Nowadays, when I leave home in the morning, I usually listen to the news on the radio in the car, this news is broadcast from an FM station in India and although it is in ‘Shaddh Hindi’, it is not difficult to understand because I have nothing else except the achievements of the Indian government. Even if I remove the element of propaganda and lies from these news, there is definitely something left behind which makes my heart sink. These news show that India It is no longer what it used to be thirty-two years ago, at that time we were India’s peers, but to be honest, we were ahead. Today, India hosts the G20 summit in Occupied Kashmir and China All countries participate in it except India, India is currently one of the major economic powers in the world, its foreign exchange reserves and exports are many times more than ours, almost all its major cities are IT hubs. have become, Indian films are now released all over the world and do billions of rupees business. I can make this list long by missing out more achievements of India, but there is no point, even if the heart burns.
All this did not happen in India in a day nor did India’s development happen because of a pandit’s prayers. In 1991, India’s condition was worse than it is today, with Indian foreign exchange reserves only for three weeks of imports. According to a report by the Indian newspaper The Times of India, during the period of Nehru and Indira Gandhi, there was permit rule, that is, the benevolent socialist rulers determined what the people needed and how to fulfill this need. Nothing could be imported or manufactured without the permission of the government, a license was required for all operations, increasing productivity was not celebrated but sent to jail if the manufacturer exceeded the quantity specified in the license. Why production? Due to these government policies, the availability of consumer goods became a torment. In the 1970s, one had to queue for seven years for a car and nine years for a scooter, even for the production of a watch. There was a government monopoly and watches were so difficult to obtain that they were often part of the bride’s dowry, cement was so scarce that people had to wait in queues to get sacks of cement. This was the state of India.
And then came 1991. India’s foreign exchange reserves, which were close to $1.2 billion in January, halved after six months. As 67 tons of gold were pledged, this gold was sent in airplanes to the Bank of England and Union Bank of Switzerland. Interestingly, the car that was carrying this gold to the airport also had a punctured tire on the way. The government had to pay a heavy price for this decision and within a few months the Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s government fell and Narasimha Rao Pradhan Mantri became his Finance Minister and Manmohan Singh became his Finance Minister. In English, he liberalized the economy and made fundamental reforms in the economy. It can be said that India did not do anything unique, at that time the developing countries were moving towards liberalization policies, the same policies in Pakistan. Adopted, the foreign investment, multinational companies, banks and telecom companies that we see today are the result of these policies. These policies proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Indian industrialist, foreign investment came to India, people Business spread, jobs were created and the economy started, after that India did not look back.
I am not an economist who can tell how much scope there is to further liberalize Pakistan’s economic policies at this time, but I certainly know that doing business in Pakistan is still not easy, our number 108 in the ease of doing business index. is, while India’s 63rd. Attracting multinational companies to invest in this position and in these uncertain conditions is extremely difficult. Our strategy should be to eliminate all unnecessary permits and myths of NOC, after all, what arrows have we shot till today by placing the condition of NOC and permit, which will be killed now! The second thing is to pledge the gold reserves, at this time we also have almost as much gold reserves as India pledged in 1991, the IMF can withdraw the loan given to its member country in the form of gold So Pakistan has the option of pledging its gold but this should be the last option, just like the poor man who saves his life by selling his wife’s leftover jewelry out of fear of a moneylender. If we believe that in this way we will save lives and we will reform our economy and put it in the right direction, then there is no problem in doing this, but the trouble is that there is no guarantee that we will save our lives. Even by mortgaging our property, we will come to our senses and we will recover. This work can be done only if there is a road map of the economy in front of us, a reform package is introduced, with which targets are set which It is necessary to achieve within a certain period, only after these comprehensive steps can something like what India did in 1991 be done, otherwise we are fine, at least Joro Ka Zero To Pas Hai!
