Reduce bureaucracy and privileges

There are no two opinions that Pakistan has an inefficient bureaucracy and an unsustainable size of government. Their salaries, pensions, perks and privileges are a real burden on an underperforming economy, and an economy that has a staggering budget deficit of Rs6 trillion. Paying and pampering around 1.92 million federal employees with their little or no contribution to the advancement of the civil service is a conundrum. So is the pathetic situation of provinces. Though several reform projects have been undertaken in the past to reduce the growing pie of bureaucracy, no proper solution has emerged till date, apparently due to blatant political interference and the machinations of the well-established babu mafia. Therefore, the recent decision of the government to abolish 28 departments in five ministries and open up many of the avenues for outsourcing is a welcome development.

Pakistan has one of the most redundant and elaborate bureaucracies known for creating obstacles in the way of file work with the explicit intention of grabbing a loot. Police, judiciary and civil bureaucracy as well as dozens of semi-autonomous public sector organisations are moth-eaten structures, which have to be run by backward civil servants who are left to fend for themselves. This has led to piling up of daily tasks and lack of confidence among the people in the affairs of the public sector. Sending home the dead wood is an indispensable task, and needs to be choreographed with a healthier and compassionate mindset. Laying off employees is always undesirable, but here it is the way to get the functioning of ministries and the government back on track and make it economically sustainable and competitive.

The first thing that should be done before resignation letters are written is to abolish all kinds of benefits and privileges enjoyed by senior civil servants, both civilian and military, whether serving or retired. The pension account and paying their electricity, telephone, rent and petrol bills from the national pot, apart from a lucrative salary, is a crime for an unhappy tax-burdened nation. Let that be abolished first, before you encroach on the easy ducks in government offices.