n the recent budgets, both for the Federation and the Punjab, sums have been set aside for the welfare of the artistes. These are allocations meant to help the artistes in need of financial aid.

In the same vein, some effort has been made to create an endowment fund for the journalists, for their welfare and for helping them in case they are rendered jobless. Like the artistes, a great majority live on subsistence wages. The salaries and perks of some render them liable to taunts. In music and television industries, some artistes are paid very handsomely but not all. The rest are lumped and castigated for the sins of a few.

All over the world, where the system works on capitalistic lines, the worth of a person is defined as long as he or she contributes to the system which is more than the return that he or she expects. In the United States, artistes are left to fend for themselves once their marketability suffers a decline and they are not able to add monetary value to whatever they are engaged in. The lack of a safety net is acutely felt there as well. Many artists while away their time and waste their talent when unengaged. Sometimes this leads to acts of desperation and violence.

It could be that the art and culture enterprise is so big that there is space for everybody and rewards for many are not commensurate with their ability, yet there is enough in the basket for everyone to nibble at. However, this is only an assumption supported by facts in certain phases in history and not supported in certain eras.

The socialist model, unlike the free market mechanism guarantees a return for everyone, no matter how unequal and meagre. When the Soviet Union collapsed, huge facilities like theatre halls, museums and exhibition areas in the Central Asian Republics turned into ghost spaces as funds allocated for those dried up. The people associated with the culture industry, so to say, were rendered jobless. Lacking remunerative help, they had to seek alternative sources. The women as usual were the worst sufferers as they were forced to sell themselves. Many were forced to leave their countries to seek sustenance elsewhere.

Pakistan, due to its unstable economic condition, has never been in a state to offer proper insurance to the artistes and many are left to spend the later years of their lives in miserable circumstances.

Pakistan, due to its unstable economic condition, has never been able to offer proper insurance to the artistes. Many are left to spend the later years of their lives in miserable circumstances. The film industry was once a vibrant private sector enterprise. However, the people in charge were unable to come up with a mechanism that could guarantee physical safety to the art workers. As long as the going was good it appeared to be sanguine. When the curtains came down the artistes were left to fend for themselves. In most cases this meant being dependent on family, and beyond that on friends.

A system based on dole can only work if the state has enough and we know that our state does not. We know that it is constantly scraping the bottom of the IMF barrel.

Unless the artistes are very feeble and in no position to perform, they should be made to work and produce whatever they are capable of. They should not be handed over the dole. This hurts their dignity and deprived them of their pride. At times, the relevant departments have made policies and procedures requiring the artistes to ask for help. This can be very debilitating for a person emotionally and in terms of integrity.

The various departments have failed to come up with a system where an artiste in need of assistance can be identified without him or her petitioning for help in person. Private media houses, too, are well healed and can offer packages to add a safety dimension to a profession that is highly unstable. Unfortunately, many media houses have not honoured their commitments and the artists and writers have to wait endlessly for their dues. The worst hit are the freelancers. In most cases, they lack legal recourse that can yield timely redress.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore