The Federal Budget was presented this month. The startling fact was that no relief was announced for the 50 percent of people below the poverty line in Pakistan. This was the second budget of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. The poor people always eagerly wait for a year for the budget to hear about a subsidy on edible items like flour, oil and sugar, the unemployed — but educated — look for jobs and the salaried for an increase in their salaries. The 2014-15 Budget took nothing in consideration for the common masses. Importantly, a budget of around Rs 3,800 billion was announced but around Rs 1,900 billion of it was allocated for the repayment of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and the defence sector. The country will run for a year with half of the total budget. From the remainder, like in previous budgets, no increase in the budgetary allocations for health and education has been announced. The collective budget of these two crucial sectors is not equal to the motorway budget. The Budget has clearly shown the priorities of the PML-N government that has no concern for the poor Pakistanis and the health and education sectors of the country. It was incumbent on the democratic government to present a balanced budget by keeping in consideration poverty, unemployment, inflation, and the poor state of the health and education sectors, as well as the development sectors of the country. The budget is lopsided because it has focused just on the development sector, but ignored all other sectors. When the poor people are worried about how they will arrange their two-time daily meal, how can they think of benefiting from roads and other business-related projects announced in the budget? For example, the poor and even unemployed-educated have not benefitted from the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) Youth Business Loan Scheme due to the hard conditions it imposes. The meeting of conditions of a guarantor or property is very tough for loan seekers.
The Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governments had to a great extent balanced budgets because they incorporated development and pro-poor elements in their respective budgets. The Musharraf government’s budgets could not get appreciation due to his being labelled as a dictator. But PPP government’s steps of the Benazir Income Support Programme, stipends for female students, Benazir Bhutto paid skilled training programmes and the creation of thousands of jobs at the federal and provincial level were some pro-poor and appreciated measures. One is unable to understand in what way a federal budget is constituted and what parameters are used for its formation. Is there any pre-budget survey carried out to form a balanced budget? Pakistan has been round 67 years, but it has failed to formulate an anti-poverty strategy. Investment in education and employment opportunities are crucial to fight poverty. This time the budget is again devoid of an anti-poverty strategy. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) prescribed minimum budgetary allocation for the education sector is four percent of GDP. Pakistan has even now not allocated that much to the crucial education sector. No announcement has been made to create employment opportunities.
Pakistan faces terrorism and a severe energy crunch. The president of Pakistan and the PM’s speeches to a joint session of Senate and the National Assembly prior to budget day portrayed a picture of Pakistan as if there are no problems and crises in the country. Both gave undue praise to each other. No admission of our problems was made. The fate of the Pakistani nation cannot change with such budgets, which do not consider each and every problem and crisis in the country. The dictatorial rule equal to half the life of the country has long been blamed for all its ills. Fortunately, the last democratic government of the PPP completed its full tenure and made a smooth transition of democracy to the PML-N. The second budget of the PML-N government has so far frustrated the Pakistani nation. There has been no relief provided to the Pakistani nation. It is the test of a democratic government in its budgets to have more pro-poor and pro-prosperity projects. Suppose the PML-N government completes its tenure like the last PPP government; if the former fails to rid Pakistan of its major problems and crises and provides no relief to the nation in its three coming budgets during its tenure, there will be no justification for left political parties to blame dictators for all the ills of the country. The 2014-15 Budget has publicly been criticised by almost all political parties for failing to announce in the budget any pro-poor scheme. The PML-N government’s responsibility was to consider the suggestions of all parties for the budget. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Federal Shadow Budget was the epitome of a balanced budget because it had considered and included all elements necessary for the relief of the Pakistani nation and development projects for the country. When the MQM can comprehend the needs of the hour and necessities for a budget, how can the PML-N have failed to include them? Was it a deliberate exclusion of pro-poor elements in the budget by PML-N or was it simply ignorance of what things needed to be included in the budget? The Pakistani nation needs subsidies on edible items and job opportunities. This nation needs no motorways at this stage.
The writer is a blogger and freelance columnist