Political Inequality Leads to Inequality of Representativeness

Islamabad: The panel discussion on “Political Economy of Inequality” was chaired by Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque, Former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Islamabad. The panelists included Imran Ali, Rector and Dean, Karachi School of Business and Leadership, Karachi, Karamat Ali Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Karachi, Shahid Kardar, Vice Chancellor, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Assistant Professor, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and Ali Cheema, Associate Professor, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore.

In the panel discussion, Prof Sajjad Akhtar disagreed with the idea of inequality in economics. He questioned the idea that inequality is necessary for economic growth. He said that real issue is how to perceive inequality, i.e. whether to perceive it on an absolute scale or on a relative scale. In this regard, he said that inequality must be measured absolutely and not relatively. Mentioning the role of history, he said that history is a big part of society. He stressed the need for a level-playing field for all but this has historically not been the case and has led to inequality. Prof Sajjad Akhtar also said that there is a need for government initiative for documenting the informal economy.

In the context of relationship between inequality and economic growth, Prof Cheema said that although some degree of inequality is needed for growth but it is not clear what this degree is. He pointed out the role of public actions for providing public goods for the society. He said that political inequality leads to inequality of representativeness. In this regard, he pointed out that in Pakistan there is 52% incidence of dynasticism as compared to 29% in India. Prof Cheema further said that processes that are exacerbating inequality need to be looked at.

In the case of Pakistan, Prof Imran mentioned the role of history in shaping inequality. He said that history moves people in different directions. For example, in Punjab, which was a more egalitarian society during the Mughal period, perpetuated inequality later on. In this regard, he mentioned the role of peasantry access. Therefore, it is important to understand how history unfolds, he added. He also stressed the need for land reforms.

Mr. Karamat Ali said that Pakistan is a multi-national state and not a federal state. Pakistan treats all as citizens but we need to create a democratic federal state. He said that Punjab is a successor to the colonial state, so there is no uprising in Punjab, as was the case in the colonial period. He said that we need to have a representative parliament for small constituencies and neglected population. Talking about the reforms, Mr. Ali said that as a part of reform agenda, free and compulsory education is must, i.e. Article 25 of the constitution must be implemented. As regards the plight of the labor in Pakistan, he said that it is strange that no labor law is applicable in the rural areas. Despite the fact that the government announces minimum wage rate each year, rights of the workers are not recognized. Therefore, we need to have a holistic approach to design a democratic state. Mr. Ali said that industrialization cannot occur without land reforms and this is an issue that must be addressed; without land reforms we cannot get rid of inequality.

Mr. Kardar said that social and economic inequalities are due to absence of land reforms. He said that policies of concessions and licenses are not beneficial for the society. Mr. Kardar said that we need to have an equitable system of taxation and concessions, exemptions, and subsidies must be withdrawn. In addition, we need to create economic growth, which caters to a large segment of the society.

Dr Nadeem Ul Haque, who chaired this session on political economy of inequality, said that it is very interesting to note that although the issue under discussion is only inequality but there are various ways to approach and address the problem, which is evident from this lively discussion.

The proceedings of the second day of the 30th AGM and Conference of the PSDE started with five parallel technical sessions. The topics of the technical sessions were “Dimensions and Consequences of Socio-economic Inequalities”, “Financial Inclusion, Industrial Efficiency and Development”, “Poverty: Non-Conventional Approaches”, “Poverty, Deprivation and Constraints to Entrepreneurship”, and “Distribution and Impacts of Socio-economic Inequality”. Nineteen research papers were presented in these technical sessions.