BY 1.A. REHMAN A new federal administration What the task force has done is to suggest the reorganisation of federal organisational entities. MUCH croditis due to DrIshrat Husain, head of the task forces for the federal administration's restructuring and reform of the civil services, or {aking notice of the present writer's column on ‘edministrative reform published in this paper on Nov 28, 2019). “The points raised in that column were: the peo- plohada right tobe informed about the large-scale restructuring of the federal administration. Some {Questions were raised. Why were the reform pro: pposals not shared with the people? At what level hhad the reform been sanctioned? How many ‘departments were going tobe disbanded and what ‘was going to happen to the people who would lose Jobs? Who had replaced the Pakistan Medical and Dental Couneil (PMDC) with a commission and decided on the Federal Board of Revenues (FER) restructuring? What was the criterion for fixing priorities in implementation? Why shouldn't the reform package be approved by parliament? And {twas pointed our that only the reforms the people ‘could own had along life "Thanks to Dr Husain’s kind response, we have boon enlightened on quite a few points. We have ‘also been favoured with a printed copy of a report ‘on Reorganising the Faderal Government, prepared. by the Task Force on Ansterity and Government ‘Restructuring and published by the institutional reforms cell a¢ the Prime Minister's Office, ‘The sequence of developments is now consider ably clear. Soon after assuming power the federal {government setup two task forces, both headed by Dr Husain —one to recommend restructuring and reorganisation of the federal government, and the ‘other 10 suggest reform of the civil services. We have been provided information in the printed report and otherwise only about reorganisation. issaid that the taak force includes, besides serving, ‘and retired officials, experts from civil society and ‘ecademia. (The report does not reveal the names ‘of these experts and one sould wish to know who they are) “The tack force toured the country and sought the views of 1,400 officials but there is no refer fence to any meeting with non-officials. The task force head also briefed the Senate. Standing Committee on Cabinet. There was no truth in reports that 400 departments were being dis- banded. Only eight units were going to be wound up because they had become redundant. Nobody ‘was going to lose their job. The decisions about dis- Solution of the PMDC and the move to reorgaise FBR were not made by the task force. ‘What the task foree has done is to suggest the reorganisation of federal organisational entities (Oks), The cabinet has approved the proposal that fut of a total of 441 OF, the federal government ‘should retain 324 under the two eategories of exec: lutive departments (87) and autonomous bodies (237). The remaining OFs are to be transferred 10 Sarmaya Pakistan Ltd (43) and to the provinces (4), or be merged with other OF (35).0r reconsti- ‘uted as training institutes (17) "The poine about the sanction for reorganisation and approval by parliament ismet by asserting the competence of the cabinet under the Rules of Business as provided in Articles 90 and 99 of the Constitution. But Article 90 says nothing about the Rules of Business and Article 99 allows the pres dent to make rules for the allocation and transac ton ofthe business ofthe federal government only. until the rules are framed by parliament. is also necessary to look at Article 98, which says: “On the recommendation of the Federal Government, Majlis Shoora [parliament] may by law confer functions upon officers or authorities subordinate tothe Federal Government.” ‘The information nov available to us does clarify some of the points raised inthe column referred 10 tearlier. What becomes clearer isthe fac that so far the objective isa proper parking of the federal gov ‘emment’s Os. That makes sense, The assumption. ‘one had about the revision of administrative proce ‘dures, allowing for decisions to be taken quickly land fainly atthe lower levels, instead of matters Boing to the top, was premature. One docs find & reference to a comprehensive reform of the civil Services to “improve their efficiency in policymalc ing and implementation for better delivery of ser vices to common citizens”. We have to wait fr the Finalisation of the recommendations in this area before commenting on the quality and adequacy of the reform agenda. “Two issues regarding the reorganisation, how: ever, remain unaddressed. The consultations 50 far Have been largely limited to che bureaucrac the need tallow a public debate has not been re ised. The issue is not one of form: it touches on the Sbstance of reform, Informed citizens could have helped improve some of the reorganisation propo= als. For instance, the Quaid-Azam Academy isto bbe merged with the Quaid‘-Azam Mazar Management Board. The latter entity is responsi be for the mausoleum's maintenance, arranging for dignitaries’ visits, and seeking local author= ties’ help in contelling demonstrations. The func: tlons of the Quaid--Azam Aeadems, one should like to hope, are somewhat different and possibly beyond the board's interest in and eapacity for dealing with academic matters. Sccondls, while carrying out administrative reform or even mere reorganisation by the eabinet tinder the Rules of Business may be defendable technically, the method is not sound in political terme, The Rules of Business are not sacrosanct, fand have been abused in the pact. President Farooq Leghari created a controversial National Security Council by amending them as Gen Ziaul Hag’s amendment to the Constitution for the crea tion of such a body had been rescinded. Indeed, the demand for parliament to revise the Rules of Business has been pending for decades. ‘Bypassing parliament, which is the repository of the’ people's sovereign rights, goes against ‘democracy. The transition to democracy demands ‘maximum parliamentary oversight of governance land not cosmetic homage being paid to the Fepresentatives of the people. Tf nothing else, Copies of all decisions and reports relating. t0 ‘administrative restructuring may be placed on the tables of all legislatures, provincial as well fs federal.zN BY KHURRAM HUSAIN yy Vawda’s unfunny joke IT is easy to forget that water scarcity presents Pakistan with one of its most serious existential challenges when the country's own water minister is busy making a clown of himself on late night TV talk shoves night after night ‘What possessed Imran Khan to appoint Faisal ‘water was the most serious challenge that he sees the country facing? And this from a man who had repeatedly said in his dharna speeches that he ‘would restore merit in appointments. What merit thas Vawda brought to a ministry that oversees the ‘country’s most important natural resource next 10 ‘natural gas? “Jahangir Tareen was a little more honest in one of his television appearances when he was asked this same question, How does he justify Vawda's appointment to such a erucial ministerial position, hhe'was asked, His response was that Vawda has “done alot forthe party”. In case people still need to be persuaded that ‘growing water scarcity is one of the biggest chal- lenges facing this country, [draw their attention to the work of two people who have done a great deal to raise awareness around this problem: Zofeen Ebrahim, a journalist whose reports give a human face to the growing problem, ‘water expert whose work highlights the nature of the challenge as well asthe policy response needed ‘and areas where work is badly needed. “SHlore in the delta, the sea i fast swallowing up ‘our land,” says Tanzeela Qambrani, member of the provincial assembly in Sindh who hails from Badin ‘istrict in the delta region of the Indus River. She ‘was quoted in one of Ebrahim's reports carried by Reuters. “The government must come up with & sound pian now or we will have a huge population (of climate refugees to deal with,” she says Climate refugees may be the next big migratory push of people into our cites, the earlier ones being poverty and war. But climate protests have already taken place, one of which was covered by Ebrahim, 0 feel free to look up her full report. A group of people fed up with persistent erosion of their agri- Cultural land by seawater in the delta region Iarched 140 kilometres on foot to Thatta to pro- test. When they started they were about 40 or 30in rnumber. By the time they reached Thatta, reports put the number at 1,500. Participants gave different reasons forthe sever ity ofthe water shortages they were experiencing. Some blamed the ongoing Zulfiqarabad project, for ‘which they said they were being forced to vacate their land through an artificially created water shortage. Others blamed the climate, especially the poor rate of melting due to unusually low tex» peratures late in the spring season in the north, ‘which led to lower river flows inthe Indus. Yet ath ‘rs blamed upstream theft, particularly in Punjab. ‘What was common was that nobody had a cleat What possessed Imran Khan to appoint Faisal Vawda as minister for water after saying that water was the most serious challenge the country faced? idea as to why water was so short, but everybody hhad a theory based on what ft their perspective. ‘Whatever the truth, one fact was evident: water shortages had set people into motion, activated a protest and mobilised powerful politics. As time ‘bpes on and these shortages intensify they will dis: Fupt cropping eyeles to the point where livelihoods are threatened, where protests spill over into vio lence, and whofe the narratives invoked to explain What is happening will be so varied as to become politically intractable. In short, a perfect recipe for Saduring civil conflict will be crested How ean me respond to this challenge today? ‘This Is where the work of Simi Kamal provides some eles, Here is what she said ina interview to ‘local paper a few weeks before this march took place. In the interview, she first highlighted the Scarcity of daca in the water sector. “As you know, Wapda has been a moribund organisation for many years now. The research landscape on water Sources and their consumption over the last 20 ‘ears has been quite barren,” she told the paper. ‘Meaning we have only the barest of ideas of “whore the water in our river system is coming from Train, snow or glacial melt — and where it is going, ‘whether to agriculture ‘or the cities. Whatever data we have is based largely on projec: tons based on measurements taken decades ago “The problem is in the attitude.” she. said. “Bureaucrats rarely pay heed to subject experts ‘rom the private sector, Moreover, due tothe elite ‘capture of the political economy, those in power ‘don’t want available data becoming public as they fear repercussions for their excessive use.” Trecall here a story about the telemetry system that Wapda had installed on the Indus during the 2000s, which was staunchly opposed by the big feu ‘als Sindh because it began to yield precise flow ‘data which revealed where water theft was taking place. The system was quickly dismantled and ‘isearded, “Pakistan needs to develop robust ways of col- lecting real-time data; wherens the existing dats. base needs to be shared with research organisa tions and seademia to advance the knowledge 350," said Kamal. “The idea is to have the best rains coming ip with the solutions and advising the government. But as things stand, currently we have no credible numbers on agriculture’s share in ‘water consumption.” “Here's the picture ina nutshell. Pakistan's water ‘economy is st to dry up by the year 2025, accord: ing o almost every international organisation that thas looked ati This scarcity ean ereate conditions ‘that can potentially Tester civil war. In order to ‘avert this outcome, we need to put the best brains ‘We have on the problem, and start taking proper Ieasurements a a beginning. Tastead, what we have is Faisal Vawda as the minister for water, and he has brought nothing more than a boot tothe table. So once we've done ‘racing Jokes, let's ask one more time: what merit led to his appointment? = The writer isa member of sta Kurram.husain@gmall.com ‘Twitter: @khurramhusain