Congratulations India – From your western neighbor
India made a BIG BIG achievement recently. At 18:04 local time on August 23, 2023, it became the 4th nation in the world to land on moon and first ever nation in the history to successfully land near moon’s south pole. With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China. The Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down as planned at 18:04 local time (12:34 GMT).
Landing on moon is just the beginning. One of the mission’s major goals is to hunt for water-based ice which, scientists say, could support human habitation on the Moon in future. It could also be used for supplying propellant for spacecraft headed to Mars and other distant destinations.
First, tons of hearty congratulation to Indian nation as a whole and Indian leaders, Indian scientists, researchers, and Indian nation as a whole. They have a right to celebrate. They made consistent and concerted efforts towards their objectives and have finally achieved the same. That’s exactly what great nations do!
India’s next-door neighbor, the “Islamis Republic of Pakistan” on the other side is at the lowest level of political, economic and morale stability and cannot even land back on its own feet if jumped, forget about the moon.
The two countries were one till getting independence from the same masters, at the same time, share similar mindset, similar culture, share values, similar aspirations so it is natural for one to ponder what went good in India that it became a great nation it is today and what went wrong in Pakistan that it is what it is today.
In a short history of living separately for 76 years tons of policy initiatives must have been implemented or not, trillions of legal decision must have been made that proved to be right or wrong, and tons of setbacks must have challenged them collectively that shaped the two countries and nations, however the writer tried to highlight only few key areas, that in his humble opinion, may have made the most impact positively on India and negatively on Pakistan.
Political System – From the beginning India had a strong weather tempered and resilient political infrastructure from the grassroots level. Whereas Pakistan’s political parties and leaders did not have the stature, maturity and character needed to establish a nascent nation in this competitive and high-pressured geopolitical world. Politicians in Pakistan, from the beginning, did not have their roots in the masses or the country, lacked far shortsightedness and were opportunists who compromised on important principles and long-term objectives for short term gains. Hence the country could not establish and follow a consistent strategic approach that would have benefited the country and its masses. The void created by the politicians conveniently and pleasantly filled the armed forces to the extent that now the balance of power is out of the hands of political leadership completely.
Land Reforms – To rule on such diverse and huge place, the united India, with a limited army, its foreign masters, had created an army of local cronies, who betrayed their own countrymen and women to support the foreign masters and rewards them with huge areas of lands. Hence United India under its British masters had hundreds of feudal lords who held very very huge lands at their disposal.
India, shortly after getting independence, implemented land reforms that prohibited individuals owning such huge lands and distributed the same to masses. Hence breaking down a potential power center, influencer, and blackmailer to the political system. Pakistan, on the flip side, was, and is still, not able to implement any such reforms. Reason being that the majority of financiers, wheeler and dealers of the Pakistani movement were such feudal lords supporting the movement to save their own interests i.e. land ownership. These power centers, in the form of very affluent, influential, and strong feudal lords, very much exist and continue blackmailing and threatening the leaders for anything that may be in the national but is against their individual interests.
Local manufacturing and usage – Though advertised only recently, from the beginning India followed policies like “Make in India” and “Use Indian” from the beginning. Being money wise it, instead of easily importing shiny and sexy international products and spending scarce foreign exchange, it followed a long and challenging route of developing local industry and local manufacturing by initially providing them a protective environment. Be it pirating designs, copying catting products or Reverse engineering, they did whatever it took to manufacture locally rather than importing. Even the focus was on producing basic raw materials and components that feed the complex and advanced manufacturing. Following continuous improvements processes soon the products’ quality improved and they not only met local demands but started to export. It was only when the local industry was strongly established and was confident enough to compete internationally that they relaxed foreign companies and goods to provide a healthy competitive environment.
Pakistan on the other hand spent all its own foreign exchange and that received in aids on importing everything and is doing so even now. Liberal import policies, advanced mass production technologies, modern advertising and short-sighted leaders helped international products flood local markets and destroy nascent local industry even before it could stand up on its own feet. Ignoring national long-term interests and due to ill planning Import replacement never seemed to be a priority. Whatever small size of manufacturing was able to somehow survive was in low value addition and highly price conscious sectors making it very difficult for them to sustain and grow. Country still relies heavily on imports and hence is always short of foreign exchange.
Educational system – Indian sub-continent had inherited a very good educational system established by its foreign masters. India built on the same and made it better. Following the famous quote “don’t feed the poor man, teach him to catch fish”, India focused on its educational system, established world class educational institutions, modernized teaching techniques, aligned the educational programs with internationally needed skills and produced a never-ending army of young, energetic, knowledgeable, and highly competitive graduates. Rest was done by these graduates. No wonder world’s biggest corporations compete to hire these graduates and no wonder majority of world’s most successful corporations are led by Indians.
Credit must be given to Pakistanis though. By consistent hard work first they destroyed the inherited educational institutes but then also failed to replace the same with better ones. Most graduates lack creativity, risk taking and enterprising abilities and confidence and command of their learned areas and end up filing and pushing papers. Few graduates who happen to be good, hardworking, and knowledgeable, leave the country due to unfair, unequal and lack of opportunities.
Secularism – India kept religious activism limited to religious places – India is a huge and diversly populated country with people belonging to various religions, sects, languages, social and cultural types. Intelligent and mature Indian leadership realized from day 1 that the only way of keeping all this together without clashes is to keep a secular and progressive outlook. It may have a Hindu majority but teachings, rituals, festivals, norms and values of each religion and community are acknowledged and respected. Religion was kept at the places of worship and at individual level and was never allowed to interfere in macro political and economic decision making at a macro level, resulting in a harmonious and comfortable educational, business and work environment. (Note: This secular and progressive approach has changed significantly during the past couple of decades, however it is too early for the nation to see the negative impacts).
Pakistan on the other hand let the religious fanaticism establish and grow to such an extent that religious groups have become the most influential pressure groups damaging various major national and international interests. Though taught to be most tolerant and accommodative by their God and holy prophets, the Muslim majority is everything but, gradually cannibalizing and forcing almost all other minorities out. Established, experienced, seasoned professionals and businesspeople belonging to Parsi, Hindu, Christian and Qadiyani communities were forced to run out of country for safety of their own and their families’ lives and their established businesses. And the sad part is religious fanaticism is still on the rise.
Banking and Tax Reforms – A very significant success factor of India is their successful implementation of tax and banking reforms. Paying taxes in India, as all around the world, is a reality of life and not paying taxes is a serious crime. Hence the government can collect taxes and can pursue its development plans using the funds. From the development that took place during past 3 decades one can see how their tax rupees are being spent. Until very recently a huge parallel black economy existed in India too that was based on black money and cash transactions. However, the bold and huge bank reforms implemented recently turned things 360 degrees around. A major portion of the economy is documented now thereby increasing government revenues manifold.
Inversely Pakistan is among the lowest income tax paying nations of the works. Major sectors of economy are not in the tax net and those who are find ways to avoid paying taxes using corrupt network of tax lawyers, consultants, and tax officials. Most capital transactions are handled in cash using black money acquired through illicit means resulting in lost government revenue. With more expenses and less income all Pakistani governments run on aids and loans that further deteriorate the situation.
My fellow Pakistanis, it’s never too late to correct the course of action for the betterment. We can learn from India and make our policies that are in national interest, people’s interest and are strategic in nature. Nothing is easy but nothing is impossible too.
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Babar Saeed
August 25, 2023
The writer is a professional marketer and engineer with good work exposure to governments, and businesses and industries in the private sector in several countries. Idea is to take the first step in adding value to anything that one gets exposed to instead of just complaining about the same.