A step in the right direction

LAHORE: Long-term measures that improve the economic fundamentals of Pakistan do not bring immediate relief to the people, but if these measures are accompanied by better governance and efficient government services, they bring smiles to the faces of the electorate.

The present regime has taken steps to apprehend currency speculators, check smuggling, nab hoarders, and regulate trade. A full mechanism is not yet in place, but regulators are actively plugging the loopholes that helped these practices to propagate. The improvements are visible on a daily basis. The benefits of these administrative measures will accrue in a month or two.

However, the economic benefits to the masses will take a little longer to manifest in the shape of lower prices and lower inflation. Even this long-term benefit will depend on the government's ability to ensure that the regulations are strictly rule-based, where no one has the power to bypass or override the rules.

Similar actions need to be taken in departments where people go to obtain a state service or record their complaint against any injustice. Corruption is not new in our society; it is visible at every step, whether in the power or gas sector, police department, revenue department, or judiciary, particularly the lower judiciary.

The masses also suffer badly from the inefficient services provided by the state institutions. In crunch times like the ones the poor are passing through, even petty corruption costs have become unbearable. People have to pay a heavy cost to avail these services.

These services include approval of applications for new power and gas connections. Applicants have to grease the palms of officials at every stage to move their file before approval is granted. Their ordeal does not end after approval.

Applicants have to pay rent to ensure a meter is available and then bribe those who install the meter and activate the gas or power connection.

All these bribes are demanded and paid openly. The first applicant who fails to operate according to the norms of this entrenched system might have to wait for months to get the connection, while others with the same credentials but who have adopted the "right" approach may get connected within 24 hours of the approval of the connection.

People feel similar difficulties while lodging complaints or FIRs at police stations. The investigation system in the police is such that if a complaint of theft is lodged, the investigation officers ask the complainant to name the person they suspect.

If they fail to name a suspect, the investigating officer starts apprehending neighbors or close relatives at random, which results in sour relations between the complainants and the "police suspects."

These suspects are milking cows for the investigating officer and declared innocent against hefty bribes. So, the more suspects the police investigate, the more income they generate. In fact, people fear lodging complaints fearing that they would be haunted

by police investigators till they "please" them.

Judges might not be taking bribes, but there is definitely a mafia operating within the system that arranges adjournments for the parties that want to drag a case. Adjournments have a cost for the other party, which has to waste productive time and pay its lawyer the cost for attending the court.