ECONOMICAL ISSUES OF SINDH PAKISTAN
1972/73 – 2012/13
AHTISHAM HYDER
I
am grateful to the Organizing Committee of the Conference for inviting me to
deliver the Keynote address at this concluding session. As a young CSP officer
working as Additional Finance Secretary in the Government of Sindh I had the
privilege of presenting a paper on “The Economy of Modern Sindh” at the First International
Seminar on ‘Sind through centuries’ held in March 1975. This paper was
subsequently expanded into form of a book which was published by the Institute
of Sindhology, Jamshoro in 1981.
The question I wish to explore this afternoon
is what has happened to economic and social indicators and living standards of
the people of Sindh during these last four decades.
The record is mixed. While per capita
incomes have risen several fold, living standards have moved upwards, incidence
of poverty is lower the social indicators remain dismal. Adult Literacy and Net
Enrolment ratios are still low. Health and Nutritional Standards have not seen
much progress. Rural-Urban Disparities have become more acute creating social
tensions. Energy and water shortages have stunted the growth potential of the
province. Poor Governance and weak institutions have made the delivery of basic
services to the poor almost inaccessible. Deteriorating Security and law and
order situation and increased violence have stalled the level of economic
activity from its optimal level.
Forty three years ago the country had gone
through a cataclysmic upheaval in the form of separation of the Eastern Wing of
the country, detention of 92,000 soldiers in the Indian campus, breakup of West
Pakistan as one unit , nationalization of industries, banks and educational institutions, radical reforms
of Civil Service Structure and so on. These non-economic factors had created a
host of difficulties for orderly and smooth operation of the economy. But the
newly established province of Sindh with a popularly elected government marched
along.
