Is a looming cataclysm in sight?
PROGRESSIVE nations cannot afford to remain oblivious to the fact that survival lies in learning from the past, focusing on the present, and investing in the future. The example of the rise of China, a country that took less than 60 years to rive the chains of seclusion and become one of the world’s best-performing economies, provides convincing evidence to supplement the fact that nations grow when leaders possess a vision, based on facts and research, and willpower for transforming the destiny of a nation. Before the ascent of the Communist Party, the country was very poor,” says DBS chief China economist Chris Leung. “There were no trading partners, no diplomatic relationships, they were relying on self-sufficiency.” Nevertheless, in just 40 years, the nation has turned the tide by introducing much-needed reforms to lift its citizens out of the vicious circle of poverty.
The World Bank states that more than 850 million inhabitants have escaped poverty successfully, and the country is on the journey to annihilating poverty before long. This is not a miracle but an outcome of the ability of the visionary leadership of the nation to foresee the upcoming challenges. The literacy rate in China reveals an increase in the number of students who hold a degree in higher education. Standard Chartered projects that by 2030, around 27% of China’s workforce will have a university degree- that’s about the same as Germany today. China has also confronted the challenge of a surge in the population through proper planning. The populace of China was growing rapidly.
Therefore, it introduced a one-child policy to restrain its population ascent rate for easing the burden on resources, which reflects the inclination of the leaders of China towards planning a livable future for their nation. The Chinese government has made it possible by accepting crucial lessons from bygone days to plan for the unborn. China is now a symbol of economic strength and the country is on its way to becoming an economic giant of the globe. The history of our land illustrates a disheartening state of affairs, indicating the truth that we have not taken advantage of history, and, consequently, many overwhelming problems are tormenting us, demonstrating the worrisome future for Pakistan. We are among the top ten most populous countries on the planet. According to United Nations projections, the Pakistan populace will expand to over 380 million by the year 2050, surpassing the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia to become the planet’s third biggest nation behind India and China.
Besides this, the literacy rate of Pakistan is almost sixty percent. This level of reading and writing proficiency is insufficient to make a breakthrough in research and technology. Our instruction system has failed to make our cohort proficient enough to compete with the most highly developed nations in the world. An inefficient educational structure is an obvious cause of the collapse of our nation in economic and social realms. An inefficient education system has a trickle-down effect, as a subpar literacy rate breeds poverty. According to a report by the World Bank, poverty in Pakistan has increased from 4.4 percent to 5.4 percent in 2020. Almost two million people have fallen below the poverty line.
The disturbing rise in poverty not only invites the curse of social disruption but also the crime rate in the country. Only Investing in learning can help us contain the menace of poverty. Pakistan, an agricultural nation, fulfils its water needs for farming from the Indus River system and its tributaries. The hazard of climate change is bringing a bleak future for agriculture in Pakistan. Heatwaves, droughts, and floods, owing to the varying environmental conditions, have inflicted misery on the masses. Without taking immediate steps, global warming may invite a disaster for the nation as water and food shortages. Among the countries engulfed by critical water scarcity, Pakistan ranks third in the world. Reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) also shed light on the fact that the country will reach extreme water scarcity by 2025.
The most disconcerting reality is that many researchers suppose Pakistan is on its way to becoming the most water-deprived country by the year 2040. Having become the fifth most populous nation in the world, Pakistan has failed to plan to use its human resource for benefitting the economy. According to the UN population fund report, sixty percent of the inhabitants are between the ages of 15 and 33. The irony is that inadequate preparation regarding investment in developing human resources has made the young population a burden on resources. If the country had done successful planning for developing quality human resources in the past, it could have converted the same human resource, which is now consuming resources of the country, into an economic asset.
Pakistan, since its inception, is stumbling to attain a constant pace of progress and prosperity. Inadequate planning, for making the most of the resources, and tackling forthcoming difficulties, has been costing us dearly. We are not willing to take meaningful lessons from the mistakes we have committed in the past. As a result, the titanic of our country is progressing forward into the vortex of economic decline, climate change, water shortage, an inefficient workforce, and population growth, indicating that we are heading toward a disastrous situation. Are we really serious about planning our destiny? Are we actually inviting a potential catastrophe? Isn’t it our responsibility to plan ahead so our generations can survive and thrive in a secure and sustainable environment? Many nations across the world have achieved this milestone by making sincere efforts. Nonetheless, with Pakistan, it is only possible if our leadership agrees to analyze the origins of the economic and social recession we have been enduring for the past various years. Failure to do so will bring dire consequences for our generations, as failing to plan the future means planning to fail in the future.
