Parks, playgrounds, and other open amenity plots function as lungs in big cities, but several such places have either been encroached upon in Karachi and Hyderabad or they are being used as wedding lawns or as special bazaars. Not only are these activities harming the people in multiple ways, they are also obstructing the flow of fresh air. Encroachers have demolished the boundary wall of a large park in Lyari area of Karachi, and on the land illegal structures have proliferated. The authorities have failed to remove these structures. A bachat bazaar has been set up in a hockey ground in another locality in violation of the law. The provincial government justifies the establishment of the bazaar on the grounds that it is bringing in revenue. The Sindh High Court has questioned the use of playgrounds for commercial purposes and has sought an explanation from the government. The land mafia is encroaching upon the lands of a graveyard in another area. The mafia is reportedly grabbing the cemetery land under the garb of setting up separate graveyards. People have moved the high court to get these lands freed from encroachments.
While removing commercial establishments the authorities should also prepare alternative plans to enable the displaced shopkeepers to carry on their businesses at other locations. In the past, the worst victims of anti-encroachment drives had been poor workers as they had rendered large numbers of them jobless. The wrong use of sports venues reminds of the encroachments on Niyaz Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. For many years, this stadium has been neglected and large chunks of its land have reportedly been illegally occupied. The grounds of Pakistan Hockey Club in Karachi are reportedly being used as wedding lawns for the past several years. Now movies contain such dialogues ‘Yeh tau kisi hockey player ka naam maloom hota hai (This sounds like the name of some hockey player).’ This shows the neglect of the game in which Pakistan once excelled.
Police brutality?
Even when the police are to be held responsible for any death in the lockup, a young man was recently found hanging in a police lockup at Tando Aallahyar. The DIG Hyderabad has admitted that the dead man was wrongly arrested for selling a banned tobacco substance. Initial investigation has revealed that the police handled the matter with sheer neglect. A case has been registered under sections 302 and 34 of PPC against eight policemen. This case of alleged police brutality has raised questions about the quality of training of police personnel in Sindh and also about the implementation of the law known as the Sindh Repeal of the Police Act of 1861 and Revival of Police Order (Amendment) Act, 2019. This law prescribes that the police personnel are to be sensitised on human rights issues and shall behave humanely towards the people.
Some recent unfortunate incidents indicate that the legislation is not being implemented in letter and spirit, and something is amiss in the training of cops. Reports claim that proper attention is not being paid to the training of police officials; that at training institutes cops bunk classes and the institutes suffer from other drawbacks, and all this prevents officers from working there. In the present case, the young man was arrested on a false charge of selling the banned substance. The police had demanded money from the poor man’s family threatening that they would register an FIR if the family did not pay them the bribe.
The IG has ordered an inquiry into the custodial death. The inquiry will make it clear whether the case was of suicide or murder. The committee is entirely composed of police officials. Under the 2019 law, police complaints commissions at the district and provincial levels are to be set up. One-third members of these bodies are to be independent. These members should be part of inquiries against cops to ensure impartiality of investigations. The people are against police brutality, not against the police.
Kissan Card scheme
The prime minister recently kicked off the distribution of Kissan Cards, one of the government’s most significant efforts to digitise the economy. The Kissan Card scheme aims to streamline the administration of various government programmes that support farmers while also making them more transparent. The cards consolidate recipients’ information on a digital platform accessible by all district administrations. The platform contains information such as demographics, contact details, crops and landholding patterns, livestock, details on the local irrigation system, and levels of mechanisation. This helps with the appropriate allocation of schemes — the right scheme for the right farmers — and also helps quickly and reliably send information such as weather reports or emergency warnings to farmers.
The PM says the card is an ‘amazing concept’ that could ‘transform’ agriculture in the country. Indeed, as we noted, if coordination between the Centre and district administrations is as efficient as we have been promised, the cards could bring our archaic agriculture sector forward many generations in a matter of months. Apart from helping farmers by allowing them easier and quicker access to financing and important information, the cards would also help reduce graft by making it harder to pay or ask for bribes as subsidy payments would be based on data that is already in the government’s network, thus reducing the role of local administration officials in approving or denying access to assistance.
The card will also eventually be used as the basis for affordable loans, which are a necessity for subsistence farmers and lack of which is a major reason for rural poverty — farmers lacking access to loans will often end up borrowing at astronomical rates. Incidentally, loans are also often taken when farmers are at the most vulnerable — immediately after disasters or bad crops. In some cases, this is because they can’t even afford to pay bribes to get access to government support programmes. The cards will, hopefully, eliminate this entirely by making aid administration also work through the cards. As a knock-on effect, improved farming efficiency and reduced production costs through cheaper financing may also help lower open market prices for many food items, which would be hugely beneficial for the rest of the population.
