Disappointed PhDs
The issue of unemployed and under-employed highly educated youth is common to most developing countries, and Pakistan is no exception. A report carried in this newspaper says there are 1,200 jobless PhDs in the country. Many of them hold doctorate degrees in highly specialised science subjects from the world’s top universities. They had been admitted to these universities on merit scholarships. They had to work hard to obtain their degrees, and despite their best efforts to get jobs commensurate with their high qualification, they have neither been absorbed in universities nor industries or any other sector.
There is nothing surprising about the whole thing because it is well known that in matters of job only those having the right connections in the right place are preferred, and merit is ignored. This shows that those who doctor their qualifications have a better chance of getting status-carrying jobs than those who have burnt the proverbial midnight oil to attain higher education. The frustration among the highly educated is a serious malady as it is affecting not only the educated but discouraging the acquisition of education as a whole.
The jobless PhDs have contacted all relevant quarters but their endeavours to get things righted have so far proved futile. The HEC was established in 2002 to overcome a severe shortage of PhD scholars in the country — then there was a shortage of 38,000 doctorate-degree holders. The HEC sent a large number of PhD students to renowned international universities on scholarship to pursue their studies. Not only PhDs financed by the HEC but also those having obtained doctorate degrees with other scholarships returned with the zeal to serve the country, but found their dreams shattered.
The quarters concerned say now several universities are facing financial crunch so they are unable to absorb PhDs. In Third World countries, there are many families where PhDs are sitting idle, and the family expenses are met by other family members doing odd jobs.
SAPM’s dismissal
When, in the last summers, oil prices in the world market crashed due to the fall in demand in the wake of the Covid-induced lockdowns the world over as well as a price war between two oil-producing giants, the federal government announced a significant cut in the prices of all petroleum products for the month of June. This, however, led to the oil disappearing from petrol pumps. Major shortage was witnessed in the supply of motor gasoline, commonly called petrol, in many cities and towns as smaller stocks vanished within a day or two after the prices were revised downward. The oil companies, on the instructions from the authorities, had to resort to rationing to avoid a total dry-out. The supply took about a month to normalise.
On the face of it, it was a plain case of hoarding. Oil marketing companies and petrol pump owners were storing oil in anticipation of an increase in the prices later. But there was more to it, as suggested by a preliminary inquiry report which was unveiled on the orders of the Lahore High Court some time in December. According to the official report, on March 25, 2020, the petroleum ministry issued a ‘controversial’ order whereby all oil marketing companies were directed to cancel their already-booked import orders — something which simply means that the companies were stopped from benefiting from dirt cheap oil prices in the world market. The report makes it clear that the import embargo order did not have the cabinet approval — meaning that the responsibility purely lies with the petroleum ministry high-ups.
And now, the PM has had his special assistant on petroleum, Nadeem Babar, step down pending a forensic inquiry into his role and that of others in the petroleum crisis. The petroleum secretary will also remain suspended till the completion of the inquiry by the FIA. A belated decision though it is, the PM must be appreciated for his decision to go to the bottom of what caused the billions of rupees loss to the exchequer, and to get the erring and dishonest elements identified.
BRI alternative?