Throughout history, prominent social to scientific revolutions stemmed from the knowledge circulation among intellectual elites. The enlightenment era saw salons and coffee houses of Europe, the intellectual center of Baghdad, Aristotle’s lyceum, and Greek agora — the communities that boasted the cream of intellectuals, who co-learned through the dispersion of ideas and mutual contemplation.

Today, we have finally agreed upon the interdisciplinary approach towards devising solutions to contemporary challenges. Try imagining any of the latest breakthroughs that do not involve an intellectual community. Do you think the world could have found cancer treatment without the diverse expertise of a community, a community of researchers, doctors, nanotechnologists, and computer scientists? Accordingly, the concept of “innovation ecosystems” emerged, given the high uncertainty and complex growth circumstances, to support co-learning, co-innovation, and co-creation. Innovation ecosystem involves the collaboration of all the stakeholders and actors: academia, government, corporations, private investors, firms, media, mentors, and entrepreneurs who come together for a mutually compatible goal.

Like the organisms which support each other for collective survival, actors in the innovation ecosystem collaborate through shared knowledge and resources to transform the ideas into reality. Thus, one might find a reasonable investment opportunity, whereas the other would obtain the required investment at the right time for the right reasons. The realization of ideas and production of development outcomes involve the interlinked actors, who do not restrain each other’s creativity and fully harness the diversity of expertise and resources. Therefore, academia-industry, firm-firm, public-private linkages are the driving factors for innovation within the innovation ecosystem.

According to the 80 broad indicators of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020, Switzerland is the world’s most innovative economy, followed by Sweden and the United States of America. In Switzerland, the government’s funding is oriented towards fostering the academia-industry linkages. The Swiss innovation agency, Innosuisse, has a policy of providing the funds directly to universities, driving the companies to look for university partners in the pursuit of innovation. The US follows the “triple helix model” to promote the linkages between academia, government, and industry. Interestingly, the US witnessed an upsurge in innovation post the 1980’s Bayh-Dole act that supported the incentivizing, patenting, and technology transfer of University research. So, the formalized and institutionalized collaborations could iron out the discrepancies within the innovation ecosystem.

Germany, ranking 8th for University-Industry cooperation on GII, is another example of an innovation ecosystem supported by legislation, Germany’s Investor’s law of 2002. Our rising neighbours, India and Iran, have definitely left us in either awe or a bind, climbing up to the rank of 48 and 67, respectively.

Pakistan’s economy has plummeted to 107 positions on GII, whereas the other developing economies have demonstrated stellar innovation performance. In Pakistan, there is a lack of cross-sector communication and collaboration. In a recent study on innovation in Pakistan, it was found that out of 696 firms, only 0 – 0.6% of firms coordinate with domestic research institutes/universities and government. Such statistics are quite alarming in the context of innovation. We need to closely analyze and learn from the developing economies that are progressing in the innovation landscape. It is high time for industries to come up as the trendsetter, not the trend follower. The research institutes and their research is of no use if it has no practical existence for practitioners. So, we need to understand the potential of research and its impacts on the innovation trajectory. Universities and Industries should strengthen each other through study and financial support, respectively.

Moreover, supportive policies should be formulated at universities and industries to offer patronage for academia-industry linkages. Also, legislative support for subtle collaborations and the protection of intellectual property rights can smoothen up the process significantly. The innovation ecosystem is the way forward; hence flexible alliances, creative collaborations, and knowledge diffusion are the cornerstones for innovation-led growth in Pakistan.

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Source: World Education

The educational progress of a country can be measured in terms of several indicators. One of these is the net enrolment rate (NER), which is defined as the total enrolment of school-going age children as a proportion of total school-age population. In Pakistan, the NER at the primary and secondary level of education has been dismally low. It barely increased from 60.8% in 2006 to 67.6% in 2018 at the primary level, and from 30.5% in 2006 to 37.4% in 2018 at the secondary level. In order to make improvements in this realm, several strategies can be adopted.

Conditional cash transfers are becoming a popular tool for increasing NER. To reap this benefit, Punjab introduced a Female School Stipend Program in 2003, where quarterly subsidies were provided to girls enrolled in the secondary level, with the condition that they attend at least 80% of classes. Two years into implementation of the program, enrolment of females increased by approximately 10%. There was also evidence that these girls delayed marriage by more than a year and had fewer births by the time they were 20. While these are only early outcomes, they have the potential to translate into significant gains in future productivity, fertility, and intergenerational human capital accumulation. Therefore, a strong focus should be placed on such programs because their positive impacts are sustained beyond the short term.

Provision of meals in schools has a substantial impact on improving NER. In 2002, Tawana Pakistan Project was launched to address the dismal school enrolment and nutritional status of young girls in 29 high-poverty districts. The School Nutrition Package included the provision of a midday meal at a cost of Rs. 7, deworming medicine and multi-micronutrient supplements. Two years later, enrolment in these districts increased by 40% and females’ ability to plan balanced meals improved. However, the implementation progress was slow due to improper collection of data, lack of training and leadership, disruption in supply, provision of nutritionally inadequate meals, and sub-standard quality of medicines. Therefore, it is crucial to implement effective school-meal programs to incentivize children to attend schools.

Participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the educational landscape contributes to an improvement in NER. Pakistan’s education-oriented NGOs assume several significant roles such as service delivery, advocacy, capacity building, innovation, research and social experimentation. Majority of the NGOs rely on running schools with effective community-based participation, which is achieved through extensive mobilization, formation of committees, and child-centered methodologies. Other initiatives include rehabilitation of non-functional and troubled schools, improvement of existing infrastructure of government schools, and revitalization of district education planning. Therefore, it is crucial for Pakistan’s government to encourage NGOs to play an active role in the education sector.

Pakistan is a multilingual country with 6 major and over 59 small languages. However, Urdu and English are the mediums of instruction in most schools in urban and rural areas. It is important to highlight that a particular medium of instruction can impact a child’s personality, learning, comprehension of fundamental concepts, and relationship with education. With an unfamiliar set of words, a child may suffer from lack of confidence, dissipated attention and unease; due to this, he/she will be more inclined to drop out at the primary level. Therefore, it is proposed that mother tongue or a local language should be used for the first three years of schooling, a language of wider communication (such as Urdu) during school, and English in post-secondary education and university.

In addition to these, a few other interventions have to be considered to increase the country’s NER. As opposed to the prevalent belief, there is a large-scale cultural acceptance of co-education at the primary level. Therefore, co-education should be encouraged as it will increase access of both males and females to schools. Moreover, as a child’s primary caregiver is the mother, it is pertinent that female teachers are appointed at this level to ensure a sense of comfort among children. It is important to note that interventions should not be tokenistic and unresponsive to the needs of marginalized groups. For females, transportation or chaperon service should be provided to assure their parents of security. For children who are impaired, there should be a preparation of individualized educational plans, teacher training, provision of aids and appliances, appointment of resource teachers and therapists, and provision of ramps and disabled-friendly toilets. Most importantly, authorities should place an emphasis on making schools a more enjoyable place, with respectful teachers, interesting curriculums, and provision of basic facilities.

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“Judiciary has always worked as an independent institution in Pakistan, but the alliances of its leadership made it dependent on elected and unelected institutions of state” – Advocate Umar Gilani.

Pakistan is a federation. A written constitution, bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary are some of the federation’s essential features. The relationship between federation and judiciary is best analyzed through the lens of constitutionalism. The judiciary’s leadership, decisions, and operational mechanism decide the image of the judicial institution. This article discusses the role of the judiciary as an institution in the history of the federation of Pakistan.

Status of Judiciary in Constitutions

Pakistan inherited a ‘healthy judicial system’ that adopted an impartial procedure of appointment of judges. The problem stemmed from the fact that the interim constitution did not separate the judiciary from the executive ⁱ. The practices of colonial masters were not abandoned after independence. The constitution of 1956 mentioned ‘separation of judiciary from executive’ as the desired objective of the state’s policy. The presidential constitution of 1962 did not initiate the process of separation. The constitution of 1973, Article 175 (3), fixed the time for the judiciary’s development as an independent institution. The military coup and suspension of the constitution by Zia further delayed the process. It was the year 1987 when the Sharif Faridi vs. Federation of Pakistan case initiated an independent judiciary process.

Extraconstitutional Decision of Judiciary

The dominance of military-bureaucratic oligarchy was hereditary in the over-developed state structure of Pakistan. This led to the practice of undermining the elected institution by unelected institutions of state. The politicization of judiciary emerged in 1954 when the court validated the order of governor-general of dissolution of constituent assembly through the doctrine of necessity in the Federation of Pakistan vs. Tamizuddin Khan case. In 1958, The Dosso vs. Federation of Pakistan case provided legitimacy to the military coup of Ayub Khan. Another military coup of Zia-ul-Haq was declared valid in the Nusrat Bhutto vs. Chief of Army Staff case. All these decisions dealt a severe blow to the supremacy of parliament and democracy in Pakistan.

Leadership of Judiciary

The judges involved in the above -mentioned cases set precedence for judicial leadership; Justice A.R. Cornelius and Justice Muhammad Munir. Both held positions of high esteem before becoming the chief justice of Pakistan. The Federation vs. Tamizuddin Khan case is an interesting case study to understand both the judges’ judicial approach. Justice Munir invoked ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to declare the act of governor-general as lawful, while Justice Cornelius wrote a dissension note to this decision.

The role of the judiciary as an institution in the federation can be well summed up in the following statement of Hamid Khan:

“If constitutionalism and constitutional government are to strive, the judges should never leave it to the government of the day to determine how much judicial control it will or will not tolerate. It is for them to state how much abuse of power they will or will not permit”.

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i Government of India Act 1935, Part 4, Chapter 1, Section 214

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Source: Samaa

Overview

The healthcare sector constitutes a major part of the policy arena in various countries. The state is involved in this sector in several significant ways; these include delivering healthcare services, regulating healthcare, taxing products with adverse health consequences, and providing health insurance.

Over the past years, there have been major developments in the public healthcare sector of Pakistan. In partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the State carried out initiatives to eliminate smallpox, guinea worm and malaria, and control tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. The Expanded Program on Immunization was launched to decrease mortality caused by preventable diseases; thus, Pakistan’s under-five mortality rate declined from 181 in 1970 to 107.4 in 2006. Furthermore, Lady Health Worker Program was devised, which intended to deliver primary healthcare services to marginalized groups in rural and urban areas. The State also became a signatory body to achieve the eight United Nations MDGs to improve health indicators. However, several impediments plague the public sector.

Misallocation of funds

The State’s total spending on healthcare has been less than 1% of the gross domestic product over the past decade, whereas WHO recommends an allocation of 6%. Even with the outbreak of coronavirus disease, cumulative health expenditures barely reached 1.1% of the gross domestic product. To curtail problems in the public healthcare sector, State developed several programs to improve healthcare services. Although these led to an increase in patient satisfaction in some provinces, the funding of Rs. 20 billion was strikingly low, as compared to the scope of the activities.

Lack of good governance

In 2001, Local Government Ordinance was formed to place emphasis on accountability of citizens and participatory decision-making. Yet, due to the fragile capacity of the State, this objective remains unattained. Furthermore, corruption is widely entrenched due to a culture of patronage, unstandardized procedures for supervision, and safeguard of important decisions from scrutiny.

Inadequate delivery of services

Currently, there is an epidemiological transition due to the soaring double burden of disease, including communicable and noncommunicable diseases. With 523,011 cases as of 19th January 2021, coronavirus disease has also put an unprecedented strain on the healthcare facilities. Furthermore, the rapidly growing population has resulted in a decline in the quality of service delivered.

Deficiency in human resources

As stated in the Punjab Economic Report of 2017, Punjab does not have an adequate number of medical practitioners to treat its population of 111 million; the doctor-population ratio is 1:1700, whereas WHO recommends a ratio of 1:1000. Overstaffing in urban regions, unfavorable recruitment policies and lack of performance-based incentives have also hindered efforts to instill motivation in the workforce.

Absence of research culture

Unavailability of accurate data and insufficient resources for research have led to a neglect of critical health issues that await well-articulated solutions. Even when research is conducted, it is futile as it does not have relevance to current matters. As a result, a weak informational base is formed, which creates a void between researchers and policy makers.

Proposed Interventions

The State should work on increasing the budget allocated to the health sector, as pledged in the country’s Vision 2025. A higher share should be ensured for essential services, preventive measures, and capacity-building of frontline workers. Moreover, ‘pro-poor’ programs, such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, should be given continuous funding.

Good governance is a critical step in bringing rapid improvements within the healthcare sector. There is a need to review the organizational structure and establish explicit accountability mechanisms. Moreover, key performance indicators and output based measures should be devised.

A high priority should be given to the research and collection of reliable data pertaining to operations within the sector. To monitor the overall performance, a Health Systems Database should be developed; this will allow users to analyse data and track the achievement of system-strengthening objectives. This will also allow the formation and implementation of technically sound policies.

Extensive retraining and capacity-building should be undertaken in order to achieve an optimal level of skills and motivation among the workers. Incentive packages, such as compensation for relocation and family reunion, should be introduced for service in ‘hard’ areas; this will attract qualified healthcare professionals and stem the trend of attrition. The State can also examine the possibility of utilizing the services of non-serving medical graduates, especially female doctors, who leave the profession due to personal exigencies.

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With the world becoming hypercomplex, Administrative efficiency becomes a necessity, and in order to deliver satisfactory results, it has to be well-equipped with the relevant resources and particulars. In the modern era, the administration is an important element of any country and society. District Management should be able to pin down its strengths and weaknesses in today’s competitive world. Under this manifestation comes the role of media, by incorporating public and private interests and spreading developmental issues.

No matter how hardworking, qualified, or honest administrator you are, you will always come face to face with these multi-tiered processes, widely labeled as “red-tape.” Often observed is the structure and activities of civil administration kept in the grey from the fear of accountability, but if we have to progress, Media platforms have to turn to account their performances and develop their records.

Information is a vital source to achieve empirical, technological, and cultural progress in any society. While all the initiatives and programs are for the people, it is equally important to get their cooperation, feedback, and responses to that development scheme. We aim to narrow down the gap between Public Administration and Public relations by this mass media modeling.

Jin (2013) stated that citizens’ participation, trust, and environmental understanding significantly affect urban bodies’ legitimacy, and citizens prefer municipal bodies undertake urban affairs rather than the central government ⁱ.  In addition to transport, public litigation, environment, and planning, city management is one of the most prominent factors that have a growing and decisive impact on basic urban components.

Just like the palpable excitement among the early adopters of e-government was spotted, public administrators have also jumped into various social media platforms for engagement and communicative purposes. In conversation with Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Hamza Shafaqat, He broadly acknowledged Social Media’s contribution in Accurate information of real functions through audio and visuals, which can be very useful for policymakers and planners provided that they are well versed with the potential powers of mass media. In a developing country like Pakistan, such modern communication techniques could play a crucial role.

Speaking highly of Media leads us to the downside of it. It does not deny the fact that it acts as a mediator between people and administration; however, bad political intention and conservative approaches are those variables that act as a deterrent. Since Public administration deals with administrative departments’ activities, its policy accomplishments, and the relationship of people with officials, the context of mass media might overshadow the administrative effort and may well be used for propaganda purposes.

For this reason, they should define their working boundaries and critically examine whether objectives of development are directly correlated to the needs of those areas for which they are formed. Are the policies reaching the target audience? Are the people up to date with their usual progress and satisfied with their performances? These are some of those areas that media should target while assisting the administrative task force.

Administrative authorities consequently should prepare promotional and awareness programs with the help of mass media in various issues such as pros of active citizens’ engagement in the city, attention to entrepreneurship and job opportunities by citizens, traffic laws, administrative corruption in organizations, social justice, food and healthy lifestyle, physical and mental health, disadvantages of smoking, advantages of tax payment and information on tax breaks, suggesting the recreational, sports, educational, religious, medical places by donors, air pollution, environmental protection, and its harms as top priorities.

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The writer is a final year student of BSc (Honors) in Economics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

i Jin, M. (2013). Citizen participation, trust, and literacy on government legitimacy: the case of environmental governance. Journal of Social Change, 5(1), 2.

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There is a general criticism on public policy that it does not work and bad in compliance, especially in the developing world. The cause of its failure has remained part of the research agenda for policy analysts—during the 21st century. During the 21st century, policy analysts started revisiting the traditional design of policy approaches. Traditional policy design is limited to economists, lawyers, and financial experts, which depend mainly on the insight of subject matter experts, such as energy, water, and healthcare specialists. The emergence of behavioral sciences is now providing behavioral insight as a tool for public policy. Behavioral scientists provide policy insight by studying populations, spending, saving, eating, and working habits in Randomized Control Trials (RCTs). These sorts of empirical research provide a way to hypothesize and explain how humans apply logic or what appears to be rational.

The OECD estimates that more than 200 public sector organizations worldwide have applied behavioral expertise to their work. As we all know, humans are an intricate animal; their behavioral responses can be surprising and sometimes hard to predict precisely. The task is to evaluate and revisit behavioral predictions in multiple situations to ensure we do not just substitute a defective behavioral model with another. Based on these behavioral insights, policymakers construct nudges to influence human behavior.

In Singapore, they have nudged people to reduce their water usage and take public transport to work. In France, they have nudged people to adopt energy-efficient practices and to undertake physical activity. In Australia, the healthcare department used it to reduce the misreporting by doctors in after-hours patients and tagging patient urgent because the government has a reimbursement policy for an urgent after-hours care visit was more than double the reimbursement for a non-urgent visit. The government identified 1200 doctors who reported more urgent care visits after hours compared to their peers. Each doctor was sent a letter, one of three alternative letters that were randomly selected. One letter had contrasted the doctor’s accounting activities with her colleagues and showed that she was even more urgent than others.

This has drawn from the understanding that people are always driven to improve their actions when they know they are not in line with their peers. The second letter emphasized the implications, including administrative fines and legal action, of non-compliance. This letter was based on the behavioral idea that people care about losses more as compared to gains. The control was the third message. It was a typical letter of bureaucratic conformity – three pages long. Which letter was the most successful? The first letter was more successful, and claims decreased by 24%.

Even though the behavioral insight was dubbed a “quiet revolution” embraced by the political spectrum, it was also a subject of many critiques. The criticism can be categorized into its conceptualization, methodology, ethical, and ideological implications. Critics say nudges cannot understand the complex policy landscape and are considered an inappropriate route to address the causes of policy problems. Additionally, from moral or ethical standpoint nudges perceived as ethically awkward because it provides the behavioral insight which policymaker want to see rather than connecting with citizens’ actual inclinations in any meaningful way.

Keeping in view this criticism, Cass Sunstein drafted five rules to ensure that it is used ethically. Sunstein’s five rules are that nudges must:

• be consistent with people’s values and interests,
• be for legitimate ends,
• not violate anyone’s rights,
• be transparent, and
• not take things from people without consent.

We are still very much in the early days, which means this is just the cornerstone to educating and encouraging future generations of scholars, lawmakers, and public administration leaders. If change continues, it will be an increasingly relevant refrain between those interested in creating how overall goals are established and targeted in society. Thus, we can align our interventions consistently with the most important local, national, and global communities.

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As we start the year 2021 with the backdrop of Covid-19, we face the dual educational endeavor of implementing the Single National Curriculum ⁱ at the primary schools of Pakistan and drafting the National Educational Policy by March 2021 ⁱⁱ, a preliminary glimpse of the educational landscape of Pakistan can provide valuable context. To that end, we redirect our focus to understand the state of education within Pakistan’s boundaries, where the numbers are not entirely promising. The following piece is inspired by Mr. Yahya Bajwa’s insightful session on evidence-based policymaking in collaboration with the Learners’ Republic.

Just a glance at the national educational expenditure as a percentage of GDP that is roughly 2.3 percent, shows that we are yet to reach the international benchmark of 4%. With the literacy rate stagnant at a staggering 57% and the HDI ranking of 152 out of 189 countries, we rest in a precarious position where complacency in revamping the educational status quo should not be tolerated. However, the following two studies tell a different story.

The IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) at Boston College publishes the International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). For the first time in the 2019 edition of the internationally recognized study, Pakistan participated for the first time, whereby the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) facilitated TIMMS. The nitty-gritty can be accessed in the paper by Anjum (2021) ⁱⁱⁱ. However, the national results were dismal, where Pakistan stood second from the bottom in both grade 4 science and mathematics learning.

At the national level, we have the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), the largest citizen-led household-based initiative. It is published on an annual basis to measure multiple aspects of education such as the status of children’s schooling (reading and arithmetic level) at the district level, the school characteristics (availability of infrastructure such as a library, whiteboard, washroom, etc.), the parents’ characteristics (education level), and the teachers’ characteristics (professional qualification and training received).

As per the National Report Card, 2019 ^iv by ASER, primary and secondary schooling is more prevalent in government schools (77%) while pre-primary education is largely found in private schools (54%), as shown in Figure 1. In absolute terms, 69.8 percent of rural children finish their secondary education from Government schools.

                     Figure 1: Rural Enrolment in Pakistan grouped by type of school and age of students.

In terms of students’ learning levels, a snapshot of the average performance of Class 5 students is shown in Figure 2. Most students fare poorly in the three tests (lower primary assessment tools for Grade 2) for the year 2019, but there is an improvement in the five years performance from 2014 to 2019. Is this a celebratory consequence? Not really. With the astounding 22.8 million out-of-school children (UNICEF, 2017) and 22.7% primary school dropout rate ^v of Pakistan, it should be realized that a modest increase in enrolment in itself does not equate to an increase in learning, especially in the rural regions of Pakistan.

                             Figure 2: Learning Levels of Students (5 – 16 years) for the year 2014 and 2019

To account for a gendered perspective on students’ learning levels, Figure 3 shows the learning levels by gender. The results contradict the report by TIMMS 2019 since the international organization’s analysis of test scores was positively skewed towards girls, which is not the case in the ASER report, where the gender disparity provides an unfavorable picture for girls. One possible explanation may be the inherent difference in what ASER measured (reading and arithmetic) instead of what TIMMS calculated (Mathematics and Sciences). The apparent discrepancy can be addressed later; what is perhaps more important is identifying the continued difference in access to and quality of education to females.

                                              Figure 3: Learning Levels of 5 – 16 years students by gender.

Coming back to the start of a new decade where we face unique challenges and see a heightened disparity in terms of the impact of Covid-19 between rural and urban regions, rich and poor households, on education, the question remains: can we fulfill the constitutional responsibility of Right to Education (Article 25-A) and reach the Educational goal under SGD-4 by 2030? A decade more to go where we should hopefully see positive developments rooted in child-centric policymaking and service delivery.

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i https://www.dawn.com/news/1595838
ii https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/761897-formulation-of-education-policy-ordered-through-consultation
iii https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348266119_TIMSS_2019_Pakistan_Where_to_next
iv http://aserpakistan.org/document/aser/2019/reports/national/ASER_National_2019.pdf
v https://page.org.pk/education-budget-of-pakistan/

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Since the advent of better and more accurate digital data gathering tools globally, policy professionals in many private business spheres have changed the methodology of formulating future policies for the benefit of their firms and providing better services to their customers. However, the public sphere’s policy formulation mechanism has not yet been modified to the extent where digital data can be analyzed to drive effective policymaking processes and their implementation.

The soar of social media and internet usage in Pakistan and across the world presented an opportunity to the experts to collect data from the consumers and use that data to meet various advertisement and targeting goals. Such big data and modern analytic tools provided an opportunity for businesses to make decisions based on the data they received. This data is digitally accrued and includes names, emails, locations, demographic information, individual interests, and potential customers’ ultimate preferences. The dilemma of digitalization in Pakistan is revealed by Inclusive Internet Index 2020, by placing the nation at 76th rank among 100 countries in the world with only 22% of the population having internet access (Pakistan Arrests Students for Demanding Internet Before Online Exams, The Diplomat, July 2020).

Digital data is the oil of the 21st century.

Nations are now shifting towards the digital working environment in public offices and setting up separate departments that can process the digitally collected data and provide meaningful insights to the concerning public servants—Pakistan, whereas still lags in these regards. We see clerical staff typing on typewriters, bookkeeping on paperbacks, and many applications and complaints being registered physically. The situation does not even change bottom-up, where the higher officials make policies and assess the performance based on a few men’s perceptions and opinions.

The world has already transformed; digital data collection tools (Online Surveys, Virtual interest trackers, and Questionnaires), online computing, and cloud services are some of the innovations that carved out ways to transform businesses. In a country like Pakistan, which has staggering deficits in the public sector, a transformation is needed more than ever to ensure better policymaking and connect its people to the world’s modern facilities. This will result in better services for its citizen’s well-structured performance accountability of the public servants.

Evidence of how digitalization can provide an opportunity towards effective policy formulation and timely response, specifically in the public policy arena, has proved itself in the pandemic’s hard times where everyone stuck at home. The government had to use digital means to conduct virtual meetings and assess the Coronavirus situation by monitoring the registered cases by healthcare institutions across the nation. The government analyzed the problem and enforced lockdowns (Smart Lockdowns), closed the economy, and shutdown many institutions based on the trajectory of COVID-19 cases. All this could not be possible if the government would rely on the outdated means of data gathering and making policies based on what they see fit.

These data-driven policies, which the government adopted during the pandemic, need to be followed in every sector of public affairs. These changes cannot be brought about by practicing current habits; however, employing tech geeks in public sectors who can produce new ways to collect the data from the general public and institutions must be established to digitalize the archival records of years into the digital database. Civil servants must be provided with modern-day techniques through refresher courses and building a sound digitally connected system of affairs where the general public can directly interact with the governmental bodies, giving rise to a collaborative and general approach towards policymaking.

Recently, we have seen a few initiatives like ‘RAAST Digital Payment’, the positive side of this is that the government of Pakistan is finally investing in digital platforms, but how far behind are we in this race can be traced by the success of ‘PayPal’. Thus, such transformations are not possible in a day or two, but once we are on the right track to this digital transformation, we can ultimately reach the desired goals. Citizens are better at embracing technology, and hence to keep up with that, the government also needs massive transformation. The world is now transcending towards a collaborative approach in solving the issues. However, you can never expect a fair collaboration from the people when 78% of the country’s population does not have a functioning internet connection facility. The digital divide among the nation attracted a big spotlight during the pandemic as everyday operations shifted to the virtual platforms. This is high time when the government must build sustainable infrastructures that ensure stable connectivity across the nation. Internet availability is the baseline step towards a digitalized country. To keep up and move forward in this competitive world today, we must undertake viable developments on the federal and provincial levels to ensure a better world for tomorrow.

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At the time of partition, Pakistan adopted the British’s administrative apparatus known as the civil service. Little to no reforms were made to the British Raj’s existing civil service before adopting, which has consequences to date. The aim was to have an apolitical, neutral and independent civil service, which will act as the State’s backbone; however, this is not the case today. The civil servants get inadequate compensation and face excessive accountability and unlimited political interference, which has injured our State’s backbone. To make the State strong, the backbone needs to be strengthened through reforms.

The worldwide myth about civil servants is that they enjoy many perks seen in the UK, like flexible working options, excellent career progression opportunities, and an ideal work-life balance. This is true to some extent in Pakistan, especially for the better-placed groups through their field postings. However, the majority of them don’t even get a revised payment indexed to inflation. Thus, these pay packages are not incentivizing the civil servants to give their best performance. Job security is one of the reasons why people prefer to join government jobs rather than private ones. However, this permanency produces a non-performance trend among the civil servants, spreading quickly, disincentivizing good performance. To incentivize civil servants, reforms are needed in the payment packages by making payments indexed to inflation, which will boost their performance.

Civil servants have to face accountability at every step of their projects. Thus, discouraging them from taking up any project at all. This accountability mechanism consumes a significant amount of time needed for civil servants to perform their work, as they get busy justifying their actions. The same is in Ireland, where the civil servants have to fulfill multiple accountability requirements, which hinders their performance. The purpose of effective accountability is to ensure that government departments perform their responsibility in a considerate manner, strengthening the public’s influence in decision-making matters; however, it harms civil servants’ performance. With the removal of these excessive layers of accountability, the civil servants will get enough time to focus on their work contributing to the country’s wellbeing. Sometimes more accountability is harmful than less accountability.

According to the rules of business 1973, every department has its list of duties; however, inference in each other’s work is seen frequently. Politicians mostly interfere in the posting of civil servants. They want the person who is more inclined towards their ideology to be posted in their area. Instead of considering their prior experiences in various fields, the politicians appoint civil servants according to their so-called checklist of skills. A recent example is the appointment of chairman FBR Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi, set by the PTI government. However, this is not the case in Australia and Canada. The ministries are incentivized to appoint the most competent officers because their performance is judged based on the senior officers’ performance. Such reform can make political appointments beneficial. Sweden presents a very politically neutral account in which transparency in the government officers’ day-to-day activity is promoted to avoid any political intervention.

The civil servants have no choice but to follow the politicians’ illegal orders, just like in the recent IG Sindh case. Rangers abducted IG Sindh and made him forcefully sign the warrant to arrest Captain Safdar. Such examples have become a routine in Pakistan. The civil servants who disobey the orders are given OSD (officer on special duty), depriving them of their perks. This inference should be eliminated so that competent civil servants can work with full passion in the areas which direly need such masterminds. They need to work in an environment free of political interference so the best outcomes can be seen. The same case can be seen in France, where every new government uses its fair share of appointment power, leaving the non-politicized civil servants at their mercy.

Adding to the misery is the negligence of tenure assurance, which has been given no importance in the PTI led government. IG Punjab has been changed seven times in 3 years, which is one such example. Civil servants are selected through a regressive selection process, which helps choose the best people from the country; hence, there is a dire need for reforms in the service. Rather than dragging them to the court, the government should compensate them financially. They deserve better, so do our citizens. No country can progress with a damaged backbone.

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Pakistanis’ have been suffering since God knows when, due to lack of proper infrastructure of their cities like no decent roads, highways, drainage systems, etc. Many projects were started but have yet to see their completion stage due to lack of recourses and intention. With some financial help and guidance from the government, many private parties have completed, or at first, the place started various projects for the welfare of the community.

Like the ring road in Lahore, my life has become much easier since it’s inauguration. I quickly go to LUMS without worrying about stopping at signals. Visiting Islamabad and other cities is not a big deal anymore because of the presence of motorways. These capital-intensive building projects done by the private sector’s involvement have contributed to the welfare of most people. The shift in the burden of community service from the government to the private sector has been noticed, leaving room for the government to focus on various other problems faced by the country.

To increase such projects’ efficiency, the private entities engage in profitable partnerships with the government by providing them with their technology, innovation, and financing. This relationship is known as PPP (Public-private partnership). PPP is a very broad term that majorly consists of project finance. The debt and equity used to finance the private sector project are paid back from the cash flow generated by the project, just like the Lahore Islamabad motorway. The government lacked the resources to complete the task; thus, it was handed over to the private party, who, after completion, had control over it until the amount was recovered by toll tax.

Although PPPs have helped fill the infrastructural gaps in Pakistan, they don’t have all the tools in their toolbox to fix the country. Firstly, problems like water and sanitation require a tremendous amount of investment for a satisfactory result. The government is asked to keep the price below the cost, therefore, has to bear the viability gap itself. Keeping this in mind, the government tries to avoid giving such projects to private investors. Another issue is that private sectors focus more on profit; hence these utility-based projects are less likely to succeed under a private party.

Secondly, with the change of regime, the policy changes either stop the progress of an ongoing project or create difficulty for coming projects. Like in the 1990s, when an inquiry was held for the IPP award, it created problems for the foreign investors who feared litigation and eventually left the country. Punjab education foundation (PEF), which was introduced in Pervaiz Elahi’s tenure, has provided education to over 350,000 children. This foundation was funded even by Shahbaz Sharif; however, recently, fund allocation has been hampered, causing many children’s dropping out of school. With that, the government has changed the managing directors creating tussles between the private and public representatives. This is an alarming situation considering the ongoing pandemic affecting the education of children. A similar tussle was noticing between Jahangir tarin (Private representative) and Pervaiz Elahi (Government representative) in the Sundar industrial estate (SIE) case over the board of directors, which affected the overall efficiency of the estate.

Thirdly, the enormous number of clearances, approvals needed to start a public-private partnership is hugely frustrating for the private investors who have invested their money and time for a specific project. We see how the private sector is finding profitable opportunities for investment. Still, such opportunities are not provided by the government, limiting the capacity of the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to fix the country. They even have some tools missing in their toolbox.

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