Weaving a safety net

Most developed nations have what is called a ‘social safety net’ — a combination of legislation and tax-funded government initiatives aimed at protecting the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. A few are all-encompassing, and some Scandinavian countries have what is known as ‘womb to tomb’ care for their citizenry. Nowhere that such systems exist are they cheap. All demand a substantial input via direct taxation from the wider populace. In broad terms, the concept does not adapt well to developing nations — but it can be more than merely aspirational. Pakistan is beginning to have an outline of a social safety net. The various elements are not yet joined up but the potential is there. The Benazir Income Support Programme, the new Women Protection Bill, the network of child-protection social workers in Punjab; and now the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2015 that has just been passed by the Senate and criminalises the creation and distribution of child pornography as well as the mental and physical abuse of children; and proposes at least in outline separate national commissions to address the rights of children, minorities and those who are differently-abled — all augur well.

Seen separately, these elements do not interconnect and are the product of both federal and provincial initiatives. Seen holistically, there is a sketchy outline of a social safety net that is evolving unevenly, and without a unifying philosophy to anchor it in national policy and strategy. Such institutions of state took a century or more to develop in the West. There was considerable opposition, particularly in terms of establishing the protection of children and the rights of women, and the struggle to make those advances in Pakistan is little different. The Bill is now to be debated on the floor of the National Assembly and voted upon. It is to be hoped that the slew of amendments that it proposes, which bring the law in line with the digital age are duly passed and then, however patchily, implemented. The state may at last be taking a grip on one of the essentials of governance — the duty of care. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2016.

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