Slash bureaucracy and privileges

There are no two opinions that Pakistan has an inefficient bureaucracy and an untenable size of government. Their salaries, pensions, perks and privileges are a real burden on a non-performing economy, and one which carries a staggering Rs6 trillion budget deficit. Paying and pampering around 1.92 million federal employees with their little or no contribution to the progression of civil service is an enigma. So is the pathetic situation of provinces. Though several reform projects were carried out in the past to slash the swelling pie of bureaucracy, no rightful solution has emerged to this day apparently owing to blatant political interference and the wheeling-dealing of the well-entrenched babu mafia. Thus, the government's recent decision to abolish 28 departments in five ministries and throw open many of the avenues for outsourcing is a welcome development.

Pakistan has one of the most redundant and expansive bureaucracy that is famed for creating obstacles in file-work, with the explicit intent to grab a booty. Police, judicial and civil bureaucracy, as well as dozens of semi-autonomous public sector organisations are moth-eaten structures, to be headed by retarded gazetted officers who are on their own. This has led to stockpiling of day-to-day work and a lack of confidence among the people in the public sector affairs. Sending home the dead wood is an indispensable task, and is in need of being choreographed with a saner and compassionate mindset. Laying off workers is always undesired, but here it is the way to go to put the functioning of ministries and government back on track and to keep it economically sustainable and competitive.

The first thing that needs to be done before writing down lay-off letters is to strike off all kinds of perks and privileges enjoyed by senior bureaucrats, both civil and military whether in-service and retired. The pension bill and the auxiliary of paying for their electric, telephone, rental and petrol bills from the national kitty, apart from a lucrative salary, is a crime with a hapless tax-burdened nation. Let that be struck off first, before encroaching on sitting ducks in government offices.