reason to have reservations about the location of these settlements and the correlation between squatter colonies and urban flooding. But demolition operations must assume a more humane approach — chalking out impartial relocation schemes and payment plans — so that poor dwellers forced out of their homes are not at the mercy of the elements, without security, assets and access to essential needs. Every rash demolition increases the distance between the haves and the have-nots as authorities look the other way when vast, upmarket residential societies are constructed on land seized from hapless owners, including shacks purportedly built atop culverts. Interestingly, renowned architects and urban planners state that these roads beside Gujjar and Orangi Town nullahs did not feature on any Karachi master plan. Nevertheless, the fact that builders backed by powerful quarters will prevail is a foregone conclusion in the metropolis. The government would do well to follow elemental parameters — detailed surveys of houses, proportionate shelters and compensation. Also, a credible way to check mushroom growth of encroachments and katchi abadis is low-cost housing townships; these will also prevent similar recurrences over drains. But history shows that it takes repeated court orders for Sindh’s government and bureaucracy to stir in favour of those on the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023
India’s space quest
INDIA’S successful Chandrayaan-3 mission is indeed historic, as the craft became the first to land near the south pole of the moon. Moreover, with this feat, India joins a select club of nations — including the US, Russia and China — that have achieved controlled landings on the lunar surface.
While there is much wrong with modern India, especially with the Hindu majoritarian government’s repressive tendencies, this particular feat deserves appreciation as our eastern neighbour achieved on a lesser budget what richer nations accomplished by spending larger sums.
Nearly a decade ago, the Indians also successfully launched the Mangalyaan observer mission to Mars, while success was achieved in the latest moon mission after Chandrayaan-2 failed in 2019.
Perhaps the key to the success of India’s space programme, apart from sustained state support, is the quality and dedication of its engineers and scientists who helped make these difficult missions possible.
Comparisons are indeed odious, but there may be plenty for Pakistan to learn from India’s space success. Pakistan’s space programme was launched before India’s and managed modest success, such as launching a rocket in the early 1960s under the watch of luminaries such as Dr Abdus Salam.
In 1990, we managed to put a satellite, Badr-1, into space. These missions were accomplished with American and later Chinese help. However, in the decades since, our national space body, Suparco, has not achieved any stellar success.
There are various reasons for our space programme remaining earth-bound. Among these include the fact that, particularly in the recent past, Pakistan’s space agency has been helmed by retired military men, not experts in the field.
Also, much has been written about our education system, and the fact that it is not producing the required manpower to give Pakistan a qualitative edge in science and technology.
Sadly, we have become consumers of science and technology, and not producers of knowledge. Moreover, we lose our best minds to brain drain as bright youngsters opt for greener pastures due to stifling bureaucracy and lack of merit and opportunities at home.
While Pakistan cannot afford to pursue vanity projects — a former minister had boasted about putting a person in space — a functional space programme is important for defence and civilian needs.
Perhaps we can learn from India in this respect by revamping Suparco and encouraging our brightest to innovate and reach for the stars.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023
Shell-shocked
SINCE the base power tariff was jacked up starting July 1, protests over exorbitant electricity bills have surged to a crescendo. With prices of almost all other commodities of domestic use also at unprecedented levels, household budgets were already very tight.
The higher electricity prices hit during a month when parents of school-going children were also juggling back-to-school costs, adding to their despair. To make matters worse, there seems to be no respite in sight.
According to recent reports, power distribution companies have petitioned the national power regulator to recover additional fuel costs and quarterly tariff adjustment charges for electricity that has been consumed in previous months.
The total amount to be charged to customers under these two heads runs close to Rs200 billion. If approved, these charges will start to be added to customers’ bills in the coming months. That is not all. Considering the ongoing devaluation of the rupee, electricity generation costs are likely to continue rising in the coming months, which will necessitate various similar ‘adjustments’ being charged to customers through their electricity bills in the foreseeable future as well.
With citizens struggling to come to terms with the sudden increase in the cost of electricity, there is already much resentment over the significant difference between the weighted average cost of generating one unit of electricity and how much consumers end up paying for it after added charges and taxes.
It appears that authorities now have little option but to confront head-on the citizenry’s concerns over this differential, which reflects massive capacity payments past governments have guaranteed to power generation companies, line losses arising from a highly inefficient energy distribution infrastructure, rampant electricity theft and, lastly, the slew of taxes that are slapped onto billed electricity charges.
The authorities must get to work on a war footing. Companies managing the transmission and distribution of power should be held to account for consistently high line losses; bill-payers cannot continue to pay for their negligence.
Likewise, the state has turned a blind eye to electricity theft for too long. It defies understanding why it expects honest citizens to pay for those who steal. The matter of capacity payments is larger and more complex. Nearly six years ago, these pages had warned the authorities that they were leading Pakistan into a ‘capacity trap’.
The government now has to find a way out of any bad contracts, which are adding unfairly to the cost burden for end consumers. Lastly, the government must rationalise its taxes. It can start by reviewing the withholding income tax on electricity bills that cross the Rs25,000 threshold. The condition places an unfair burden on anyone living in a rented property who may be a filer themselves but is renting from a non-filer.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023