One of the worst habits, I am struggling with is that, at times, I become inconsiderate and turn a casual conversation or discussion into arguments. One of this awkward moment was, my argument with a Bengali student who was doing research on economics. "We can change the world ... Let’s believe in it; let’s make it happen so that someday soon we will visit the museum to see poverty because we will never see poverty in society. It does not belong in a civilized society." These inspiring words of Muhammad Yunus topped my mind, when the student sitting next to me, introduced himself as a Bengali student doing research in economics, and I couldn't stop myself to ask him about the success rate of microcredits in Bangladesh, and the template that it can offer for others to build on. He stared at me in puzzlement and replied, "It is terrible, it is a failure". I realized that my knowledge of economics is not credible, as it is based on second-hand writings (reports, they call it, I guess), so I tried to bring in a more credible source, "But, last year, I attended a conference at UN headquarters and the Bengali ambassador, as chief guest of the conference was asking the rest of world to learn and copy the successes of Bangladesh in microcredit and empowering of women?". "Of course, he would boast about it. It is his job to convince the world that all is well, so people come and invest in his country. He will be doing a disservice to his country, if he tells the truth". he replied, while his intelligence was appeared to be shining through his eye glasses. Impressed deeply as I was, I wanted to be enlightened by His presence, and asked this time, "The Indian rupee is also falling in value and Pakistan's economy is a total mess. What do you think, is the basic problem with South Asian countries?" "A bunch of problems?" he answered back. "Can you elaborate, please?" I asked him, hoping some great solutions. "I depends" he answered by being very terse. I tried to change the question, hoping I get some details, "So, does your research suggests some specific solutions to the bunch of problems?". "Yes, a bunch of solutions". His aphoristic answers made me impatient. I thought, because economists are heavily obsessed with statistics, I can't expect from him to give me answers in the form of bullet points but instead scattered points, somehow linked to a straight or a curved line. And as, I am not good at reading statistics, so I should bring some examples and he might provide explanations that I can understand. This time, I asked, "As you know, Pakistan has experimented with nationalization, privatization, microcredits and mega-projects over her short life history, but none has proved to be working?" From his look, I understood that my answer was very naive. "There is no economic solution for the economy of South Asian countries. The problem is not with economy, but with bad politics, at the core of them corruption". I felt somehow relieved as now, there was no chance of asking any further questions. Everyone has to wait for politicians to become good, as unless, there is bad politics, nothing is going to work (What a relief ;)
I had some doubts, when he claimed that all economic troubles are rooted in bad politics, but the following news cleared all my doubts and proved that my economist friend was right (he should be as his knowledge was first-hand : research ;)
Taliban has really an effective government and has proved to be really good at politics, as the news report is suggesting. Their economy is flourishing rapidly, and now they can't rely just on abducted chartered accountants to monitor their revenues from taxation, ransom money, smuggling and blood-money but are hiring chartered accountants. I am really convinced that good politics result in economical-leaps and our future is really bright, as Taliban is appearing to be the light at the end of tunnel.
(For friends, who might get angry: Please don't get angry. Relax and enjoy it, as it is a sarcastic writing :)
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