Dawn Editorial 26 September 2020
Agriculture data
PRIME MINISTER Imran Khan has ordered the food security ministry and the provinces to take measures for improving the accuracy of the agriculture supply chain data being collated by them. As part of his government’s economic diplomacy initiative, he also directed the ministry to develop a food security dashboard for transmission of dependable information to all stakeholders in a transparent manner. The decision to improve the accuracy of agriculture data and develop the dashboard underscores the importance of reliable information collection for informed planning and policymaking. The ministry has been directed to take measures for gathering correct information related to production, consumption, waste, imports and exports of different agricultural commodities so that the government can ascertain the demand and supply situation for addressing food security challenges under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Emergency Programme.
The importance of data accuracy for setting agriculture policies and predicting accurate future demand and supply cannot be overstated. At the same time, the availability of reliable information helps improve the governance of supply chains, exposes market manipulators, controls smuggling of food and sudden spikes in its price, and predicts market conditions for import and export regarding a particular product or commodity to prevent shortages in the domestic market or losses to farmers, especially smallholders. The reasons for the recent recurrence of sugar and wheat shortages — and the resulting increase in price — can be traced to the absence of a reliable production and consumption record of the two commodities that limited the government’s ability to correctly assess the situation and make timely decisions. There have been numerous instances where data-collecting departments and agencies reported incorrect production and consumption figures of major crops and horticulture products at the expense of growers and consumers.
Reliable data collection, especially in the agriculture sector, has never been a strong point of the relevant authorities. The basic information collected from the field is mostly extrapolated and is of poor quality. More important, it does not capture the entire supply chain or the smaller commodities and horticulture products. Also, the information is scattered at various levels of government, which means it cannot be used for analysing the exact supply situation, planning and policymaking. This is in spite of the availability of new, cheaper information-gathering tools, and modern satellite and mobile technology. The development of the proposed dashboard is expected to take care of data fragmentation. Yet for improving its accuracy, the government will have to encourage the use of technology at all levels. It will also need to ensure that the dashboard carries information on water availability for different crops, climate data and analyses of global markets to give a complete picture to stakeholders. This kind of data is not only required to predict the domestic market correctly but also to integrate our agriculture sector into the global supply chain.
Dormant Saarc
THE regional grouping of South Asian countries that promised so much once has been reduced to an instrument of politicking and brinkmanship. This reality hit with full force once again as foreign ministers of the member countries met informally and virtually this week, in honour of the tradition that has been bringing them together on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session.
Islamabad reiterated its commitment to hosting the 19th Saarc summit “in the spirit of regionalism and as per Pakistan’s commitment to the Saarc platform”. The 19th summit has been on hold since 2016 because of New Delhi’s refusal to participate. As a result, the regional bloc has been more or less dormant in an era in which neighbours are exceedingly dependent on each other, regional cooperation is considered crucial to national development and close economic, cultural and social linkages are essential investments in peace between countries divided by geographical boundaries.
India accused Pakistan of escalating ‘cross-border terrorism’ as it ruled out a regional summit four precious years ago and is sticking to more or less the same position, barring the addition of some emphasis here or a smirk there.
The current belligerence was in full view during the latest meeting of foreign ministers when Indian representatives allowed undiplomatic words such as “pernicious” to escape their lips. This was reflective of the old desire to somehow overwhelm and conceal any mention of what has to be their most embarrassing side — a glaring act of encroachment, the use of force and denial of the people’s rights and aspirations in India-held Kashmir.
Just how sensitive the Narendra Modi government is to any talk of the occupied land can be gauged from the fact that the Indian press, briefed obviously by officials, said that Pakistan had tried to raise Kashmir — even without naming it — three times at the foreign ministers’ meeting.
This, according to the logic applied across the border, constituted a breach of the Saarc principle which discourages taking up bilateral questions on a regional platform. This is quite a strange position for India to take — one big country with the capacity to impose its veto on others is accusing another state belonging to the same regional group of promoting cross-border terrorism. Does this not constitute bilateralism? The emphasis should be on saving the institution. Something created with so much difficulty must not be allowed to be held hostage to jingoistic chatter.
PMDC saga
THE controversy surrounding the arbitrary dissolution of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council appears to be far from over. In the latest twist, officials of the Ministry of National Health Services sealed the Pakistan Medical Commission (until recently the PMDC) building in Islamabad and barred its employees from entering the premises under a “cease and desist” order. According to reports, the NHS spokesperson said that this step was being taken in light of the recently passed PMC Act by parliament. He said that Clause 28 calls for the setting up of a council that will decide what duties to assign to the concerned officials. This move by the federal government is the second such attack within a short span of time. In October 2019, the PMDC was dissolved by the government through an overnight ordinance and replaced with the PMC. PMDC employees had moved the court against this decision, leading the Islamabad High Court in February to restore the PMDC and declare the PMC illegal. In a separate case, the Supreme Court in August 2020 issued orders for the setting up of an 11-member ad hoc committee to manage the PMDC. Very recently, the PMC bill was pushed through a joint sitting of parliament without due deliberation by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Health Services, and signed into law, thus increasing concerns that the removal of checks on private medical colleges would encourage commercial motives.
Even if the government’s intentions in reforming the regulation of medical colleges were sincere, its arrogant way of handling the situation has invited suspicion over the actual reason behind such drastic changes to the regulatory medical body. One wonders whether the fifth-largest population of the world, with a dilapidated and overstretched healthcare system, needs such a controversy in the midst of a global pandemic. The country’s healthcare workers, many of whom come from humble backgrounds, are already working in compromised conditions. They don’t deserve to be made to question their life choices for the benefit of a few.
