• Floods and after

• Cashing in on the floods

• A drowning state

• New measure of poverty

• Poverty in Sindh

• The fight for land

FOR sustainable reconstruction of the physical and social infrastructure of flood-ravaged Sindh, it is necessary to understand to what extent the damage caused by the flood is manmade. Some of the broad indicators are obvious. 

Due to the construction of barrages and hundreds of kilometres of flood protection embankments the floodplains of the Indus have been considerably reduced. They can no longer cater to exceptionally high floods. As such, these floodwaters are carried away by canals to considerable distances away from the floodplains. The canals in turn flood the colonised areas. 

An important question is whether the water-carrying capacity of the floodplains can be increased and whether engineering works can reduce pressure on the canals in case of high floods. Preliminary discussions with engineers suggest that this is feasible. 

Not only have the floodplains shrunk, the shrub lands and the forests in them have been destroyed to make way for agriculture. This has increased the scale of flooding and the velocity of water. It has also made embankments more susceptible to erosion and collapse. In addition, settlements, some permanent and other semi-permanent, have developed in the floodplains, adding considerably to the vulnerable population. 

In the colonised areas, over the last century, hundreds of kilometres of road and protection embankments have been built 10 to 20 feet above the land level. Except for the major drainage channels there are no culverts and/or gates to let floodwaters pass or return through them. If these culverts and gates existed at regular and appropriate intervals, flooding could be controlled and the breaching of these embankments and roads by the force of the water or by design, would not be necessary. 

Even in urban centres, large areas, especially low-income ones, are submerged because they are surrounded by high roads, and water from them cannot be drained out. This is especially true of the areas around Larkana, Sukkur and Shikarpur. 

There are other issues as well. In search of land to cultivate, inundation and drainage channels and the natural depressions connected to them have been encroached upon for agricultural purposes and around towns for the construction of homes and businesses. This is a major cause of flooding, especially in the urban areas, even during normal monsoons. 

And then, there are other issues. Much of the post-1970s’ infrastructure is substandard in quality. In addition, infrastructure, irrespective of its age has not been maintained. Canals, barrages and irrigation headworks have not been properly desilted for years. This is especially true of the minor drainage channels which are the backbone of any efficient drainage system. Most of them are covered with shrubbery preventing effective drainage of fields and agricultural areas. In the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, there are other issues that will surface as well. The floods have wiped out landmarks and the definition of fields and survey numbers. Re-establishing them is a major exercise and is bound to lead to disputes and conflicts. 

During the initial phase of the reconstruction of homes and properties, similar disputes will also arise. In this process the worst affected will be the tenant farmers and the poorer sections of the population. The principles on the basis of which these disputes are to be settled need to be clearly and simply articulated. The institutions that are to settle these disputes will also have to be established at the taluka level. 

It is not possible for people to visit the taluka headquarters for the settlement of these disputes. Therefore, mobile teams will have to camp at different locations and invite applications for the resolution of property-related conflicts. If justice cannot be delivered through a transparent, uncomplicated and swift process, then power and production-related relations will be further strengthened in favour of the more powerful sections of society. 

The rehabilitation of major infrastructure (roads, bridges, electricity, water supply, sewage) and the desilting process required for it, will be taken care of by the state agencies through contractors and consultancy firms. The manner in which it will be done is clear and the local population can be mobilised for this work through a cash- or food-for-work programme. 

Our bureaucracy is well aware of how such programmes are organised and managed. However, it will be necessary to develop appropriate specifications and concepts for the design, maintenance and operation of all major infrastructure items so that they can withstand the scale of flooding that we have experienced. Also, the institutions that develop and manage infrastructure will have to be strengthened, and on the basis of an evaluation of the problems they face, their constraints will have to be removed. 

At the local level, rehabilitation work can be managed by local communities provided they are supported by sound technical advice and managerial guidance by local government (where it exists) and NGOs and professional organisations.For home construction and restoration, it is necessary that building materials are easily available and that their prices are kept under strict control. The profiteering and exploitation around the supply of building materials that was experienced in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake should not be allowed to take place. In addition, improved methods and technologies related to mud construction need to be introduced as mud will remain the cheapest and by far the most easily available material. 

The above is doable and there is a lot of experience available in the country for doing it. It needs to be accessed and organised. 

However, the most important issue is related to livelihoods. It is doubtful if there will be a kharif crop in Sindh this year. For making the next crop possible, cash is required for inputs and for surviving from sowing to harvesting. In addition, livestock has to be fed and looked after. This is perhaps our greatest challenge and this is the concern of many of the IDPs in Karachi. 

Discussions with them suggest that many of the tenant farmers and landless labour are seriously considering staying on in Karachi and looking for jobs. Small farmers would like to go back but think that by leaving a member in Karachi they will receive some financial support to rebuild their lives in their villages and small towns. A new relationship between the capital of Sindh and the people of its hinterland is in the process of being established. It should be welcomed and supported.

(By Arif Hasan, Dawn-7, 30/08/2010)

WHEN natural disaster strikes, it can affect the rich and the poor, but not alike. Calamities such as floods and earthquakes hit the poor harder. 

Being the children of lesser gods, the poor are more vulnerable. As such they need more help and for them recovery becomes a massive challenge. 

In times of such crises, the temptation to cash in on their misery and play politics becomes irresistible for the rich and the powerful who have traditionally prospered from this inequitable equation. 

This is being amply demonstrated in the testing times that Pakistan is currently going through, when floods are wreaking havoc on people who have already fallen victim to other tragedies that were essentially man-made. Many had suffered at the hands of terrorists. Others had seen dislocation and violence caused by the war that terrorism had invited. There were many more whose hardships were compounded by a dysfunctional and apathetic government not famous for its integrity. 

Hence when the rains described by the Met Office as “once in a century” descended on the country, the devastation caused was stupendous. One should be wary of giving figures because the range of the numbers being quoted in the media and by leaders is mind-boggling. We are told that over 1,600 people have drowned, 13 million have been displaced, 252,000 homes have been washed away and infrastructure in large areas has been totally destroyed. The National Disaster Management Authority’s website gives the update for Aug 8 as: 1,203 deaths, 1,317 injured and 288,170 houses damaged. The country was in a state of shock — or should have been — given the scale of the destruction. 

Natural calamities are unavoidable. But their impact can be minimised by careful and shrewd planning, and effective and prompt disaster management. Accurate forecasting and early warning, where possible, also reduce damage. In this context, we do not know how unpredictable the deluge really was and whether the loss of life could have been lower. 

What was painful was the experience of watching different sectors of society vying to politicise the crisis to their own advantage. The reaction of different people spoke volumes for their perception of the crisis. The prime minister described the floods as the “worst in Pakistan’s history” and went on to launch a flood relief fund while also making an appeal for international humanitarian assistance. Many countries were quick to respond — the US pledged $35m and Britain £15m. 

True, the enormity of the damage called for intensive official intervention and the government’s resources are limited. But its failure to make even a token gesture of demonstrating a spirit of self-reliance evoked cynicism. One did not hear of Islamabad tightening its belt to generate funds for flood relief. In fact, President Zardari’s visit to France and Britain was even embarrassing because it displayed brazen insensitivity at a time when he should have been with his people. Besides, can one justify appeals for donations when the head of a government is ostensibly on a spending spree? The president tried to justify his visit in the context of the flood by saying that it helped him raise donations. 

But was it just a coincidence that only a day before, his son Bilawal had launched a fund-raising drive, and the UK’s Charity Commission, the independent charity regulator, issued a warning titled “Be aware of possible Pakistan appeal scams”. It warned the public against “criminals who try to take advantage of the public’s generosity” through fictitious appeals. 

The commission stated “the public’s support is crucial to enable charities to deliver desperately needed aid to Pakistan but it is vital that donations go to a genuine charity so that they reach those in need”. Pakistani expatriates are usually known to donate generously whenever natural disaster strikes. 

While political elements exploited the situation, the religious extremists were not to be left behind. Before the floods, the Taliban had no qualms about inflicting their brand of violence on innocent people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They had also been hand in glove with the timber mafia in denuding forested regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Deforestation, it is admitted, has exacerbated the tempo of the flood. 

Adopting a carrot and stick strategy, a spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan announced at a time when the flood was at its peak that his organisation was suspending attacks in the flood-hit areas of the country. Of course the temporary respite never came. The day following this announcement the chief of the Frontier Constabulary was killed by a teenaged suicide bomber in Peshawar. 

The Taliban saw the floods as an occasion to preach their own ideological doctrines and seize upon the people’s misery to bring them to heel. A purported representative of the Taliban, as quoted by Channel 4 news, claimed that the flood was an opportunity for the people “to seek forgiveness” and “pledge support to the Mujahideen and Islam”. According to him the calamity was a punishment inflicted on the people who had “desecrated Sharia and insulted the Mujahideen and sought help from the infidels”. 

After pointing out the flawed character of the population, the militants could not let go of this chance to impress on the people their “humanitarian spirit”. The religious parties went into action to set up relief camps for the flood victims in a show of sympathy for them. 

In the lead was the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation — relief wing of the Jamaatud Dawa thought to be the public face of the Lashkar-i-Taiba which has been accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks in 2008. With the government and the army’s rescue operations failing to neutralise the impact of the fury of the rivers, the Islamist charities stood a good chance of winning the public’s heart. 

We will have to wait and see who wins in this strange battle for hearts and minds that is shaping up in Pakistan.: 

(By Zudeida Mustafa, Dawn-7, 11/08/2010)

WHILE the physical and material destruction caused by the floods in Pakistan has been colossal, the deluge has also revealed the complete ineptitude and surrender by the Pakistani state and its government. 

The reputation and credibility of the government in power, as well as the opposition which supports it, has been washed asunder in a matter of weeks. In every sense, Pakistan’s state represents a drowned, failed state having surrendered all responsibility at the gates of the floods. 

The biggest symbol of the criminal indifference and neglect regarding one’s responsibility to the people of Pakistan has been manifest in the form of President Zardari, with his justifiably criticised visit to France and UK at a time when Pakistanis were facing their worst-ever natural disaster. However, this has been only one example, though perhaps the most poignant, and there have been numerous other manifestations which represent the same form of abject abdication of responsibility. 

Perhaps the most absurd and farcical act by the government in power and its supportive opposition had been the decision to set up a commission of ‘independent’ and ‘neutral’ individuals to distribute public funds to those affected by the floods, with elected representatives rushing to join civil society groups. Although there has now been a move to activate the National Disaster Management Commission, one fails to understand the logic of the thinking of political actors — elected representatives of Pakistan who appear to have acknowledged their own complete failure to govern and represent the Pakistani people. 

The purpose of a government is to be able to govern, to be able to deal with calamities and to be able to distribute public funds where they are needed most. This happens under normal, stable circumstances, but has greater urgency in times of crisis. By agreeing to set up an independent commission, the government and its loyal opposition revealed two critical features pertaining to themselves. 

Firstly, they recognised that the people of Pakistan who elected them have no faith in the government’s ability to distribute public resources fairly, transparently and impartially. If there was such trust in the government’s ability to do so, there would be no need for an independent commission. Elected and public representatives in Pakistan have finally realised that their people consider them to be corrupt. They refuse to trust them with the distribution of funds even at a time of crises. Moreover, the extremely poor response by the general public to contribute to the government’s relief fund is another sign of people voting with their feet and passing a no-confidence motion against the government in power. 

The second, more surprising, revelation was the inability by political and elected actors to use the situation to their own political advantage. Crises and wars can work wonders for the reputation of faltering and failing governments and politicians. They can revive fortunes if carefully responded to. One fails to understand how politicians in Pakistan have relinquished the opportunity to do so at a time when the government has been losing support. 

The president himself, with dismal ratings, could have taken the lead and been seen at the forefront of the relief effort. But he was nowhere visible. Similarly, had the government and opposition been perceived as having adequately and quickly responded to the crisis, which also meant distributing relief goods and public money, they too could have regained lost respect. The Government of Pakistan, its president, its state, as well as the opposition, have all abandoned the people of Pakistan at a time when they are needed most, leaving a huge vacuum for other non-state actors to fill. 

Another absurd consequence of the reaction of the government reveals its further duplicity about whose interests its serves. In one of the most bizarre decisions in recent times, the government has decided to slash the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) so that it can divert funds for flood relief and rehabilitation. While there are serious problems with this approach, what is absurd is that while the government is willing to cut the PSDP to meet a crucial condition of the International Monetary Fund, of keeping the fiscal deficit low, it has in the same breath chosen to take a loan of $900m from the World Bank adding further to the $56bn debt! The astonishing logic seems to be that Pakistan can continue to raise debt, but only from foreign donors, not from its own people. 

There are numerous other aspects which have emerged as a consequence of the floods which are worth citing. One wonders what happened to that group of people who called themselves Friends of Democratic Pakistan, who were so eager to fund different wars on terror and drone attacks, but are now unwilling to help at a time of crisis. 

They can trust the Pakistani government to spend their money to kill people but not to save lives. The fact that humanitarian aid had so far been shy of coming forward on account of allegations of the misappropriation of funds by public representatives is a further indictment of the Pakistani government. 

Whichever way one looks at it, the response by the government, by its loyal opposition, by Pakistan’s so-called friends, or by aid agencies, all highlight the Pakistani state’s abject failure to govern at a time when it is needed most. It is not surprising then that people seek other alternatives.

(By S. Akbar Zaidi, Dawn-7, 20/08/2010)

FOR long economists have sought to devise yardsticks to quantify economic progress which can be called an intangible phenomenon. 

At one time, measures such as the GDP growth rate, the employment rate and inflation were considered enough to help governments determine how the economy was doing and how it was affecting people. When international aid-giving agencies became major actors in the global economy the need was felt to develop universal standards in order to allow governments and aid-givers to compare the economies of different countries. 

That was not all. It was also recognised that economics called for a holistic view if it was not simply to be viewed as the capacity to make money. There are many factors that determine the quality of life of people and enhance the economic productivity of a nation. The key ones are education, healthcare and basic civic amenities that came to be regarded as the responsibility of the state. 

A new concept was also put forward by economists spearheaded by Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen that poverty was not simply ‘income deprivation’ as it had been conventionally understood but ‘capability deprivation’. It is the latter that prevents people from realising their optimal wellbeing and potential. 

In the 1970s a rudimentary measure had been developed called the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) that was based on calculating the literacy rate, the infant mortality rate and life expectancy at age one. 

Then development practitioners moved on to the human development index which was first devised by Pakistani economist Dr Mahbubul Haq and has been published by the UNDP annually for 20 years. Based on more complex calculations, it factorises life expectancy, literacy and the standard of living based on real GDP per capita (purchasing power parity). 

Although the UNDP has developed additionally a number of indices such as the gender empowerment index, poverty index and so on, we now have a new one called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) that will feature in this year’s UNDP’s Human Development Report to be released in October. 

Developed by the Oxford University’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative for the UNDP, the MPI has been billed as an “innovative new measure that gives a multidimensional picture of people living in poverty”. 

Measuring poverty in 104 Third World countries where 78 per cent of the world’s population lives, the index claims to go beyond measuring income (that determines the purchasing capacity of a person) to assess the “nature and intensity of poverty at the individual and household level in education, health outcomes and standard of living” (that includes water supply, sanitation and electricity). 

Hence the indicators have been increased to 10. A person who is deprived in 70 per cent of the weighted indicators is clearly worse off than someone with 30 per cent deprivation, the latter being the cut-off mark for poverty. 

There is no denying that this approach delineates in greater detail the nature of poverty that afflicts people in any country. More worrying for many governments — at least those who care — is that the poverty ratio by the MPI in most cases works out to be much higher than has been done by conventional methods. 

Take Pakistan’s case. Comparing the MPI with other poverty measures gives different results. According to the MPI 51 per cent of Pakistanis are poor when the older criteria of $1.25 a day showed only 23 per cent to be poor, the $2 a day measure put 60 per cent in the impoverished category while the government’s own national poverty line placed 33 per cent of the population in poverty. 

According to the new index Pakistan has 88 million poor. The figure may well be higher considering that the calculations are based on the data given in the Demographic and Health Survey of 2007 and we know that the situation has grown worse in the last three years. It is not clear how this extra information will help eliminate poverty, which is proclaimed to be the ultimate goal of all governments and aid-givers. Pakistan should be worrying most about the high degree of deprivation in schooling and enrolment — 19.3 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. 

Along with child mortality these three indicators contribute to more than half of the multidimensional poverty in the country. The deprivation in nutrition is not given. The poor social-sector performance means the poor in Pakistan can hardly hope for a better future. It is patent that a good education is the key that can open doors to opportunities and the realisation of one’s capabilities. 

Some countries emerge as poorer than us in this index but their better education indicators mean that more people will acquire the capability to pull themselves out of poverty. Poverty in India, according to the MPI, is 55.4 per cent but the deprivation in schooling (17.6 per cent) and enrolment (25 per cent) is much lower than ours. 

Similarly Bangladesh is poorer with 57.8 per cent poverty and its deprivation in schooling (23.7 per cent) is also more than Pakistan’s but deprivation in enrolment is nine per cent which means that schooling should improve in due course. 

Another feature that characterises the fate of the poor and which no index has been able to record includes the humiliation and injustice they have to suffer. Consider. Why is it that the victims of police excesses are invariably poor? Why does a crime against a poor person generally go unpunished? Why is the wrong he suffers not redressed? Is it surprising when a poor person in trouble — not because he has been on the wrong side of the law — has to forge connections with the more privileged to save his skin? 

The MPI does not have any mechanism to measure the injustices that are an integral part of poverty in most Third World countries. And yet we know how the absence of social justice affects the self-esteem of people which in turn creates capability deprivation.

(By Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn-7, 21/07/2010)

THE widening gap between the rich and the poor in developing countries is not only causing resentment against the well-to-do, it is also weakening societal values, the binding force that allows communities to coexist. 

Pakistan’s rural community, as in any other under-developed country, is largely poor. Sindh is the second largest province of Pakistan in terms of population. Nearly 52 per cent of its population lives in the rural areas. The rural-urban poverty gap in Sindh is high compared to the other provinces. The bulk of the rural population is said to be living below the poverty line. 

The rural inhabitants of Sindh are dependent on agriculture, in arid zones on animal rearing and in the coastal belt on fishing for livelihood. But the constant shortage of water in districts Thatta, Badin, Umerkot and in parts of districts Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Dadu and surprisingly some pockets of the Rohri canal system in district Khairpur is the main factor behind raised poverty levels. This is due, of course, to the mismanagement of water. 

Official figures suggest that poverty is on the rise in districts Badin and Thatta due to sea intrusion which is causing the permanent or seasonal submerging of irrigated cultivable lands. The lands, which are not under direct threat of sea intrusion but where there is a constant shortage of irrigation water or an irregular supply, since the last 10 years have a virtually ruined economy. 

Ground realities suggest that the water shortage in districts Badin and Thatta as well as Umerkot, and a major portion of the command area of Taluka Johi and Khairpur Nathan Shah in district Dadu shall not improve and will, in fact, further deteriorate. In other parts of Sindh, the water availability position may be comparatively better, but the crop yield is still low, mainly because of soil erosion due to water-logging and over-irrigation. Besides agricultural material is costly, quality seeds are non-available, the fertilisers are adulterated and the pesticides spurious. 

Employment opportunities in the public sector are limited. There are few chances of employment for the rural jobless in the private sector mainly due to the poor standard of education and substandard technical training. In the agriculture sector, the rising trend of mechanised farming has virtually closed the door on new entrants from the local farm workforce. 

The irony is that sources of livelihood and employment opportunities for rural inhabitants are shrinking but there is no check on population growth in the countryside. The unemployed youth, therefore, move to cities for jobs but the urban employment market is already over-saturated. 

In any civilised society, it is the government’s duty to envisage and adopt strategies whereby all working hands are provided with opportunities to make a living, earning sufficiently so that they do not have to queue up outside charity institutions, run after the powerful for Rozgar cards or join criminals. 

There is no doubt that poverty in lower Sindh will further grow. But the condition of the poorest of the poor in fertile areas with comparatively better water availability is equally bad. They are also victims of malnutrition. They are denied an education and have no access to potable water or other essentials including basic healthcare. 

The government must understand the gravity of the situation and work hard on different strategies to check the growing poverty rate. Some strategies are at the stage of implementation. But will providing one or two buffaloes/cows, opening local handicrafts centres, installing hand pumps, constructing culverts or a few thousand houses for the poor in selected talukas satisfy overall hunger, let alone procure medicines, education and clothing for the poor? It will not. The pace at which the monster of poverty is growing cannot be checked with such government measures or even through public-private partnerships. 

If one asks the poor as to which is their greatest problem, their reply would be the absence of livelihood. Here I would like to narrate a personal experience. During my posting as secretary, irrigation and power, Sindh in 2002, while touring the water-deficient areas at the tail-end of a rice canal in taluka Khairpur Nathan Shah, Dadu, I was stopped by villagers who were waiting for me. During our discussion, I remember a man in his 50s drew my attention towards the nearby under-construction metalled road and stated, “We do not want the road but provide us with water for irrigation”. He went on to say, “Yesterday passengers of a Suzuki pickup declined to take me to town because I was short of the fare by Rs1.” 

This does not mean that the construction of roads should be stopped but the need is to prioritise programmes and projects that create employment activities. Hence the need to identify areas and develop strategies for alternative sources of livelihood which, in the case of rural Sindh, are livestock and fish farming.

(By Meer Mohammed Parihar, Daily Dawn, 20/07/2010)

  
LAND-GRABBING, the euphemism for the illegal and often forcible takeover of private and public land across the country, is a growing problem, one that the authorities are often turning a blind eye to. Sometimes, there is a veneer of legality applied, as in the case of ‘housing schemes’ and ‘projects’ in Murree and swaths of CDA property in Islamabad. The floods have given rise to concerns that local influentials and corrupt officials will force small farmers out of their land when they return to villages which have been washed away and farmland covered in silt. Yet, perhaps nowhere is the problem greater than in Karachi, where criminal elements and state officials have colluded in jeopardising the future of the city. A report in this newspaper yesterday suggests that in Gadap and Bin Qasim towns on the outskirts of Karachi, land-grabbers are active under the guise of IDPs. In truth, however, the problem is much larger than that. 

According to a well-respected NGO, since 2006 nearly 30,000 acres of land have been carved up in the towns of Bin Qasim, Gadap and Keamari. The towns form an arc around the city of Karachi and much of the land there was under the control of generations-old villages that had leased the land for agricultural purposes. In recent years, the land has become commercially more attractive following the construction of an extensive road network on the outskirts of Karachi (the northern bypass being a major example). So, inevitably, the three towns, where a majority of the 1,800 goths in the city are located, have attracted the eye of officials with eviction powers and land mafias with deep pockets. Everyone is believed to be involved in the racket: the police; political parties, big and small; land mafias headed by colourful characters that few Karachiites have heard about. In fact, so deep is the collusion that it would not be a surprise if the police were removing ‘fake IDP’ encroachers in support of rival groups. The great tragedy in all of this is that the future of the city of Karachi has already been auctioned off: 30,000 acres is enough space to house nine million people. 

While ‘land mafias’ in far-flung areas get a bad name, their cousins, the ones operating in the city proper, are no less insidious. The Mai Kolachi area and parts of Defence in Karachi are also under the control of mafias, only these are often overlooked because they belong to the gentry. The effect, though, is the same: the hope for urban planning of any kind is receding further and further.

(Dawn-13, 26/08/2010)