We live in a virus infected society. This is not a movie or dramatic phrase but a fact. This is not about the corona virus, but about the virus of opportunism. To understand this, it is necessary to describe some things so that the readers can understand.Some people in our society are such expert opportunists that they are able to turn every situation into an opportunity for themselves which eventually leads to their prosperity and wealth growth. The most interesting thing is that all this is done in the name of the poor and needy people who are caught in some kind of epidemic or calamity. These opportunities are provided to them by our democratic governments.
First of all, until today, a common voter like me could not understand why those who voted for change after facing all kinds of pressure, intimidation and threats, do not see any change in our country.After all, what is the reason that when the big revolutionaries come to the government, they face such constraints due to which they are neither able to place competent people in their cabinet nor can they keep their cabinet short. An injustice to this nation is that many unelected and foreign people also become part of the government as advisers. Today, if we talk about the performance of our Health Advisor, the nation does not see any performance that can justify his appointment.
What advice did he give to the government due to which the spread of the virus has been controlled in Pakistan? Lockdown was done by China, now every country is adopting this method to deal with this virus. The post of adviser is equal to that of a federal minister. In other words, these advisors also get the same opportunities of looting and eating and drinking that a minister has….A half-clown minister is also necessary in every democratic government. Perhaps after coming to power, every ruler of ours starts to think of himself as Akbar Azam, for which it is necessary to have a Birbal in the court. No matter how ridiculous these Berbals show, no one can remove them from their posts, at most the department is changed. Here we make the Minister of Science and Technology someone who is not even familiar with the basics of science. The most interesting thing is that no matter which party comes to power, only a few families rule.
Now we come to our main topic. Ever since the corona virus hit this country, it has become an opportunity for the wealthy. All the steps being taken to protect the livelihood of the poor and keep them employed are only benefiting the rich.First, the State Bank introduced a scheme of loans to industrial owners to pay salaries to their employees, possibly lending to the industry without interest. Which can also be paid in several years. On the other hand, there are several industries that have been exempted from customs duty on import of raw materials.An example of this is some food and beverage manufacturing industries which have been abolished the two percent customs duty paid on their imports.
It is said that this is only a two percent discount, but common people do not know that this duty used to be around five and a half to six and a half lakhs on one of their import consignments. Now, if an industry used to order five to ten consignments a month, it would have benefited at least twenty eight to fifty six lakhs. They will not pass on this benefit to the common consumer but will further increase the price of their product by justifying the appreciation of the dollar. On the one hand, the owners of the industry are also benefiting from all these facilities, on the other hand, there are frequent reports of dismissal of the employees of the industry.
The government has reduced the interest rate by about four and a half percent in a month. Now who in our country takes loans from poor banks? This is also an attempt to benefit the rich. Banks are sending regular messages to the white-collared people who have taken out credit cards to meet their needs to pay their dues as soon as possible or else they will have to pay interest. And those who use this card know that the interest on the credit card is charged at the rate of three percent per month, that is, thirty-six percent per annum.On the other hand, as a favor to the public, the payment of electricity bills has been deferred for two months for consumers who use less than 300 units. Now the interesting thing here is that only a few people fall into this category. Kanda system is prevalent in slums. So they don’t need this facility. Even an average house uses more than 300 units of electricity. Therefore, the middle class cannot benefit from this facility. People who know how to control their electricity bills are not interested in this facility. Because they know very well that they use much more electricity than their bill.
To take advantage of this opportunity or in other words to double the fun, the construction industry has been made almost tax free. Now common people don’t understand how the construction industry is directly related to this kind of easy money. Those of us here who know a little bit about buying and selling property know that if the investment turns towards property, property prices start increasing almost on a daily basis. There was a time in Karachi when property dealers used to tell buyers that if you want to buy a plot or a house, the price you are being quoted right now is for that time.If you take even two hours to think, the price will be reset. If still no one understands, then it can be explained in simple words that now those who will benefit from these schemes of the government on the basis of Corona will take loans from banks in the name of the poor and invest directly in property. They have plenty of money anyway to pay the poor. Which they will give by crying and putting favor on the head of the people.
If the same period returns again, which is strongly expected, then the amount of the capitalist who invests 1 crore will increase tenfold within a few months. Our innocent government is telling the public that no source of investment in property will be asked so that the black money lying outside comes back to Pakistan. Black money earners know very well that if they bring the wealth lying abroad back to their country and some head ruler or chief justice gets a new fever of honesty, the earned wealth can go sour. Even so, when so much easy money is available, what is the need to bring wealth from outside? The triangle of easy laundering of black money is complete when property investment is given a completely open hand.
On the other hand, the government is releasing funds worth billions of rupees to provide relief to the poor people. Which according to the government is being distributed among the poor in a transparent manner. Here it is very interesting that in our country using the identity card number of any poor person to send immense wealth out of the country is the left hand game of our politicians. The poor man only came to know that the huge sums had been transferred from his account, when the FIA men picked him up and took him away. The benami account case is still pending in court.
Ever since Corona spread in this country, I have asked a question to many people. Are there any corona patients among their acquaintances, relatives, acquaintances of acquaintances? I have not received an affirmative answer to this till date. Everyone said the same, I don’t know who has corona. Exactly the same situation will happen in finding those people who have been helped by the government after the departure of this government. Even then there will be no one who can say that he got help from the government. Although the identity card number of each person must have been used. Our politicians do not hesitate to show this kind of magic.
In the previous government too, there were some politicians whose father’s funeral was done with donations. But when he came to government, now he is counted among the billionaires. Interestingly, it is considered a crime to ask where such wealth came to them. Similarly, the ministers in this government will also be called tomorrow’s billionaires because of these schemes.Small shopkeepers and business class are the biggest losers in this whole situation. They are not being allowed to open businesses, nor are they being given any other assistance. The Ramadan season of Karachi traders has been ruined. Corona has become a political weapon in Sindh. Every time the federal government talks about relaxing the lockdown, the Sindh government starts fanning the Corona epidemic. Whenever the meeting of the committee is scheduled to be held to end the lockdown, a day before it, the news of the increase in the intensity of the epidemic in Karachi is started flying by the Sindh government. The most important thing here is that in Sindh, Corona is gaining momentum only in Karachi. There is no increase in any other city of Sindh.
The reason for this is that closing any city other than Karachi does not put any pressure on the federation. Here the Sindh government is using the same technique against the government that it used during the Muttahida Altaf Hussain era through strikes. They also have to give some relief to their father democracy, which Corona itself has given them an easy way. With the 18th Amendment, the Federation is left with only two options. Either accept the unspoken demands of the Sindh government or impose governor rule in Sindh. In both cases, the PPP will be at an advantage. If the father of democracy got relief, then Warey Nyare or if the governor ruled, then the title of Shaheed Democracy was adopted.In all this situation, the poor man has been brought to a point where he may have to sell his body parts to maintain his body and soul connection.
However, a very simple way of dealing with this situation could have been adopted. Group insurance facility is available to employees of all medium and large scale industries in our country. The government could have just issued an executive order to oblige all insurance companies to bear the cost of a corona test for every industry employee. The government should have provided only testing kits.If every employee is tested and those found healthy are allowed to work. The industries would not have been locked down and the economy would not have been so destroyed. Our insurance companies get billions of rupees from industries in group insurance premiums. Rarely, if an employee dies, they have to pay the claim.With this, the government could have given the facility to all the industries that the industries which are paying salaries to their employees despite not working will be treated as their advance income tax, which they can claim in a phased manner. In this way, the government would not need to take huge loans, nor would the poor reach this situation. But it is not possible for our politicians to think like that. Because how would they manage their food and drink in this way.May Allah give us a real leader who can really feel the pain of the poor.
