Water Energy Crisis
Water, energy crisis in Pakistan
First of all, let us admit that all the problems listed in the title have two things in common: they are made-made; and they are interlinked. Starting on these premises, we proceed direct to the solutions through examples.
In December, 2008, when I went to interview Shahbaz Sharif, I asked him to do one thing: invite Jeffrey Sachs, the famous Columbian University Professor who looks at poverty in the world not as a social evil, but clinically, treating it as a disease, needing an urgent and practical cure, and who offers an integrated set of solutions.
And if possible, read his book, “The End of Poverty – Economic Possibilities for Our Time”. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs envisions ending poverty from the world by the year 2025. He just does not talk; he offers some down-to-earth workable solutions to the problems infesting the poor, Third World countries.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs practically worked and helped the people of countries like Poland, Bolivia, Russia, India, China, Malawi, and Ethiopia, and his success in Poland, India, and Malawi is a text-book case.
Currently, Pakistan faces three major problems.
There is acute shortage of energy, which is also related to water and to the health problem of the people there.
Some do not like Jeffrey Sachs’ shocking revelations when he says, “Newspapers should, (but don’t) report every morning, ‘More than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty’ ”. He believes that there should be a “comprehensive package of economic reforms that attempts to fix all problems simultaneously and quickly”. Some call it absurd, but the fact of the matter is that this is what the poor want. They do not want sermons or speeches; they want simple, quick and workable solutions.
Second: and again it is not very much liked by the West, “The West should always give a lot of money to support these packages”. Poor are poor, not because, they are lazy by nature or that they are in love with poverty; they are
First of all, let us admit that all the problems listed in the title have two things in common: they are made-made; and they are interlinked. Starting on these premises, we proceed direct to the solutions through examples.
In December, 2008, when I went to interview Shahbaz Sharif, I asked him to do one thing: invite Jeffrey Sachs, the famous Columbian University Professor who looks at poverty in the world not as a social evil, but clinically, treating it as a disease, needing an urgent and practical cure, and who offers an integrated set of solutions.
And if possible, read his book, “The End of Poverty – Economic Possibilities for Our Time”. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs envisions ending poverty from the world by the year 2025. He just does not talk; he offers some down-to-earth workable solutions to the problems infesting the poor, Third World countries.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs practically worked and helped the people of countries like Poland, Bolivia, Russia, India, China, Malawi, and Ethiopia, and his success in Poland, India, and Malawi is a text-book case.
Currently, Pakistan faces three major problems.
There is acute shortage of energy, which is also related to water and to the health problem of the people there.
Some do not like Jeffrey Sachs’ shocking revelations when he says, “Newspapers should, (but don’t) report every morning, ‘More than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty’ ”. He believes that there should be a “comprehensive package of economic reforms that attempts to fix all problems simultaneously and quickly”. Some call it absurd, but the fact of the matter is that this is what the poor want. They do not want sermons or speeches; they want simple, quick and workable solutions.
Second: and again it is not very much liked by the West, “The West should always give a lot of money to support these packages”. Poor are poor, not because, they are lazy by nature or that they are in love with poverty; they are