Gone are the days when Pakistan used to compete with India in every field whether it was in sports or in missile and space technology or in agriculture or in infrastructure development. Made in India economic and industry policy is now bearing fruits after 2 decades, resulting in India’s emergence as 5th largest economy of the world, surpassing Japan in automobiles production. Two British dominions which got their independence in 1947, one is on the journey to become $10 trillion economy while the other is on the verge of default and civil war. We need to realize that now India is not same rival as it was 2 decades ago, India has almost beaten us in every field, and we are 40-50 years behind from the world. If we did not focus on our country’s economy and policies now it would be not wrong to assume that India is going to dictate us soon in this region like US and China.
Pakistan has been facing numerous challenges since its very inception in 1947, including political instability, law and order situation, supremacy of law and repeatedly military interventions in politics. These above scenarios manifest inconsistent economic and industrial policies. Pakistan has been bearing repercussion produced as a result, in the form of terrorism, soared inflation, unemployment, water and energy crises. But still we have learnt nothing from the past and our mistakes. Have we?
Now it is high time we need to learn from India how they have progressed in every field whether its IT services or space technology. India has now become largest IT services exporter in the world. Every big tech company’s CEO is Indian. According to the economic survey of India 2022-IT exports drive 18.4% growth in India’s services exports between April-Dec. Also, according to data of ministry of commerce India, the estimated value of services export in April-Dec 2022 is around $235 Billions as compared to $184.6 Billions in previous year. In 2021-22 these exports touched ATH of $245 Billions. In the context of Pakistan, according to statement released by Pakistan Bureau Statistics—Pakistan’s total exports during July 2021-April 2022 were $26.247 Billions while import bill standing at $69.98 Billion. Despite being an agricultural country, our agriculture exports are reducing every year because of govt. economic policies. Our biggest dilemma is that as an agricultural country we must import flour, sugar, and other food products. Our country’s literacy rate lingers at 50% and unfortunately it also includes people who just know how to read and write their name in Urdu. The majority of our country’s people don’t contribute to the national exchequer.
Now, the question that arises is where are we standing after 76 years since independence? What have we achieved? The following are some eye-opening facts of our achievements. According to World Bank—Pakistan ranked 147th in global peace index, 140th in corruption perception index, 104th in democracy Index, 154th in human development index, 93rd in quality-of-life Index, 105th in happiness Index, 108th in ease of doing business index, 161st in inflation rate index and ranked 4th worst in passport/visa index.
It is high time we need to reevaluate our economic as well as foreign policies otherwise country’s doom is inevitable.
