THE District Vulnerability Index for Pakistan (DVIP) released by the Government shows among the 20 least vulnerable districts, 13 are in Punjab, four in Sindh, two in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and none in Balochistan. In contrast, the most vulnerable category includes two former FATA districts in KP, only one in Sindh, none in Punjab and alarmingly 17 in Balochistan. The five least vulnerable districts in the country are the four urban districts of Karachi, followed by Lahore. But the five most vulnerable districts include Washuk, Khuzdar, Kohlu and Zhob in Balochistan and Kohistan in KP.
The report highlights a sorry state of affairs but it is in line with the general impression and ground realities. The report is based on six distinct domains of housing, communication, transport, livelihood, access to health services, access to education and demographics. The index, developed by the Pakistan Population Council, measures the exposure of districts across Pakistan to social, economic and environmental risks. These are the areas of attention by every government and they claim to be prioritizing social well-being of the people but the report confirms not all provinces are spending the money judiciously and that there are huge gaps of development among districts, which need to be filled with greater resource diversions. That there are no vulnerable districts in Punjab and only one in Sindh whereas there are two in KP and seventeen in Balochistan speaks volumes about quality of governance and impact of the security environment on the overall process of socio-economic development. The findings put a question mark on the use of the trillions of rupees in additional financial resources that were given to the provinces under the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC). All the provinces are cash-rich and invest their surplus cash in the federal government debt instead of spending on their people. The report’s conclusions underscore that there was an urgent need to transfer the financial resources directly to the districts, as the current arrangement of strong control of the provincial capitals on the resources was increasing the share of the vulnerable population. It is, however, regrettable that almost all provinces have firm control over resources and they are not transferring them to the provinces as per their legitimate requirements or under a judicious formula. There have been consistent demands that there should also be downward devolution from provincial capitals to districts but no one seems to be serious about going for this much-needed arrangement. Establishment of local governments could also have played a role in ensuring all round development of districts and tehsils but here again there is a visible opposition to grassroots democracy. It may also be pointed out that almost all successive governments announced special economic and financial packages for Balochistan in view of its backwardness but the report indicates these have led to no worthwhile improvement in the ground situation. The province has resources but corruption, tendency of launching paper projects and the deep-rooted tribal and feudal system are main impediments in taking the benefits of progress and development to masses. How can the province develop when development projects and infrastructures are targeted frequently by anti-State elements and there is stiff opposition to building of roads and schools? The report also reveals systemic weaknesses nationwide as ten million people live in twenty most vulnerable districts of the country. Federal Climate Minister Dr. Musadaq Malik has rightly highlighted the country’s widening inequalities in access to safe water, education and secure housing, calling for urgent national attention. His observation is thought provoking: Why access to safe water remains so difficult and that clean water, education and safe housing are not amenities but fundamental rights.
