Blaming the government for all ills is not fair but its inability to improve things cannot be condoned. Basically, we are an inefficient nation, our rulers operate inefficiently and without discipline, same is the case with our famers, manufacturers, and workers.
We have one of the most developed canal irrigation systems in the world; still our crop production on a per acre basis is one of the lowest in the world.
India, our next door neighbour, has doubled its cotton yield in the last two decades from rain-fed areas. Our cotton yield has declined in two decades from canal irrigated areas, where normally the yield is double.
We do not use our irrigation system efficiently and water supply to farmers is based on their influence. Our average wheat production is half that of India only because our farmers are lethargic.
Indian farmers consume more time in eliminating weeds from wheat crops that doubles their yield. They irrigate their fields prudently, while we waste water on over irrigation. We do not use laser levellers to ensure equal distribution of nutrients and water on the entire crop.
Sprinkle irrigation and other water conservation techniques are considered wastes of resources. We have not lined our canals to avoid seepage of water. Our agricultural marketing is in the hand of middlemen, who earn more money per crop than the farmer.
Our experts in the agricultural extension departments sit in their offices instead of visiting faraway fields and guiding the farmers on better management practices.
In the manufacturing sector, we are mostly operating with obsolete technology. An eighty-year-old tile making machine for instance could still make presentable tiles but it consumes double the energy and its finish is inferior to the imported ones made on high tech machines.
The local manufacturers cry foul on low prices of imports (some might be under-invoiced as well) but are not ready to make their operations efficient. The spinners are flying high on the subsidised power and energy tariff, while operating spindles that consume 40 percent more power.
In other industrial sectors, the power consumption is highly inefficient. Industries operate comfortably because consumers are captive because of protection from imports.
Our apparel workers are less efficient than the Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi or Vietnamese workers. We could substantially improve our exports if our human resource efficiency matches that of competing economies.
The inefficiency of our power sector is well known. The sector was inefficient when this government assumed power.
It has not improved or has further deteriorated in the last three years. This is evident from the fact that the power rates have been almost double during this period without reprieve in the circular debt. The inefficiency of the power sector is endangering the existence of many public owned oil and gas marketing companies.
Our bureaucracy is famous for red tape that adds to the inefficiency of the private sector. We operate the most expensive and inefficient transport system in the world.
Despite having an excellent Railway set up, our goods transport is almost exclusively operated through trucks. We are inefficient at clearing goods at the customs level.
Our culture is based on inefficiency. Our infrastructure is inefficient. The repairs are taken after much damage has occurred. Most of the residences and offices need lighting even during the day because no care is taken to ensure availability of sunlight during daytime.
Look at the way people overeat at parties or marriage functions. The wastage of food that occurs in these functions could feed thousands of people that sleep hungry.
We are insensitive to waste particularly when it does not hurt our pocket. We as a nation fail to realise that inefficiency at any level ultimately hurts the well-being of the nation.
Consumers pay more to finance the inefficiencies. Our elected representatives are not immune from the inefficiency malaise.
In the developed economies, the elected representatives attend their offices on a regular basis, move about with minimum protocol, and live in modest residences. The British prime minister lives in a two-room flat, the Japanese prime minister is provided security only if he lives in the official residence waiting for repairs for years.
If he chooses to live in a private home, he must arrange his own private security. The Indian prime minister lives modestly and attends parliament proceedings regularly.
None of our prime ministers or the chief executive of the country have shown this modesty. When one lives lavishly, he/she is cut of from the reality – having no idea the way most people live.
The writer is a staff member
