Urdu book, offering a plan for eradication of poverty

The plan for eradication of poverty in Pakistan





محمد عبد الحمید
Muhammad Abd al-Hameed






May 2012





How to overcome all hurdles that obstruct the complete and permanent eradication of poverty


All rights reserved © Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form and in any language without the written permission of the author.

Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
SD-334, Lane 13-A, Askari Housing 5, Gulberg 3, Lahore 54660
Phones: (032) 1439-1940, (042) 3585-8334
Email: mahameed40@gmail.com
Blogs: www.mahameed.blogspot.com/
 www.mahameed-articles.blogspot.com/

Urdu version of this book is available from Classic,
Regal Chowk, The Mall, Lahore 54000. More
information at http://mahameed-poverty.blogspot.com

First edition, April 2008 (paperback)
Second revised digital edition, March 2011 (Amazon and Google eBook)
Third revised digital edition, May 2012

Other books by the same author
Constitution
Proposals for amending the Constitution of Pakistan
Public information
A public information system for a transparent government in Pakistan
Proposals for restructuring public information institutions in Pakistan
A plan for electronic and paper media in Pakistan for 2010s
Local Government
The creation of City Districts under Local Governments in Pakistan
A monitoring system for Local Governments in Pakistan
A plan for Internet use by Local Governments in Pakistan
Local Governments in Pakistan and consumer protection
Muqami Hakoomaton ka nizam (book on Local Governments in Urdu)
Muqami Hakoomaton ka nizam (Q&A on Local Governments in) Urdu
Management System in Pakistan
An analysis of indicators for National Reconstruction Information

Contents

About the author
Prefaces

To go to a chapter, click on its link below

ON OWNERSHIP OF LAND AND PROPERTY
1. Ownership of land in Islam
2. Ownership of land in South Asia
3. Land ownership under colonial rule
4. Constitutional provisions on property
5. The economics of owning a house

RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH COMPANY
6. Company for reconstruction
7. Company administration
8. Bank for reconstruction
9. Bank services for businesses
10. Delivery service for businesses
11. Employees of the Company

PLANNING FOR LOW-COST HOUSING
12. Planning for settlements
13. Common features of housing
14. Use of most appropriate technologies

EARNING FOR ALL IN BAZAAR
15. Common features of the Bazaar
16. Common facilities in the Bazaar
17. Business opportunities in Bazaar
18. Why businesses will not fail
19. Job opportunities in the Bazaar
20. Maintaining quality and prices

RENT-FREE HOUSING FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
21. Reconstruction of capital cities
22. New provincial and district capitals
23. Housing and businesses for soldiers
24. Housing for policemen
25. New hometown for the Railway
26. Settlements for Government employees

SUBSISTENCE HOLDINGS FOR FARMERS
27. Too little land for too many people
28. Present distribution of land
29. Creation of subsistence holdings
30. Revolution in agriculture

LIVELIHOOD AND HOUSING FOR ALL IN DEH
31. Planning for a Deh
32. Land acquisition and compensation
33. Layout of a Deh
34. Livelihood and housing in Deh

QASBAS AND CITIES FOR INDUSTRIES
35. Qasbas for small industries
36. Layout of a Qasba or Muhalla
37. Industrialization of Balochistan
38. New cities for industries
39. Layout of an industrial city

RECONSTRUCTION OF PRESENT CITIES
40. Shantytowns and slums
41. New Muhallas in present cities
42. Allotment of flats in new Muhallas
43. Flats for private sector employees
44. New Muhallas for the “non-poor”

SOURCES FOR FUNDS
45. Sale and purchase of Company shares
46. Government loans for employee housing
47. Private sector loans for housing

SOURCES OF INCOME AND ITS EXPENDITURE
48. Estimates of cost of construction
49. Rent and its calculation
50. Rent of flats for Government employees
51. Major sources of income for Company
52. How Company will use its income
53. When will poverty end?

RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY
54. Crime, law and justice
55. Why poverty will never return
56. What ails politics and government
57. New systems to replace old ones
58. Salient features of new constitution
59. A new way of life
The last word
Annex A Rural and urban reconstruction and redistribution of agricul-tural land (draft Act)
Annex B A more elaborate list of small industries



About the author

Problems fascinate Muhammad Abd al-Hameed. Whenever he comes across one, he looks for its solution. He forwards the solution to the relevant authorities, not caring if somebody else gets the credit for it. To know more about his ideas, plans and writings, visit his blogs:
www.mahameed.blogspot.com/
www.mahameed-articles.blogspot.com/
After doing his M.A. in Economics from Government College, La-hore, in 1961, he started his career at a leading Lahore-based English daily, The Civil & Military Gazette. After its closure, he moved on to Imroze, a leading Urdu daily. After a few years in journalism, he had to join Pakistan Railway as Information Officer (Class I) under pressure from his family that wanted him to have “a respectable job.” He lost his job after he refused to join a gang involved in a huge fraud, though he was offered 120 times more money than his annual salary every year. He never regretted his decision, though consequently he had to spend the next two decades in financial wil-derness.
In 1987, he got an opportunity to put to work his ability to solve problems and his knowledge of modern methods and technologies, when he was appointed Director, Research and Reference, in the Punjab Government.
After his retirement, he served for over six years in the National Re-construction Bureau of Government of Pakistan. As a consultant, he contrib-uted studies and solutions on many issues of national importance.
His passion for finding solutions to problems, both big and small, is unabated. He continues to write about them, offering practical solutions. His writings are available on his blog.
He believes he was at his creative best while writing this book.


Preface
First edition

There was never any secret about poverty. Its causes, prevalence and consequences were always known. Yet, no practical solution emerged.
Two solutions were proposed in recent times. Socialists suggested takeover of all sources of wealth and redistribution of the output. Capitalists believed that free enterprise would create growth in incomes that would solve the problem. Neither solution worked effectively. The Muslim societies always emphasized social welfare through Bait al-Maal, zakat, charity, etc., rather than promotion of income generation.
This book offers a comprehensive action plan for complete and per-manent eradication of poverty. It suggests only evolutionary changes, not any drastic coercive measures, such as nationalization. The Government will initiate the process but will not have a major role in its implementation.
The major objectives of the plan include
a) self-employment or jobs for all adults in urban and rural areas;
b) a flat of 150 sq. meters (1500 sq. feet) for every family, both in ur-ban and rural areas, on a monthly rent of only Rs 5000;
c) raise the level of every agricultural land holding to economic size
I wrote a booklet in 2003 in Urdu on the removal of slums in urban areas. A Lahore-based monthly magazine, سیارہ ڈائیجیسٹ (Sayyara Digest), published it in installments, from July to December 2004. Later, I wrote a paper in English (unpublished), outlining a plan for employment of all adults in rural areas and transformation of villages into communities that will have housing and facilities similar to cities.
In my Urdu book, I combined both plans, elaborated them extensively, filled in the gaps and covered other related issues to create a comprehensive plan. To facilitate its implementation, I drafted two laws, one on rural and urban reconstruction and the other on redistribution of agricultural land (Annexes A and B).
The implementation of the plan will cause huge economic activity all over the country for decades. Ultimately, it will bring about an economic and social transformation of our society that will be the envy of other developing countries. (Though the plan is primarily for Pakistan, its basic concept can work in any developing country, with modifications to meet local condi-tions.)
The book is not an abstruse academic treatise or research study on poverty but an action plan in plain words. The language is simple, free from professional jargon and academic abstractions. The style is concise, avoiding waste of words. The objective is not to impress the reader but to lift the ideas into his mind. (If you need the dictionary after every other paragraph of a book, the author has not done his job well.)
In the English version, I have used American spellings because most people in our society no longer use the Queen’s English. In fact, most of the world also now learns the American English, except the former British colo-nies and Europe.
I have given Urdu equivalents for terms because it is only a matter of time before the national language replaces English, which continues to retain its status of the colonial days as the official language even after six decades of Independence.
In the title of the book, the use of “the” before “plan” may seem pre-sumptuous but I do not know of any plan that comes even close as a practi-cal solution. There is talk of only “poverty alleviation” or “reduction in pov-erty.”
As even the surface mail postage for other countries is now far more than the price of the book, I have made a digital version available in PDF for readers abroad.
The Urdu version of the book is under print for wider readership. The masses should know that politicians could eliminate poverty if they are pressed hard enough. If the people could elect Z A Bhutto as the Prime Min-ister merely on his promise of roti, kapra aur makan (food, clothing and housing), they can certainly elect a leader, who will commit himself to erad-ication of poverty with a plan that is already there.
Being almost 70, I may not live long enough to see the implementa-tion of my plan but I believe firmly that someday somebody will do it, in sha Allah.

Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Lahore, April 15, 2008


Preface
Second edition

When I started writing the Urdu version of the first edition of this book, I ended up improving the plan drastically. Therefore, in view of major changes throughout the book, I decided to make this edition an English ver-sion of the Urdu book, rather than an update of the first edition.
The plan now proposes the area of a flat to be 150 (instead of 100) sq. meters also for employees of the government, private industries and busi-nesses. This would increase the construction cost and delay reconstruction by a few years but provide living that is much more comfortable for employ-ees. To reduce the financial burden, the period for recovery of loans may be extended to 15 instead of 10 years. As a result, the annual rent will be 1/15th of the cost of construction, not 1/10th.
To expedite the eradication of poverty, the plan now envisages that, rather than constructing a complete Deh دیہ, only business units in Bazaar be built in the first phase, while the villagers may continue living in their pre-sent houses for some more time. Building 4.5 business units for the cost of a flat will give higher incomes to as many more adults. In the second phase, as the financial position of the Company improves, flats and remaining facilities will be built to complete a Deh.
This book gives the essential content rather than complete translation of the original because it is primarily for non-Pakistanis. The Urdu book has more details, keeping in view the interests and needs of the Pakistani reader and his cultural and social background. Take, for example, a quotation of Malik Amir Muhammad Khan, Governor, West Pakistan (1960-66), “People are afraid of me and I am afraid of my patwari.” A non-Pakistani will not understand it without a description of Khan’s reputation, the importance of patwari (lowest official dealing with land records) and the reason for Khan’s fear.
Since this book will be available only in digital form (at least for the present), hyperlinks have been given for chapter headings and cross-references for easy access. For easier reading, the type size for the text is 14 points.

Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Lahore, September 5, 2010

Preface
Third edition

Helpful technology became available before I started revising this book for its next digital edition. So, I could now insert Urdu words, includ-ing titles of the books quoted. Illustrations and a touch of color have been added to break the monotony of text.
The revision allowed numerous editorial corrections that somehow crept in but escaped the eye earlier. At places, clarification or elaboration of concepts was necessary. Some rough edges were made smooth.
Originally, there were three draft laws for implementation of the plan. In the previous version, two of them were merged. This time the second draft law, on redistribution of agricultural land, was also made a part of the first one, on urban and rural reconstruction, as both had interdependence. The new law was revised thoroughly to remove inconsistencies and incon-gruities. Many changes were also necessary in view of the revisions that had been made in the text.
I decided to make this edition available on the Internet to make the plan accessible to all, who want to eradicate poverty, wherever they happen to be. The elimination of poverty is far more important than any other con-sideration. The implementation of the plan anywhere will be the greatest re-ward that I can hope to get.


Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Lahore, May 15, 2012

ON OWNERSHIP OF LAND AND PROPERTY


Chapter 01
Ownership of land in Islam


W
HEN CULTIVABLE LAND became the main source of wealth in the beginning of the agrarian age, the question of its ownership arose. Initially, a tribe or community would decide that land belonged to it collectively and its head would manage it on its behalf. Ultimately, kings took over land, making it the main source of revenue for the royal treasury. For thousands of years, the state ownership of land remained the base of political power as well as military strength.

After the industrial revolution in Europe, the base of political power shifted from feudal lords to elected representatives. Along with it, business taxes replaced share in harvest as the main source of government revenue. Independent earning of individuals and businesses eliminated dependence on feudal lords.
The most important change was to allow private ownership. Any indi-vidual could now own land. The right of private ownership became so en-shrined that in recent times (in Pakistan) even the state had to buy private land at the market price whenever it needed it for public purposes. The low-cost housing schemes of local development authorities in major cities became practically infeasible after the courts decided that the owners of land must be paid the prevailing market price, not the compensation that the government determined. Surprisingly, the court ignored Article 24 of the Constitution, under which the Government has the authority to acquire land and pay compensation for it at the rate determined by it. The amount of compensation cannot be questioned in any court. (See Chapter 04, “Constitutional provisions on property”)
Qur’anic view Holy Qur’an is the ultimate source of guidance for Muslims on all matters. Many of its ayats indicate that land belongs to Allah and is for collective benefit of the people. Some of them are given below, with translation by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall:

Surah 2, Al-Baqara البقرہ
Ayah 29. He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth.
Ayah 116. Nay, but whatsoever is in the heaven and the earth, His.
Ayah 255. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Also Ayah 284.
Surah 3, Aal-i-Imran آل عمران
Ayah 109. Unto Allah belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoev er is in the earth; and unto Allah all things are returned. Also 129.
Surah 4, An-Nisaa النساء
Ayah 126. Unto Allah belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Also Ayahs 131, 132, and 170.
Surah 6, Al-An'am  الانعام
Ayah 12. Say: Unto whom belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth? Say: Unto Allah.
Surah 23, Al-Muminun  المومنون
Ayahs 84-85. Say: Unto Whom (belongeth) the earth and whosoever is therein, if ye have knowledge? They will say: Unto Allah. Say: Will ye not then remember?
Surah 55, Ar-Rahman الرحمان
Ayah 10. And the earth hath He appointed for (His) creatures.
While there may be differences in the interpretation of some ayahs, the overall meaning is that land belongs to Allah. No individual has any right to own it. Secondly, land is to be used for the welfare of all people, not that of some individuals.

When the region now called Iraq was conquered during the rule of Caliph Umar (581–644 AD), he rejected the plea of some persons that land in the territory may be distributed on ownership basis. He determined that land would belong to the state and the farmers cultivating it before the conquest would become tenants of the state. The government could not remove the tenants as long as they took proper care of land and followed the terms of tenancy. However, if land was left uncultivated, the state could take it over. Those who already owned land were not allowed to sell it. Not even non-Muslims were allowed to purchase land with ownership rights.
Caliph Umar concluded that the land, acquired because of a victory (over an enemy), will not be distributed but retained as trust for the benefit of all present and future Muslims. He said, “This land is for those yet to come. Therefore, it belongs to all people. How is it possible that I distribute it among the living people and deny it to those who will be born in future?” (He referred to Ayah 9 of Surah Hashr.)
“Imam Shaf’ei and others of his thinking argue that the Holy Prophet did distribute the lands of Khaibar among the mujahideen but they ignore the fact that there were other victories after Khaibar until the whole of Arabia had been occupied before his death but the Holy Prophet did not distribute even a small part of these lands.” (“Issue of Fay,” pages 362-364, الفاروق (Al-Farooq), by Shibli Nu’mani, published by Al-Misbah, Urdu Bazar, La-hore)
Caliph Ali (599–661 AD) continued the policy of Caliph Umar. If somebody, using his influence, occupied some land, he was forced to vacate it. In later years, Caliph Umar bin Abd al-Aziz and Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far Mansur also followed the policy of state ownership of land. During the Ottoman period, a son could take over as tenant after the death of his fa-ther. Otherwise, the state would take over the land and give it to somebody else.


Chapter 02
Ownership of land in South Asia


T
HE SYSTEM OF LAND OWNERSHIP in South Asia under Muslim rulers had its origins in the system adopted in Arabia under Caliph Umar. While the state continued to own land, the kings did not deal directly with the tenants. They would hand over large tracts of land, called jagirs, to persons close to the court.

A jagir was held only during the pleasure of the ruler. A jagirdar would collect from farmers a share in harvest for the king’s treasury, while keeping a certain portion of the collection for himself. He would supply sol-diers, horses and rations whenever required by the king for wars. The jagirdars were thus the primary source of power for the kingdom. If the king would become weak, the jagirdars would change loyalty or become autono-mous. Jagirdars were behind the anarchy that followed the fall of the Tughlaq dynasty.
Marxist Historian Mubarak Ali writes in his Urdu book, “Jagirdari” (published by Fiction House, Lahore, 1996), that the jagirdars and zamindars did not have ownership rights. Even the ruler was not the owner of land, nor could he give ownership rights to any official. He allowed the jagirdars only to collect revenue. The land belonged collectively to the village community. (ibid, page 63)
No attempt was made during any later period to take land away from the king or create a feudal class with ownership rights. The struggle was al-ways over the right to collect revenue, without depriving the farmer of his cultivation rights. (ibid, page 63)

Four types of jagirs were created:
a) for government and religious rituals,
b) for ministers and government officials in lieu of salaries,
c) for competent people as a reward for special services,
d) for Brahmans, temples and charities.

However, the principle remained unchanged that individuals would not buy land; they could only get the right to cultivate it. (ibid, page 64)
Ghouri kings introduced three types of jagirs, calledاقطاع  (aqtaa’) (ibid, page 68):

a) for the expenses of the ruler,
b) for military commanders and officials in lieu of salary,
c) for religious and charitable purposes.
Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316), aware of the rebellions against the Tughlaq rulers, decided to eliminate any possibility by taking over all jagirs and reserving them for state expenses. He also switched from cash lagan (land tax) to collecting a certain share of the produce. The former jagirdars were forced to live on small privy purses or earn their own living. They could no longer think of rebelling. (ibid, page 70, quoting “Tarikh-i Firozeshahi,” by Ziauddin Burni)
Under Akbar, the jagirs were given only for contribution to the mili-tary requirements of the state. A jagirdar could be transferred after three or four years to some other jagir to prevent him from taking roots at a place. For example, a jagirdar in Bengal in the east could find himself next in Sindh in the west. (ibid, page 75)
The term “zamindar” was introduced in India probably during the 14th century. (It did not come from Iran.) A zamindar was a pillar of the jagirdari system. A Mughal monarch was considered the owner of the land but in reality he was not. He only had a right to collect revenue. However, he could appoint or remove a zamindar. (ibid, pages 80- 81)
In the early days of Jahangir (1648-1657), jagirdars adopted contract system. Under it, a jagirdar would collect a lump sum for the whole year from a contractor, who would collect whatever he could from the farmers. The exploitation caused considerable hardship. However, the system continued due to convenience in collection. (ibid, page 90)
Before the British occupation of Sindh in 1843, a jagir would return to the state after the death of its jagirdar. A jagidar had to make specified con-tribution to military requirements of the government. The British gave he-reditary rights to the jagirdars, who professed loyalty to them. Later, the pol-icy was changed and a successor could inherit a jagir only after professing loyalty. The jagirdars were exempted from maintaining an army or contribu-tion to military needs of the state. (ibid, pages 114-115)
During the last days of the Mughal rule and later during the Sikh peri-od, the jagirdari system continued to change due to political instability. Every ruler tried to win over the jagirdars to stabilize his hold. Ranjit Singh gave new jagirs but always retained the right to confiscate any jagir, if his terms were not met or there was a dispute among the successors.
After they occupied the Punjab in 1849, the British confiscated the jagirs of those, who had not supported them against the Sikhs. However, some jagirdars managed to get back their jagirs by supporting the British in 1857. (ibid, page 118)
Fatwas Prof. Rafiulla Shihab, in his Urdu book,اسلامی ریاست کا مالیاتی نظام (Financial system of Islamic state), published by Idara Tehqiqat Islami, Islamabad, 1973, devotes a chapter to the discussion of the ownership of land in South Asia, quoting fatwas of leading Muslim scholars on the sub-ject. (The chapter is reproduced in full in the original Urdu version of this book,غربت کیسے مٹ سکتی ہے )
Maulana Muhaammad Hifzur Rehman Sevharvi writes in his Urdu book, اسلام کا اقتصادی نظام (Economic system of Islam), published by Maktaba Rahmania, Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, that the ulema gave fatwas during the Mughal and British periods that land in India could not be under individual ownership; it was under state ownership as a trust. “In addition to these fat-was, the Mughal emperors also decided to keep the lands under their control. The agreement of Shah Alam on land revenue matters with the British dip-lomat, Sir Thomas Roe, and that of Sirajud Daola with East India Company, supported the position of the Mughal emperors and the British rule that the land did not belong to individual landlords. The landlords were nothing more than supervisors (nigran).”

Maulana Muhammad A’la Thanvi also believes that the land is to be under state ownership, not individuals. The lands in India are not subject toعشر ushr or خراج kharaj and areحوزہ  haoza lands, i.e., belong to bait al-maal of the government. The lands do not belong to individuals.
Sheikh Jalal-ud-Din Thanesari also determined that the lands of India, like those in Iraq under Caliph Umar, did not belong to individuals and the landlords were no more than supervisors.
In the opinion of Shah Abdul Aziz, son of Shah Waliullah, “The land-lords are no more than matwallis or daroghas and have no role other than finding cultivators, providing them aid in cultivation and giving them protec-tion.” He writes in his Urdu book,فتاوی عزیزی  (Fatawa Azizi), (Volume 1), “The land in India is the jagir of all Muslims and belongs to the Bait al-Maal. It belongs to neither any individual, nor any zamindar.”
Mufti Muhammad Shafi, in his Urdu book, اسلام کا نظام اراضی (Land system of Islam), published by Dar ul-Isha’at, Karachi, considers the land abandoned by non-Muslims after Independence to belong to the state. In his view, the people occupying such lands cannot be treated as owners. Even the Muslim occupants of land in Pakistan are nor its owners. They can continue to cultivate it but cannot sell it. When they move elsewhere, their land will revert to the state.
Maudoodi’s view Soon after Independence, strong public demand arose for limiting private ownership of land. Some Islamic scholars came out in support of big landlords and opposed the demand. They claimed that pri-vate ownership of land—and that too without any limit—was justified in Is-lam.
Prominent among them was Maulana Maudoodi, founder-amir of Jama’t Islami. In his Urdu booklet, مسئلہ ملکیت زمین (The issue of ownership of land), first published in 1950 by Islamic Publications, Lahore, Maudoodi wrote that private ownership of land was common in Arabia for centuries be-fore the Holy Prophet. If it were to be abolished, the Holy Qur’an would have given unambiguous and specific command. Secondly, an alternative system would have been put in place. The Holy Prophet and the four Right-eous Caliphs after him allowed private ownership. Their practice could be construed to mean that private ownership of land was justified. However, he did not quote any ayah of the Holy Qur’an that specifically provided for pri-vate ownership of land. He could only refer to some hadiths (sayings of Ho-ly Prophet) that he interpreted as favoring his position.
Maudoodi did not refer to the decision of Caliph Umar about the lands of Iraq (quoted in previous chapter). He also did not recognize the fact that Muslim states owned land throughout history. If private ownership prevailed for a long time before Holy Prophet, state ownership has been the common practice for well over a thousand years. If the Holy Qur’an did not prohibit or ordain something specifically, اجتہاد ijtihad was possible to allow state ownership of land in the interest of society.
Maudoodi’s claim that private ownership of land was common in pre-Islam Arabia is doubtful. Philip K Hitti, in his classic “History of the Arabs,” writes, “The tent and its humble household contents are individual property, but water, pasturage and cultivable land are the common property of the tribe.” (Page 26, 10th edition)
Hitti, referring to the policy of Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, popular-ly called “Umar II,” adds, “The Caliph Umar II (717-720) tried to remedy the resultant dissatisfaction among the Neo-Moslems by re-establishing the old principle of his earlier namesake that a Moslem, whether Arab or mawla [client], need pay no tribute whatsoever, but he insisted that the kharaj land was the joint property of the Moslem community. He thus prohibited after the year A.H. 100 (718-19) the sale of kharaj lands to Arabia and Moslems and declared that if the owner of such land be converted his property should revert to the village community and he might continue to use it as a lease-holder.” (Page 219)
Maudoodi raised a point in his booklet that contradicted his own stand. He asserted that there could be no restriction on private ownership if it was created through proper means and dues relating to it were paid. On page 78 of his booklet (ibid), he mentioned several things, which could be owned without any restriction:روپیہ، پیسہ، جانور، اسستعمالی اشیا، مکانات، سواری (money, cattle, things in use, houses, transport). Extrapolating from that, he main-tained that there was no reason why agricultural land alone should be subject to limits.
He did not realize the difference. All examples given by him were of wealth created by personal efforts. Anybody who had money could buy and own them. Consequently, there could be no limit on their ownership, subject to deductions, compulsory (zakat, taxes) or optional (sadqa, khairat).
However, land was not created by human effort. If we trace the history of private ownership of land, we shall end up with the original “owner,” who either simply occupied it or got it due to royal beneficence. His descendants inherited the land merely due to the accident of birth in his family, not to any effort of their own. In recent times, the government sold plots through allotment or auction, presuming that it was the owner. In both cases, ownership of land was not the result of any creation of wealth by individuals.
Interestingly, Jama’at Islami, in its manifesto issued on December 20, 1969, for the general election in December 1970, contradicted Maudoodi while he was still its head. Section 18 (b) of the manifesto provided that the “old ownership” of land would be reduced to certain limits. In the fertile ar-eas of West Pakistan, the limit would be between 100 and 200 acres and less in less fertile areas, while it would be 100 bighas (50 acres) in East Pakistan. The government would purchase at a reasonable price from the owners the land above the limit.
Then, to keep the façade, the manifesto maintained that the limit on ownership of land would be “only to remove temporarily the previous ine-qualities” but it would not be made permanent because “permanent limit is not only in contradiction with the Islamic law of inheritance but also several other Sharia laws.” The authors did not seem to realize that if the ownership of land was reduced to specified limits “temporarily,” no further “perma-nent” limit would be necessary, as temporary will become permanent in due course.


Chapter 03
Land ownership under colonial rule


C
ONTRARY TO USUAL PERCEPTION, the British, rather than introducing private ownership of land, retained the earlier system under which the state owned the land. They collected “land revenue,” which was a share in crop harvest, not a tax on land. Its rate was determined in permanent settlements. (“Settlement” meant “settling or determining the amounts of land revenue with the landowners.”)

A settlement assessed land revenue and prepared record of all persons concerned with its payment. Periodical settlements were carried out to pre-vent loss to Government revenue. In Punjab, the settlements were undertak-en during the following periods:
a) First settlement, 1846–1863
b) Second settlement, 1863–1871
c) Third settlement, 1871–1879
d) Fourth settlement, 1879–1889
e) Fifth settlement , 1889 onward
The British introduced two main laws relating to land, Land Revenue Act and Tenancy Act, with their ancillary books, “Land Administration Manual,” “Land Record Manual,” and “Settlement Manual.”
The first Land Revenue Act was promulgated in the Punjab in 1871, while first Tenancy Act came in 1886. The second Land Revenue Act and second Tenancy Act were promulgated in 1887.
Before merger of provinces to form West Pakistan in 1955, the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, had been adopted with certain modifications by NWFP, Bahawalpur state and Balochistan.
While Sindh was a part of the Bombay province before its creation in 1936 under Article 9 of the Government of India Act 1935, Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, was applicable. The same Code remained applicable afterwards, with the change of title to Sind Land Revenue Code, 1879.
On the formation of West Pakistan province after the merger of provinces, West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967, was promulgated, unifying the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, and the Sind Land Revenue Code, 1879. After the break-up of One Unit in 1970, the provinces made minor amendments in the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act to suit their respective circumstances.
The Act dealt with following matters:
a) Classification, appointment, functions and powers of revenue officers and their procedure
b) Preparation and maintenance of records-of-rights and other periodical records
c) Assessment of land-revenue and its collection
d) Recovery of dues by revenue officers
e) Survey and boundaries of lands
f) Partition of lands
g) Arbitration, with or without consent of parties
h) Provisions as to appeals, review and revision, jurisdiction of Revenue Courts and other miscellaneous matters
Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, is still in force. It defines the relations be-tween landlords and tenants. NWFP Tenancy Act, 1950, Sindh Tenancy Act, 1950, and Balochistan Tenancy Ordinance, 1978, are also in force.

Definitions Land Revenue Act, 1967, gives the legal position of the government regarding land, both before and after promulgation of the Act. Some relevant definitions given in Article 6 of the Act:

“Land” means a solid part of earth's surface, which is occupied or has been and can be let for agricultural purposes or for purposes allied or subservient to agriculture and includes the sites of the buildings on such land but does not include land occupied as the site of the village, town, factory or industrial purposes.
“Land-revenue” means land-revenue assessed or assessable under this Act, or under any other law for the time being in force relating to land-revenue, and includes any rates imposed on account of increase in the value of land due to irrigation.
The charge for canal irrigation, called abiana, is included in the def-inition of land-revenue. It is the payment for the water supplied through canals and is collected along with the land revenue. However, land revenue is not assessed on the basis of income from land. When a patwari (the lowest revenue official) undertakes gardawari (field verification of crops) in a village for rabi (spring) and kharif (autumn) crops, he shows in his records the crop sown in every field. His data helps in estimating at the national level the total produce of every crop. There is no calculation of income from crops.
Land Revenue Act defines “landlord” and “land-owner” as follows:

“Landlord” means a person under whom a tenant holds land, and to whom the tenant is, or but for a special contract, would be liable to pay rent for that land, and shall include a lessee of such person, and the pre-decessors and successors-in-interest of such person.

“Land-owner” includes a person to whom a holding has been transferred, or an estate or holding has been let in farm, under this Act, for the recovery of an arrear of land-revenue or of a sum recoverable as such an arrear, and any other person who is in possession of an estate or any share or portion thereof, or in the enjoyment of any part of profits of an estate, but does not include a tenant.
The definitions of both “landlord” and “land-owner” relate them only to collection of land-revenue. There is no implication that they have inal-ienable ownership rights. In other words, they work on behalf of the gov-ernment, not as owners of land.
“The term ‘land-owner’ is not synonymous with the ‘owner of land,’” says well-known legal expert, Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Mokal, in his commentary on the Land Revenue Act. “‘Land-owner’ has a very wide signification and includes many persons whose interests in land are of a limited or ephemeral character, e.g., a farmer or transferee for revenue pur-pose or one who is in possession of an estate. The term includes a person to whom a holding has been transferred. A tirni contractor is also a land-owner. A tenant is not a land-owner.”
Even though there is no ambiguity about the British colonial law giv-ing the ownership rights to the state, it is primarily of historical interest. The present legal position does not depend on it. Islam is the state religion and, under Article 227 of the Constitution, all laws have to be in conformity with the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. In the next chapter, we shall study the provisions of the Constitution that have direct bearing on the implementation of our plan.


Chapter 04
Constitutional provisions on property


T
HE PREAMBLE OF PAKISTAN’S Constitution mentions “social justice” three times. It gives one of the objectives of the state as the creation of “an egalitarian society through a new order.” It also allows legislature to make laws that may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Constitution.

The relevant paragraphs of the Preamble are reproduced below (italics added for emphasis):
“Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be observed;
…
“Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights, including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and politi-cal justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality;
…
“Faithful to the declaration made by the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, that Pakistan would be a democratic State based on Islamic principles of social justice;
…
“Inspired by the resolve to protect our national and political unity and solidarity by creating an egalitarian society through a new order;”

Article 3 of the Constitution stresses the elimination of all forms of exploitation. It reads (italics added for emphasis):
3. The State shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfillment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability, to each according to his work.
Although the intention seemed to be bring land ultimately under state control, the prevailing political conditions were not conducive. Therefore, a provision was made in Article 253 to limit the ownership of property and land. Before he promulgated the interim Constitution in early 1972, Z A Bhutto, using his powers as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, had al-ready reduced the sizes of land holdings that had been determined under land reforms of President Ayub Khan (1958-69).
After Bhutto was gone, the Appellate Shariat Bench of the Supreme Court) declared that maximum limit on ownership of property was against Islam. If Bhutto had specified in the Constitution itself the provisions of his land reforms, no court could later abolish them.
The Article relating to property and land provides that Parliament can limit the ownership (italics added for emphasis):
253. (1) Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) may by law
(a) prescribe the maximum limits as to property or any class thereof which may be owned, held, possessed or controlled by any person; and
(b) declare that any trade, business, industry, or service specified in such law shall be carried on or owned, to the exclusion complete or partial, of other persons, by the Federal Government or a Provincial Government or by a corporation controlled by any such Government.
(2) Any law, which permits a person to own beneficially or possess beneficially an area of land greater than that which, immediately be-fore the commencing day, he could have lawfully owned beneficially or possessed beneficially shall be invalid.
Clause (2) directs clearly that nobody can own or possess area of land more that what he did before the commencement of the Constitution. Obvi-ously, the judgment of the Shariat Appellate Bench was unconstitutional. However, the Government did not appeal to the Supreme Court under pres-sure from big landowners.
The Government still has authority, under clause (1)(a) of the same Article 253, to limit ownership, possession or even control of “property or any class thereof.” This provision is of great significance for our plan be-cause it paves the way for necessary legislation for its implementation with the approval of a simple majority of Parliament.
Article 23 empowers the Government to impose “reasonable re-strictions” on acquiring or holding property. The Article says (italics added for emphasis):
23. Every citizen shall have the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property in any part of Pakistan, subject to the Constitution and any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the public interest.
Article 24 is very relevant to the objectives of our plan. It allows the Government even to deprive a person of his property compulsorily through legislation and after paying compensation. The Constitution gives the Gov-ernment authority to determine compensation or specify “the principles on and the manner in which compensation is to be determined and given.” The “adequacy or otherwise of any compensation…shall not be called in question in any court.”
Article 24 says (italics added):
24 (1). No person shall be compulsorily deprived of his property save in accordance with law.
(2) No property shall be compulsorily acquired or taken possession of save for a public purpose, and save by the authority of law which pro-vides for compensation therefor and either fixes the amount of com-pensation or specifies the principles on and the manner in which com-pensation is to be determined and given.
(3) Nothing in this Article shall affect the validity of
…
(e) any law providing for the acquisition of any class of property for the purpose of
…
(ii) providing housing and public facilities and services such as roads, water supply, sewerage, gas and electric power to all or any specified class of citizens;
...
(4) The adequacy or otherwise of any compensation provided for by any such law as is referred to in this Article or determined in pursu-ance thereof, shall not be called in question in any court.
The Federal Government may, under Article 24(3)(e)(ii), pass a law to acquire the ownership of a specified area for “providing housing and public facilities and services.” In case of urban slums, the law may determine that compensation to the owners of houses will be in the form of residence for life in new flats. Even if some owner goes to a court to stop it, a judge should not find it difficult to dismiss his case because there will be good rea-sons for it. After all, the Government will be neither displacing any owner, nor denying him reasonable compensation for his ownership. The owner of a dark, dingy dwelling will be shifting to a far better residential accommoda-tion in the same location and that too for occupation for life.
While the Constitution allows the acquiring of property and land, it al-so requires the state under Article 38 to achieve its objectives that involve acquisition. The Article says (italics added for emphasis):
38. The State shall
(a) secure the well-being of the people, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, by raising their standard of living, by preventing the concen-tration of wealth and means of production and distribution in the hands of a few to the detriment of general interest and by ensuring eq-uitable adjustment of rights between employers and employees, and landlords and tenants;
...
(e) reduce disparity in the income and earnings of individuals, includ-ing persons in the various classes of the service of Pakistan; ...
Options As we have seen, the Constitution gives powers that the Government may need for the implementation of our plan. All that is re-quired is political will. The Government may pass necessary legislation with the help of its majority in Parliament.
What if the Prime Minister has the will but his own party does not support him fully? He may seek support from opposition parties that are willing to vote for his legislation. If this too is not forthcoming, he may go for a referendum.
Article 48 of the Constitution allows the Government to bypass par-liamentary procedures and get the approval of the people directly through a referendum.
The Article says (italics added for emphasis):
48(6). If, at any time, the President, in his discretion, or on the advice of the Prime Minister, considers that it is desirable that any matter of national importance should be referred to a referendum, the President may cause the matter to be referred to a referendum in the form of a question that is capable of being answered either by "Yes" or "No."
In a referendum, vested interests will not find it possible to obstruct the Government. Tens of millions of people, who own neither land nor hous-es, will be the most enthusiastic supporters of the government proposal and will overwhelm the opponents through the ballot box. Parliament will have to respect the wishes of the people.
The most important – and ultimate – option may be to get a fresh mandate of the people. The Prime Minister, as the head of his party, may go for elections and include the implementation of the plan in his manifesto. He may allow only those members of his party to be candidates, who publicly commit themselves to support the plan. The result will clear the way for im-plementation of the plan.


Chapter 05
The economics of owning a house


T
HE OWNERSHIP OF A HOUSE is quite different from that of land. While nature created land, man occupies it to build his house on it. Building (or buying) a house will become unnecessary if one can get it on affordable rent for life. We discuss here the economic and some other aspects of owning a house.

People take economic decisions carefully and rationally. However, when it comes to owning a house, heart takes over mind. The reason is that a house in our society is not just for living. It has emotional attachment that grows with time. It is also a status symbol.
Owning a house gives deep satisfaction, especially in the Punjab, due to historical reasons. After the death of Emperor Aurangzeb (1618–1707), the Mughal empire disintegrated and a long period of turmoil followed. Whoever could gather a few thousand armed persons around him would be-come a local lord and start plundering the surrounding areas. Rather than paying his mercenaries, he would ask them to loot whatever they could.
During the long period of anarchy, insecurity prevailed as the state practically ceased to exist. Everyone had to fend for himself for protection. Jewelry, cash and other valuables were hidden in secret chambers or buried in ground. However, the secrecy would not provide protection when looters came. With swords hanging over his children, the head of the family had to surrender to them everything he had hidden.
After bitter experiences, people realized that house was the only thing that could not be taken away. Thus, a house became a symbol of security. The thinking was so entrenched that owning a house is even today the first priority for most families. The anarchy is long gone but buyers are still will-ing to pay far more than the construction cost of a house. A buyer will pay any amount when he ignores the cost-benefit ratio.
A rational decision is possible only after considering alternatives for investment. Often the saving in rent or the income from it is far less than the return from investment of the same amount in some other form. Taxes, repair and maintenance further reduce the income from rent.
It is wiser to invest elsewhere the amount meant for buying a house, use a part of the income for renting a suitable house, and spend the rest to meet daily expenses. Suppose the alternative investment gives 10 percent annually. An investment of 10 million rupees will give one million per year as interest. A house of that price will give half the return as rent. Therefore, an alternative investment will allow one to not only rent a house but also meet household expenses for a month. No wonder, the fools build houses while the wise live in them!
Disadvantages While ownership gives a feeling of security and satis-faction, it has several disadvantages:
a) The location may become unsuitable for living. If the owner is em-ployed and is transferred out of the city, he will have to vacate his house. If he gives it on rent, the tenant may not pay the rent regularly, and even create other problems. If he expects transfer back to his city after some time and keeps the house vacant, he will not only lose rent but will also have to pay taxes and maintenance expenses. He will bear additional financial burden if he has to rent a house at his new location.
b) The location may not remain close to the educational institutions. The children’s school may be close to the house. However, the college or the university may not be nearby, causing a transport problem. If the distance is too long, it may be more convenient to rent a house near the college or uni-versity, rather than buy a new one. Moreover, the sale price may not be enough to pay for the purchase of a new house.
c) The changing needs of the family may no longer be met. When children are small, the family does not need many rooms. As they grow up, everyone needs a room of his own. When daughters leave after marriage and sons get jobs in other cities, some rooms may no longer be in use. If a son decides to live with the parents after marriage, he and his family will need more rooms. It may be too difficult or expensive to make modifications in the house every time the family needs change. It will be much easier to rent a smaller or larger house.
d) The house may not always give peace of mind. The attachment of parents with their house grows with the passage of time. They may not pre-fer to live with their children, who have moved elsewhere. As a result, they may miss the company of their children and grandchildren and suffer the emotional distress of separation. Gone are the days when the entire family could live and earn a living in the same place for generations.
e) The owner may not live long in a house built with a loan. A house built with a loan from House Building Finance Corporation or some other financial institution requires payment of the principal and interest for a very long time. If the owner’s income is not enough, he has to give the house on rent to pay off the debt. (The interest payments may total more than even the principal amount.) The owner may be about to retire by the time the loan is cleared and may not have much time left to enjoy the fruit of his sacrifice. When he dies, the children just sell the house and divide the money among them. So much for the benefit of owning a house.
Beginning of windfall In the old days, the rulers would give plots of land to their favorites for houses and buildings but would retain ownership. When they were annoyed, they would cancel the allotment. If no cancellation occurred, the successors would remain in possession generation after genera-tion. They would assume ownership without having any official document to prove it. When they would sell a plot, they would give their own sale deed that served as proof of ownership for the buyer.
An example will explain the situation. Before the British occupation of the Punjab in 1849, the entire population of Lahore lived inside the ramparts around it. It was surrounded by agricultural land that was owned by the state. The expansion of the city outside the wall in later decades was obvi-ously due to ownership assumed by the occupants of land.
Due to large-scale migration from India after Independence and sub-sequent movement of population from villages to cities, land in cities became very expensive. Affordable housing was no longer within the reach of most people. Consequently, much of the urban population had to live in slums and kachchi abadis (shantytown). According to a World Bank study in 2008, about 35 per cent of the Punjab population lived in slums and 11.5 per cent in kachchi abadis. Over half of the province’s total 10.6 million housing units were older than 50 years, while 2.4 million new units were needed.
Urban planning New housing was planned in cities to meet the de-mand. Urban development authorities, such as Lahore Improvement Trust (later Lahore Development Authority), would acquire land, develop it and then divide it into plots for sale.
The rate of plots was calculated after totaling the price of land and the development charges. The Government would determine the purchase price of land that would be much lower than the market price. Thus, it could keep low the price of a plot. Some plots were sold at still lower rate to certain cat-egories of applicants, including public servants. When the judiciary ordered the Government to pay the market price for the purchase of land, it became impossible to sell plots at a low price. Auction of plots pushed up the prices still higher.
The generosity of the Government would bring a huge profit to privi-leged buyers. Some cronies were given two plots, allowing them to build a house on one plot with the money received after selling the other.
As the cities expanded, the scarcity of land and the population increase continued to raise the price of housing. The windfall profit was not due to any effort or value addition by the owners, but made housing less and less affordable for most people, forcing many to live in slums and shantytowns.
Problem in villages The rising price of land made affordable housing difficult in villages also. Houses there have common walls on three sides, making it impossible to expand in any direction. As families grow, they need more space or new houses. The land on the periphery of the village becomes more expensive. To exploit their desperate need, particularly of the landless, landowners charge high price. As a result, most can buy only tiny plots, if at all.
Exorbitant land price in cities and villages benefits a small number of owners but creates serious problems for the rest of the society:

a) The ever-rising price of land pushes new housing, buildings, factories, etc. beyond the reach of most people in cities.
b) The replacement of slums in cities with modern housing becomes impossible without astronomical expenditure on purchase of land at prevailing market prices.
c) Entrepreneurs in villages cannot buy land to set up businesses.
d) Villagers cannot build modern houses on bigger plots.
e) Landless villagers cannot buy adequate land to build housing for their growing families.
Change in thinking The basic thinking must change to improve the situation. A few must not benefit at the cost of all others, as it may cause ten-sions in the society, even disturbances. The society has a right to eliminate windfall profit for the sake of common welfare.
If the right of ownership is abolished, an owner of a house will suffer only a hypothetical loss. Under our plan, he will get comfortable living in a modern flat for life at a very small rent in return for surrendering ownership. The only restriction will be that he will not be able to sell the flat. But why should he sell it when he can live in it for the rest of his life?
Kachi abadis Farmers had to leave for cities when their land holdings were reduced to far below subsistence living due to divisions caused by in-heritance. Landless villagers had a stronger reason to leave because they could not earn enough in the village to support their families. The migrants would set up shacks wherever they could, in collusion with corrupt officials and criminals. The lack of utilities made life difficult. As shacks occupied more and more vacant land, the “ruralization” of cities increased.
Rather than eliminate illegal kachi abadis, the officials and politicians tended to make them permanent. Giving ownership rights to occupants got votes and cheap popularity for politicians and bribes for officials but did not solve the problem. In fact, new ones emerge in the hope of getting owner-ship some day. The kachi abadis will cease to exist only after the occupants return to their villages and are enabled to earn their living there.
Same system for all The main reason for migration to cities was lack of enough economic opportunities in villages. As in all other societies and during all times, the rural and urban areas had different systems of govern-ment. For the first time in world history, Pakistan introduced in 2001the same Local Government system for both areas. The system, introduced by President Pervez Musharraf, eliminated municipal boundaries, ensuring treatment of rural areas equal to that of cities. The head of the lowest tier, Union Nazim, is ex officio member of the District Council, while Naib (Deputy) Union Nazim is a member of the Tehsil تحصیل (sub district) Coun-cil. Since the District Council and Tehsil Council have most members from rural areas (where two-thirds of country’s population lives) and approve the annual budget, villages get equitable allocation of development funds. Un-fortunately, politicians in the provinces resented the loss of power and never allowed the Local Government system to work effectively. If there were no administrative hurdles and denial of funds, there would have been consider-able progress in reducing poverty in villages and solving housing problems.
No more premium The implementation of our plan will eliminate the premium on land for the first time in history. As more and more slum dwell-ers, along with government and private sector employees, shift to modern flats, the demand for houses will fall, leading to decline in rents and prices. The wide gap between price and rent of houses will start closing, ultimately bringing the rent of urban houses almost equal to return on alternative in-vestments.
The elimination of premium will pave the way for the abolition of pri-vate ownership of land, both in cities and villages. The present owners will be losers only in theory. The slum dwellers will exchange their ownership with lifetime possession of flats. The present owners of land holdings of economic size in villages will also retain their occupation for life. In both cases, successors will have the same occupation right for life.
The only difference will be that owners and their successors, while re-taining occupation for life as allottees, will not have a right to sell. Thus, they will no longer get any speculative premium. But then they never had any inherent right to it because the rise in prices of land was due to causes beyond their control, nor was it due to any value addition by them.
No nationalization Just the mention of abolishing private ownership of land conjures up images of communes in the Soviet Union, where the life of farmers was worse than that of serfs under feudal lords. However, the abolition of private ownership under our plan does not mean nationalization, under which the government takes over full control.
When land, like other natural resource, belongs to Allah, individuals can no longer own it. The state too cannot be the owner because of its essen-tially being an association of individuals. The government, as a trustee on behalf of the people, will only administer it for benefit of the society.
The Government will allot land to Ta’meer-i-Nau Company (see next chapter) for its projects on renewable lease. As the Government will be only a trustee and not the owner of the land, it will not receive any money from the Company as price, rent, tax, etc. If it does receive any amount, it will imply that the Government is the owner of land and may allot it at its discre-tion to only those, who pay the amount that it may fix arbitrarily. This situa-tion will benefit politicians, officials and the elite classes.
Therefore, the Government will allot land free of charge, subject to prescribed conditions. However, to meet the legal requirement that a transac-tion must involve some transfer of money, the Government will allot the land on lease at a very nominal sum. After recovering the sum under lease terms, there will be no reason for any other tax or payment.


RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH COMPANY


Chapter 06

Company for reconstruction


T
A’MEER-I-NAU COMPANY Limited will be a non-profit, public limited company, retaining profits for its own projects, rather than distributing among shareholders. It will build new villages (Dehs), industrial towns (Qasbas) and industrial cities. It will reconstruct present cities and also maintain and repair all buildings in perpetuity.

The Company will not have layers of bureaucracy. Service will be the measure of performance for all employees. Senior officials will have to get a vote of confidence from allottees every year.
The Government will have no control on the Company, nor will it in-terfere in its affairs. It will not buy any shares or appoint any director. How-ever, the Government will help in the formation of the Company. Parliament will pass a law on the Company and its reconstruction operations. Another law will be for redistribution of agricultural land. (See drafts of the two laws as Annexes A and B.
Head office The head office of the Company will be in Lahore, keep-ing in view several conditions:
a) The housing for Government employees will be the first project of the Company, and the number of Government employees in Lahore is larger than any other city.
b) Lahore district will be the site of many early settlements, both for Gov-ernment employees and others.
c) Many other settlements will also be built around Lahore, as the surround-ing districts have the largest density of population. (Details in the next chapter.)
Formation A Prime Minister, who decides to implement our plan, will not like vested interests to take over the Company and sabotage his mission. Therefore, he will select, after thorough scrutiny, a person of impeccable integrity and capability and appoint him as Administrator to form the Company and manage its preliminary operations. The Administrator will have authority to appoint essential staff for various operations, including Deh Khadims, subject to confirmation later. (More about Khadims a little later.)
Every allottee of a flat or a business unit will purchase one share of the Company so that he may qualify to vote on its affairs. (Non-allottees will not be allowed to buy any shares.) The Administrator will seek the vote of confidence of 75% of the allottees before the completion of his 12 months of service. If he fails, the Prime Minister will appoint another person in his place.
On getting the vote of confidence, the Administrator will become the first President of the Company. He will now have to get the vote of confi-dence every year. The allottees (as shareholders) may remove him also through impeachment. The Prime Minister, or any other authority or court else, will not interfere in Company affairs. Any amendment in the law and rules relating to the Company will require prior approval of 75 percent votes of the allottees in a referendum.
Board of Directors All Vice Presidents and Khadims will constitute the Board of Directors, with the President of the Company also being Board Chairman. More than half of the total votes will decide ordinary matters. In major cases, the approval of two-thirds majority will be required.
If the Board consists of only Vice Presidents, it is possible that the Chairman may have his way by asserting his position. The inclusion of Khadims will make it impossible for him because their number will soon in-crease to hundreds and ultimately to thousands.
The large number of Board members will not hamper decision-making. The agenda will be placed on the Board web site and all members will be asked to give their comments online before the given deadline, through text, audio or video. They will vote online, without having to travel long distances.
Vice Presidents The President, with approval of the Board, will ap-point Vice Presidents to head various departments. Before appointment, complete resumes of applicants will be published on the Company web site so that the allottees and others may point out any errors or misinformation.
Every Vice President will be an expert of his field. For example, the Vice President, Accounts, will be a chartered accountant, Vice President, Construction, will be a civil engineer and Vice President, Banking, will have long experience of determining credit worthiness of clients and matters relat-ing to loans. A Vice President will be at least 40 years. That will be enough time for him to bring out the best and the worst in him.
Every year, all Khadims will give their vote on the performance of every Vice President, as they will be the best judges because they will be dealing with him regularly. A Vice President will have to leave if he does not get 75% of votes.
The Vice Presidents will work under the supervision of the President and the Board of Directors. A Vice President will not be able to take any de-cision against the interests of the Company or against its policies. He, on his own, will also not appoint or dismiss any employee working under him or take disciplinary or discriminatory action against him. To avoid clash of in-terest, he or any of his relatives and close friends will not have any dealings with the Company or get any benefits from it.
Every Vice President will present policy options for the approval of the Board. During discussion, the Board will also consider possible impact of the options on other departments. For example, when the Planning De-partment orders the purchase of construction material, the Accounts will ver-ify whether it is in conformity with the Company’s purchase policies, and the Construction Department will check whether the supply will meet its schedule and pace of work.
The President and Vice Presidents will tour the Company settlements regularly to observe the conditions and hear complaints and suggestions of allottees. The Vice Presidents for Construction and Accounts will inspect the under-construction settlements at least once every month or two to solve problems on the spot.
Departments The Departments of the Company and their major func-tions will be as follows:
Administration will deal with allotment of flats and business, industrial and agricultural units, appointment of employees and determination of their terms of service after the Board approval, correspondence with the Government and others on Company affairs, make all official announce-ments on behalf of the Company.
Planning will determine suitable sites for new settlements, acquire land on lease from the Government, prepare layout and specifications of new settlements, sign agreements with suppliers of machinery and construction materials and arrange for research relating to all departments.
Construction will prepare cost estimates and construction schedules, and arrange delivery at site of supplies of construction materials from ap-proved suppliers.
Banking will select staff for branches of Ta’meer Nau Bank, review performance of all branches, provide uniform facilities in branches, get the Board approval for loans to allottees beyond prescribed limits, review per-formance of loans and debit cards, collect VAT (Value-added tax) on behalf of the Government and manage group insurance.
Agriculture will deal with matters relating to agricultural land, approve seeds, implements and machinery for farming, crops, research relating to agriculture, canal irrigation and development of barren lands.
Industry will get solved problems of all business and industrial units, find markets for them and sources for raw materials.
Education will select staff for all educational institutions and public libraries and review their performance, enforce uniform policies, review cur-ricula and syllabi for all classes regularly, and arrange for supply of text-books and other educational materials.
Health will select medical staff, review their performance and arrange for medicines and medical supplies for all health units and hospitals.
Media will operate the daily newspaper, television network and the telecommunication system of the Company, prepare material on Company operations for publication and broadcast, manage and update the Company web sites, schedule visits and tours.
Accounts will approve all payments, keep track of all receipts and payments and arrange for internal and external audit of all offices.
Ta’meer Nau Bank The Company will provide initial capital to form a bank, to be called Ta’meer Nau Bank, as its subsidiary, to handle all finan-cial dealings of the Company and its allottees. More funds will be provided if and when necessary. The Bank will provide interest-free loans to allottees, in accordance with their credit worthiness. There will be only a service charge of two per cent. (More details in Chapter 08, “Bank for reconstruction”)
Delivery Service The Company will form and operate another subsid-iary, to be called “Tehweel Service” (Delivery Service), to meet the needs of its allottees. It will deliver papers, samples, parcels, etc. to all settlements. It will cover only its expenses, with any profit going to the Company. It will collaborate with Pakistan Post, providing its services in its settlements as a franchisee.
Khadim The head of every settlement will be a Khadim (“servant” in Urdu.) At the lowest tier will be Deh Khadim, Muhalla Zail Khadim and Qasba Zail Khadim, each serving a population of 20,000. (Deh will be the basic unit in rural and Muhalla/Qasba Zail in urban areas.) Above them will be Qasba Khadim and Muhalla Khadim, each serving a population of 100,000. (“Qasba” قصبہ will be an industrial town and “Muhalla” محلہ will be an urban unit.) Then there will be the Zila Khadim for the district.
The Board will select and appoint as Khadim the best possible person after thorough search and scrutiny. He will be a Company employee. How-ever, to remain in his job, he will have to get a vote of confidence every year from at least 75% of all allottees in his settlement. The arrangement will be far better than electing somebody, whose main qualification will be ability to get votes, or appointing a public servant, who will not be answerable to the people.
after several settlements have been built in a district, the Company will appoint a Zila Khadim. (“Zila” is district in Urdu.) He will do preliminary work for new settlements and deal with Government officials in the district. He will preside over the meetings of all Khadims in the district to deal with their common problems. However, he will not interfere in the internal matters of a settlement. (More about Khadims in the next chapter.)
No politics No official or employee of the Company will join or have relations with any political or non-political organization without written permission of the Board. If he wants to contest an election, he will have to resign before filing his nomination papers. If he wins, he will not return to his job until he leaves the post he won through election. If he loses, the Board may or may not take him back. The restrictions will discourage politi-cal activity that may clash with the Company interests and not allow an offi-cial to exploit his position in the Company for personal benefit.
In either case, if he returns to his job, he will file an affidavit that he will not contest another election at least for 36 months. This will ensure his devotion to his work for quite some time.
Difference in approach The Company’s approach will be very different from that of the building companies. The builders buy land and get some down payment from buyers for booking. They continue construction, while collecting installments. After completion, they collect the remaining amount (including profit), hand over flats and shops to buyers, and move on. They do not give property on rent because they cannot wait for tens of years to recover investment and earn profit.
The builders make maximum profit by keeping costs at the lowest and prices at the highest. To reduce costs, they make unauthorized changes in the approved plan (such as reducing measurements of flats and shops), eliminate some facilities (such as parking in commercial plazas), or use substandard materials. The buyers suffer the consequences of malpractices and also have to meet expenses for repair and maintenance.
The buyers become the owners of individual flats or shops but they own collectively the land under their building. That creates a serious dispute among the owners when the demolition of the building becomes due. Many may not be willing or able to pay for reconstruction, while others may insist on it. Then there will be questions about who will reconstruct the building and who will pay for it.
The Company will be in a very different situation. Its allottees will be tenants but with a right to be occupants for life. The successors of allottees will have the same right. When reconstruction of a building is due, the Com-pany will do it at its own cost. The allottees will move into the new building without paying anything other than the normal.
Options The basic – and only – objective of the Company will be to eradicate poverty and not to allow it to recur. However, it may have to un-dertake certain business operations and make certain investments to carry out its own functions and to reduce its costs.
The Company will always need construction and other materials. If the suppliers raise their prices suddenly, the cost will increase. Even if there are written agreements, the greedy suppliers may violate them with impunity, as the wheels of justice move very slowly, if at all.
Therefore, the Company may
a) buy relevant factories, or at least their majority shares. With their man-agement under its control, the Company will ensure regular supplies from factories at reasonable prices.
b) may negotiate with other factories to get supplies at more or less its own prices.
c) may import required quantities if international prices are lower.
The Company may also set up its own factory if its entire production will help meet its regular requirements. If the output of a factory exceeds at some time its requirements, the Company may sell the surplus or export it.



Chapter 07
Company administration


T
HE ADMINISTRATION OF Ta’meer Nau Company will be different from that of other public limited companies. Its primary objective will not be to earn profit for its shareholders. Therefore, the measure of its performance will be the satisfaction of allottees. The requirement that the management will have to get a vote of confidence every year will ensure best possible performance.

Despite being a countrywide Company, it will not be necessary to have its head office in the federal capital. Islamabad is not a big district (1998 pop. 524,500), nor is it surrounded by large districts (except Rawal-pindi), whereas the Company will have most of its settlements in densely populated areas.
The Company will not have frequent contact with the Federal Gov-ernment because it will be independent in its operations. If the Government has to give instructions occasionally, it can communicate with the Company head office, wherever it may be.
Karachi, though our largest district (1998 pop. 9,269,265), will not be a suitable place for the head office of the Company because
a) the surrounding districts are small,
b) the Company will not have much import and export that may require it to be near a port,
c) it need not be in the financial center of the country, as it will not have dealings with banks, and
d) distances are longest from Karachi to most parts of the country.
Poverty is directly related to population; larger the population, greater the number of the poor. Two-thirds of the population is in the Punjab. Ac-cording to 1998 census, no district in any of the other three provinces (ex-cept Karachi) had a population over three millions. Most of the largest dis-tricts are near Lahore. Faisalabad (pop. 5.430 million) Gujranwala (3.401m), Rawalpindi (3.364m), Sheikhupura (3.221m), Rahim Yar Khan (3.141m) and Multan (3.117m). Lahore’s own population was 6.319 million. The total population of just these seven districts (28 million) was more than the total population of two of the provinces, NWFP (17.737m) and Balochistan (6.845m). With poverty everywhere, the total population of a district will be more important than just urban or rural areas.
The basic objective of the Company requires that it should be near the districts, where it will build largest number of settlements over the years. Thus, Lahore will be the most suitable location for its head office. From here, it will be easier to visit by road most of the early settlements and in-spect the work in progress. It will also be easier to move machinery, material and workers to a new site.
Another argument favors Lahore. The Company will start its opera-tions with the construction of housing settlements for Government employ-ees. The city will have the largest number of these settlements because it has the largest number of Government employees.
However, it does not mean that the turn of other provincial capitals for reconstruction will come after Lahore as the construction of settlements for Government employees will start there simultaneously.
Nothing to hide Free access to information is among the most effec-tive means of accountability. The Company will not hide any information from its shareholders. They will find out who did what and why, and all de-tails of its income and expenditure, right to the last rupee. All records will be available on the Company web site. As any discrepancy or error will be known immediately, it will be difficult to fudge figures.
The Company will place all its records on its web site, including pa-pers, orders, agreements, correspondence, email messages, even complaints. The open access to records will be a great deterrent against doing anything wrong.
Language and dress The official language of the Company will by Urdu, the national language. All documents will be in Urdu, even signatures on them. Urdu will also be the only medium of education. The regional lan-guages will be not only taught in their areas but the language of one region will be taught in other regions also to create better understanding. English will be taught as a foreign language.
The dress of the colonial era will be abandoned as it is unsuitable for our hot weather and cultural habits. The entire Company staff, top to bottom, will wear salwar-kameez. So will students of all classes. Other residents will also be encouraged to follow them.
Sensible weekend Friday prayers require that offices must have a half working day. The weekly holiday is on Sunday. A full working day between the two does not make sense, when neither Sunday nor Saturday has any re-ligious significance for Muslims. Therefore, the Company will have half day on Friday and full holiday on Saturday.
Some staff will have weekly holiday on alternative days to provide services seven days a week in all Company departments and offices. There will be no sign anywhere saying “Closed today.” The shops in the Bazaar will also be open seven days a week.
Khadim At the lowest level will be Deh Khadim, serving a population of about 20,000. His counterpart with similar status in a Qasba or Muhalla will be Zail Khadim. They will deal with all local matters, in accordance with Company policies. Above Zail Khadim will be Qasba Khadim and Muhalla Khadim, each serving a population of about 100,000. District Khadim will deal with common matters of the settlements in a district.
The Company will use all possible means to select the best possible person for appointment as a Khadim. It will make inquiries into his family, education, experience, character, reputation, etc. The details will be published on the Company website before appointment so that any fact not disclosed may be known.
The minimum age for appointment will be 40 years. So, a Khadim will be neither young, nor old, neither novice, nor about to retire. His back-ground and experience will indicate his personality and character. As the job will not offer money, power or fame, his willingness to take it will show that he has empathy with the people and wants to serve them for the rest of his life.
Every Khadim of a Deh or a Zail will have two assistants. They will deal with all complaints of allottees, handle office matters, maintain records and provide all information needed by the Khadim and the Company head office. They will divide work between them and alternate duties every six months so that each may take over other’s duties in the other’s absence or in emergencies.
The salary of a Khadim will be in accordance with prevailing eco-nomic conditions, so that he may work without financial worries. He will get a rent-free flat, where his family will also live with him, even if it owns a house elsewhere. Thus, he will not have to go out for family reasons and will be always available.
The title of “Nazim” has not been used in preference to “Khadim,” though it would have been more appropriate. The reason is that it is already in use in the Local Government system. (Under the Local Government Ordi-nance, there are positions of Union Nazim, Tehsil Nazim and Zila Nazim.) When the Local Governments wither away in due course (see Chapter 57, “New systems to replace old ones”), the Company may replace “Khadim” with “Nazim.”
District Khadim At lowest level, Khadims will concentrate on local affairs. To deal with common matters beyond their jurisdiction, the Company will appoint a District Khadim. He will deal also with matters relating to the construction of new settlements and Government authorities. District Khadim will have to seek every year the vote of confidence of all Khadims in his district.
District Khadim will deal with several issues relating to the construc-tion of new settlements, including delimitation of a new Muhalla in a present city and a Deh in a rural area, arrangement of temporary provision of munic-ipal services from Tehsil Municipal Administration (such as water supply and sewerage), and electricity connection from the regional electricity distri-bution Company.
Vote of confidence Deh Khadim and Qasba/Muhalla Zail Khadims, being at the lowest level, will have close and direct contact with the residents. They will have to get vote of confidence every year. If 75% of total allottees do vote in his favor, a Khadim will continue to serve.
While giving their vote of confidence, the voters will also give their opinion about the performance of their Khadim. A voter will give his opinion on a chart of 1 to 10 (1 being the highest) under various heads, such as redress of complaints, monitoring of employees, access to allottees and behavior towards them, implementation of laws and rules, etc. The head office will analyze the opinions of voters under various heads and issue instructions for improvement.
If a Khadim commits a serious offence, he may be impeached imme-diately, without waiting for the annual vote of confidence. If 10 per cent of the total allottees sign a petition for impeachment, the head office will sus-pend the Khadim immediately and direct him to leave the settlement until the voting so that he may not use his influence. The vote will be taken within 10 days of receiving the petition. If 25% of the total allottees vote for im-peachment, the Khadim will lose his job.
Impeachment will be different from vote of confidence. Most people are quite tolerant and willing to give the benefit of the doubt. If a voter does not have a personal complaint, he may give a vote of confidence. Therefore, getting 75 per cent votes will not be difficult.
On the other hand, a motion of impeachment will arise due to sudden and serious provocation, such as a favor that is illegal, undue or at the cost of somebody, failure or undue delay in redressing complaints, hurting religious sentiments, a financial or sex scandal. If at least 25% of allottees are moved to impeach the Khadim, it will be sufficient ground to remove him. Even if the motion fails, it will be a serious warning for the Khadim to improve his performance. Khadims elsewhere will also get the message. If he has violated any law, he will be punished for it, irrespective of the result of the motion of impeachment.
Voting will be compulsory for all allottees whenever the Company has to take a major decision or a senior official is required to get a vote of confi-dence.
Financial matters Every item of expenditure by the Company will be published for perpetuity on its web site within 72 hours of a payment. Every rupee will be accounted for. The details about every purchase will be given, such as name of supplier, quantity of purchase, and price. The expenditure of offices in settlements will also be published on the Company web site. On request, the Company will give further details on expenditure.
As for as possible, the Company purchases in a settlement will be from the local suppliers to promote their business, provided they are compet-itive with outsiders.
For purchases in large quantity, the Company will negotiate with the manufacturers directly for best possible prices. The complete details of pur-chase requirements will be given well in time on the Company web site and also published in the Company’s daily newspaper. The registered suppliers will be informed by email also.
The Company will always prefer lease to cash payment for acquisition of machinery, equipment, appliances, furniture and other durables. The lease will be only through a local allottee, who will also provide repair, mainte-nance and other after-sale services. As an allottee, he will avoid any mal-practices, as it would be easy for the Company to take action against him. The allottee may get interest-free loan from Ta’meer Nau Bank (see next chapter) to finance the supply of durables on lease.
Budget The Company will not have a budget of conventional type that allocates amounts under various heads that may end up being less or more than needed. Every Khadim will spend whatever is necessary under various heads, while remaining within the limits specified by the Company policies and rules. Take the example of window panes replaced during a year. If the same amount is allocated for all settlements, it may be insufficient in some but surplus in others. If the actual expenditure is allowed, there will be no surplus or shortage of funds. (As complete details of the expenditure will be given on the Company web site, it will not be possible to report inflated expenditure.)
All revenue of the Company will be deposited in its account with the Ta’meer Nau Bank. The Khadim will report all expenses daily to the head office. Only actual expenses will be incurred. For example, no salary will be charged for the vacant posts in a settlement.
The construction team will get budget for every new settlement. As a project is completed, its entire expenditure will be published on the Compa-ny web site.
Law and order A Khadim will be on his feet most of the time, mov-ing about his settlement. He will impose fine for any violation of rules. He will reconcile minor disputes on the spot. In serious cases, he may hand over the accused to the police. No political or other demonstration will be allowed in the settlement. To prevent the possibility of use in anger, nobody will be allowed to carry a weapon in public, even if he has a valid license.
Every Deh and Qasba/Muhalla Zail (each with about 20,000 popula-tion) will have a police station. The policemen will be recruited locally, as for as possible, and trained extensively to deal with all situations. The familiarity with the community will be very helpful in dealing with crime. The Khadim will control the police.
The policemen will patrol the entire settlement round the clock in three shifts. They will note and report immediately every suspicious movement for necessary action.
Every policeman will get rent-free flat in the settlement. His family will get free education, healthcare, and other facilities like all other residents. The Thanedar, head of the police station, will have to get every year a vote of confidence from at least 75% of the allottees or he will lose his job.
Judiciary The Government will appoint a Qazi for every Deh or Qasba/Muhalla Zail, to deal with judicial matters. (If the workload is light due to low crime, he may serve more than one settlement.) If an accused dis-appears, the head of his family will have to bring him before the court. If he fails, the Company may cancel his allotment. The threat of cancellation of allotment will be enough to ensure compliance with court orders.
Complaints The Company will have a comprehensive system in place to deal with complaints of allottees. For ease in processing, the complaints, both written and verbal, will be entered in the computer system, with a copy going automatically to the head office and another to the Khadim.
An ordinary complaint will be removed within 24 hours. If it is to take longer, the complainant will be informed through email, with a copy of the message going to the head office automatically. The Khadim will review the action taken by the evening. He will himself inform the complainant if the problem will take more time. With a copy of the complaint and the action report going to the head office, the Khadim will be under pressure to expe-dite action.
Communication The Company’s telecommunications network will allow the residents to communicate with one another and the Company. The network will also connect all settlements with one another and the head of-fice. All calls within the network will be free. Broadband Internet will be available to all allottees through wireless or optic fiber.
Khadims will use video conference for all Company meetings, making travel away from their settlements unnecessary. Phone and email will also be used. Twice a year, all Khadims will gather at the head office for discussions and personal contacts.
Television Center Every settlement will have a television center, with a studio for live programs. It will feed television channels to homes and of-fices that are not objectionable in any way. The local Khadim will hold a live meeting every month to report progress on various aspects and answer ques-tions of residents. Other officials will also address the allottees and answer their questions whenever they have to seek a vote of confidence.
Daily newspaper The Company will publish a daily newspaper, with both digital and paper editions. Every allottee will get a free copy of the digital edition but pay a nominal price for the paper edition to cover cost of paper and printing.
The newspaper will have two sections. The main section will cover companywide news, while local section will cover local news. The editing of all news and other content will be done at the editorial office in the head of-fice. Both sections will book advertisements separately. A local printer in every settlement will print the newspaper’s local edition under contract with the Company.
Part-time correspondents will report news and forward other content from their settlements. Advertisements of local and other businesses will be published. Personal ads of allottees will also be published.
Public relations The Media Department in the head office will prepare paper, audio and video material on all aspects of the Company for the national and international paper and electronic media. The material will also be made available on the Company web site. The department will also ar-range visits of settlements by media persons, students and others.



Chapter 08
Bank for reconstruction


T
HE COMPANY WILL SET UP Ta’meer Nau Bank as its wholly-owned subsidiary. Vice President, Banking, of the Company will act as its President. The Bank will have a branch in every settlement of the Company. A branch manager will remain in service as long as he continues to get every year the vote of confidence of his settlement. No other bank will operate in any settlement.

Every allottee will have his personal and business accounts with the Bank. His transactions and his average balance will determine his credit limit. Every account will have enough balance to meet monthly payment re-quirements, such as rent, utilities and other charges. If the balance is not enough, the Bank will give an overdraft. If the customer does not clear the overdraft by the last day of the following month, the Bank will collect an ex-tra charge on the amount from the next month.
As the Company will not spend all its revenue immediately, the money will remain with the Bank, which shall use it to give loans to allottees for business purposes.
No interest The Bank will neither give nor charge any interest. There-fore, it will have only current accounts, whether personal or business.
To meet its expenses, the Bank will charge two per cent per year of a customer’s loan. If it is not enough, the rate may be increased slightly.
A common perception is that people keep their money in banks to earn interest but the reality is different. If interest were the objective, the people would deposit all their savings in the National Savings Schemes, which give invariably much more interest than the banks. During 2000s, when the banks were giving just 1.5% interest, the people were still depositing their savings with them. In July 2009, the banks had more than three times the deposits of National Savings (Rs 1160.65 billion). Therefore, the allottees will continue to deposit all their funds with the Bank, even though it will not pay any in-terest. Higher average balance will also give higher credit limit.
The Bank will act as an agent for National Savings so that the allottees may invest their surplus money. It will credit to their accounts the interest earned by their investment.
The Company will debit rent and other charges directly from the bank accounts of allottees. It will be convenient for all. The Bank will not send statements of account to the allottees, as they will check their accounts on the Internet from home or office computer. There will be no charge for re-mittances of allottees from one Bank branch to any other branch.
Loans The Bank will give the first business loan to an allottee to start his business. As his credit improves, his loan limit will also increase. How-ever, a loan will be only to meet actual requirement, not for speculative pur-poses. A customer will not need any collateral for a loan because his personal assurance will be enough.
The Bank will determine a customer’s credit needs, based on his deposit and transactions. It will not be possible to deceive the Bank, as its staff will know every customer personally. There will be no possibility of a deliberate default. The Company may cancel the allotment of a willful defaulter’s business unit. The cost will be high enough to prevent a default.
The Bank will immediately know if a customer’s dealings with the Bank are not satisfactory, the business is not running properly or the loan amount is being misused. The Bank staff, besides knowing a customer per-sonally, will also get the latest information about him from his neighbors and other customers. Therefore, it will not be possible to hide the reality from the Bank.
The normal loan period for running capital will be three months. A shopkeeper may buy new stock, and pay the loan during this period. Sup-pose he borrows Rs 50,000 and repeats the cycle four times in a year. If he earns 20% profit, he will have earned Rs 40 thousands by the end of the year. He will pay only Rs 1000 to the Bank as its service charges on Rs 50,000 at two per cent. With such a soft loan, every business will prosper.
The Bank will give long-term loans for purchase of machinery and equipment. However, the payment will be made directly to the supplier so that the borrower may not use the loan to meet his personal needs. Before paying the supplier, the Bank will satisfy itself that the supplier is reputable, the machinery is of high standard and the invoice is for the actual price. The Bank will advise a lease arrangement so that the customer gets satisfactory after-sale service.
Debit card The Bank will issue a debit card to every account holder. (A customer’s wife will also get a card against the same account for conven-ience in shopping.) The card will have no link with the international credit card organizations, such as Visa and MasterCard, who require the issuing banks and merchants to pay fees. As a result, the Bank will charge only a very small fee to sellers for every transaction.
The use of debit card will solve a major problem for shopkeepers. Their customers want credit for one month and often delay payment even further. The shopkeeper faces a dilemma: if he refuses credit, the customer may go elsewhere; if he does not, his running capital is blocked. As a result, he faces cash flow problems and is deprived of profit that the expansion of business may earn.
On the first day of the following month, the Bank will debit the amount to the buyer’s account. If the balance is insufficient for another month, the customer will pay 0.167% as service charge per month (2% an-nual). If the payments are not cleared in three months, the Bank will presume that the customer is living beyond his means and may cancel his card.
A customer may use the debit card for all payments. The Bank will decide the maximum limit for a debit card for a month. It may increase the limit, depending on average balance and creditworthiness of the customer.
Services to farmers The Bank will meet the financial needs of farm-ers, such as purchase of inputs and machinery, and sale of crop harvests. The Bank will also give loans to meet cash requirements and lease of machinery. (See Chapter 30, “Revolution in agriculture”)
Insurance The Bank will provide insurance to all its customers. The insurance coverage will include payment of any debt in case of death and business loss due to natural and other disasters up to a specified limit. The insurance premium will be calculated on expert advice and may be revised whenever necessary. The Bank will manage insurance to keep down expens-es and to avoid common malpractices of insurance companies.




More on the services of the Bank in the next chapter.


Chapter 09
Bank services for businesses


M
OST SMALL BUSINESSES FAIL because decisions are made without essential basic information. Some take up businesses that never had much prospect for success in the first place. Hard work and devotion are necessary for success but so is information about various aspects, such as sources of raw material, the best method of processing, the potential markets and the ways to reach them, the prices of competitors, etc.

Not everybody can find answers to these questions by himself. He may ask friends and others around him but they too may not know much. Internet can be very helpful but less educated persons may not use it effectively. Then the required information in some cases may not yet be available on any web site. Getting wrong answers to just a few basic questions may lead to failure.
Government agencies are expected to provide information to new businesses, but they do not always have the latest details. Officials may also not have their heart in their job. If a business fails due to their lack of help, they may shrug their shoulders by saying that they could not do more.
The bank staff will not shirk their responsibility. When the Bank gives a loan, it will ensure that the business succeeds. In case of failure, the bank staff will be responsible for it.
Database The head office will create a database of information that may be helpful to small businesses. It will also include information to suit its customers under peculiar circumstances of a settlement. (A longish list of small businesses at http://mahameed-poverty.blogspot.com/)
The bank will gather information from all possible sources, including commercial banks, financial institutions and official and nonofficial sources. It will place entire information on its web site and update it regularly. It will advise its customers to take up only a business that it considers feasible. The bank staff will always keep in touch with its customers and discuss with them difficult situations to ensure success.
Services in rural areas The Bank will provide the farmers services that were never available earlier. With a branch in every Deh, it will be the largest bank in rural areas.
Every farmer will have his account with the Bank to be able to use its services. The bank will give loan to purchase agricultural inputs and also fi-nance leasing of machinery, such as tractor, thresher, or tubewell. No collat-eral will be required. However, the farmer will sell his crop harvest through the bank and deposit the proceeds into his account.
A farmer will mortgage with the bank his crops, like wheat and cotton, for a few months, so that he may sell later at higher prices. The warehouse will be under the control of the bank. When the crop is sold through the Bank, the proceeds will be used to clear the debt.
The farmer will not have to sell his crop to intermediaries, who buy cheap in advance and sell at a high price, making huge profit. By using the bank services, the farmer will get full price.
Marketing The cottage industries and small businesses in rural areas face great difficulty in selling their products. Not being able to do it them-selves, they engage intermediaries, who buy cheap and sell in cities at much higher prices. The same problem is faced in urban areas. The shopkeeper buys on credit but does not pay even long after he has sold the product. When he does, he keeps a part of the amount with him so that the supplier cannot stop dealing with him. In other words, the shopkeeper runs his busi-ness at the cost of the supplier. The Bank will help its customers in marketing as well as in collection of payments.
The Bank will facilitate sale of other agricultural products also, such as vegetables, fruits and poultry. A farmer will do the initial marketing research through the Bank inquiry service (see below) and get customers. While supplying to a shop in an urban settlement, he will send his invoice to the buyer along with his shipment. The buyer will sign the invoice. The seller will get immediate payment by presenting the invoice signed by the buyer to his branch, while the buyer will get credit from the Bank for a month. Dealing through the Bank will ensure that both sides have smooth dealings.
Farmers will be getting customers through the Bank. Therefore, they will know the prices of one another. The market conditions will cause com-petition, not allowing any seller to charge high prices. The buyers in urban settlements will also compete with one another and charge minimum possible prices. Only better service will give an edge.
Inquiry service The Bank will provide a free inquiry service through its web site. Every seller will have his own web site to give information about himself, his products and prices. Buyers will post their inquiries and sellers will respond with their offers. Free phone calls between settlements will facilitate in getting more information and bargaining.


Chapter 10
Delivery service for businesses


M
OST PEOPLE WOULD LOVE to have a shop come to their door, rather than the other way round. So, customers always welcome travelling salesmen. Their service is very helpful in villages, especially for women, who cannot easily go to the city for shopping. Even in cities, door-to-door salesmen sell vegetables, fruits, ice cream, etc.

The shopkeepers in the Bazaar will provide a similar service, though in a different way. They will get orders on phone and their employees will make deliveries. They will get payment through debit card, not cash.
A businessman in a Deh will need a similar delivery service for cus-tomers outside the settlement. To help him deliver samples, and later ship-ments, the Company will set up a Delivery Service. It will be cheaper than a courier service because it will be non-profit, covering only actual expenses. Being a subsidiary of the Company, it will be more reliable. Its coverage will also be more comprehensive, as it will serve all settlements of the Company.
Delivery Service will not get into transport business. It will hire vehi-cles of allottees, who will provide more efficient and economical service. The Service will keep in view weight and distance while determining rates. Often the owner will be also the driver, charging low rates for his service.
The Delivery Service will have an office in every settlement. Its em-ployees will book and deliver mail, parcels and shipments. The service will use standard containers to save space in carrying samples and parcels.
The Service will collaborate the Pakistan Post and provide various services on its behalf, such as delivery and booking of mail.
Post boxes The Delivery Service will allot a post box to every resi-dential and business unit, with the same number as of flat or business unit, to avoid writing their numbers in addresses. The mail will be placed in the post boxes. The allottees will clear their boxes at their convenience.
The Delivery Service will pass on the publisher’s full discount to buy-ers of books and magazines, keeping only a small charge for its service. (The discount for magazines is 40 percent and up to 60 percent for books.) It will also ensure that the publisher gets his payment from every buyer within a month. The arrangement will benefit both publishers and buyers.

Chapter 11
Employees of the Company


M
OST GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES will not work with honesty and efficiency, if they do not expect any reward for better performance and the complicated procedures do not allow punishment for poor service. They see no benefit in doing their job well unless they are self-motivated. They tend to be corrupt if their bosses allow them, or at least look the other way.

In private sector, good performance is rewarded more generously, but the personal bias of a boss may have negative effect. Secondly, there is often lack of trust between employer and employees.
As far as possible, recruitment will be from the same settlement where an employee will be working. Every employee will have his personal salary scale so that he will not have to worry that his salary will increase only on promotion. On appointment, he will get the prevailing basic salary. After that, there will be an increment every year on the basic salary. The increase will continue until 25th year of service or the 60th year of age, whichever is earlier. There will be no increase after that until retirement. As the number of employees will be only to meet actual work requirements, the scope for promotion will be limited. All employees will have to live in the settlement, where they serve, so that they are always available. The Company will ar-range for necessary training for new employees and provide refresher cours-es later.
Terms of service The allottees of all settlements will approve, by two-thirds majority, the terms of service and salary packages of all categories of employees, from President to the lowest employee. All employees will be on contract, subject to renewal every year. In some cases, the renewal will be subject to getting vote of confidence from allottees.
Employees will not be allowed to form unions because there will be no need. Unions are needed in ordinary companies, as employees struggle for their rights while employers exploit them. In case of the Company, the allottees will approve better terms of service for employees, if they are satis-fied with their performance. To get their demands accepted, the employees will have to convince the allottees, not force the management with agitation, slowdown or strike.
The Company will have its own construction department to ensure best possible quality. As the buildings will last for a hundred or more years, the Company will have to ensure that there are no construction defects that it will have to remove at its own cost. The Company will arrange for necessary training for new employees and provide refresher courses later.
Skilled persons, such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, masons, will serve as employees of the Company. To avoid unnecessary calls for ser-vice, the Company will charge a small fee for their services (say Rs 50 per hour). The Company will supply required material, such as glass, lock, water tap, at its cost. Similarly, to avoid unnecessary visits to the clinic or hospital, every patient will pay Rs 50 on first visit.
The Company will prefer sons of allottees for recruitment for various jobs. Interested students will get technical or vocational training before pass-ing 12th class examination. They will also work as interns during vacation. They will get jobs, keeping in view their abilities and inclination.
Qualifications Educational qualifications do not necessarily ensure best possible performance. More important will be devotion to job and desire to serve people:
a) Anyone holding a degree in education may not necessarily be a good teacher. His devotion to his job and ability to inspire students will be more important.
b) Imam of a mosque will have not only good understanding of Islam but will also not belong to any sect. If he tries to preach sectarian beliefs or works for a political party, he will lose his job. All Imams will do library courses to be able to run the public libraries in settlements.
c) Allopath doctors are often reluctant to serve outside major cities, making it difficult to provide health care in rural areas. Homeopath doctors and hakims (native physicians using herbal medicine) are more willing to serve anywhere in the country due to their lower expectations. The Com-pany will provide for their education and research at its own cost. How-ever, the Company will use all three types of physicians.
Reward and punishment The Company will have an effective sys-tem of reward and punishment. It will encourage best possible performance by employees, while the threat of prompt and severe punishment will be hanging over their heads.
It will give best possible terms of service and facilities to its employ-ees, keeping in view the prevailing cost of living. Salaries will be determined by keeping in view the cost of living. In addition, every employee will have rent-free flat, free education, free medical treatment and other facilities. The basic salary package will be revised every five years. There will be no retirement age; an employee may remain in service as long as he is fit physically and mentally.
No error or lapse of an employee will be ignored. If an employee fails to do his job well, he will pay a fine for minor lapses and get a written warn-ing in case of major failures. A written warning will be given in every case and he will have to explain why he failed to do his job. If the explanation is not satisfactory, he will be informed that the warning was the first of three. After the third warning, he will be sacked.
Senior employees will not only be punished by the Company but will also be prosecuted for violation of the law and rules.
The severe punishment will be a lesson for all and will always keep them on their toes. With certainty of getting the punishment, they will be cautious and perform well. In Saudi Arabia, only a handful of thieves get their hands chopped off every year but theft has become extremely rare all over the country.
Pension The Company will contribute a specified amount to the pen-sion fund on behalf of every employee, beginning with his appointment date. On superannuation, the employee will get 20 per cent of this amount every year as his pension. If the employee also makes a similar contribution, the total will be double. On death, an employee’s spouse will get the same amount of pension for life.


PLANNING FOR LOW-COST HOUSING

Chapter 12
Planning for settlements


E
VERY NEW SETTLEMENT will have its own peculiar requirements that we shall discuss in separate chapters. In this and the next two chapters, we shall describe the common features and facilities of new settlements, so that we do not have to repeat them. The same will apply in case of Bazaars in settlements.

The proposed site and layout of a settlement will be worked out, using maps of Survey of Pakistan (in maximum scale), satellite maps, such as Google Earth maps, and on-the-ground survey by the Company staff. The government offices will provide available information about the landscape and the geography of the area.
In case of a city, the Company will prepare a database of present resi-dents, who will move to the new settlement. It will include information about family members and numbers of their national identity cards. (A family may include usually its head, his parents, his wife and his dependent sons and daughters.) For greater accuracy, the information will be compared with the census data and the database of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
A property owner in a slum or kachi abadi will realize that getting al-lotment of a flat and a business unit for lifetime occupancy will be the best possible alternative. (His nominated successor will also have the same right.) At present, he cannot increase the area of his house because he has common walls with other houses on three sides. Rebuilding the present house will not give more space, even though the owner may spend all his savings. He also cannot change the narrow streets and ugly surroundings.
The owners of houses and businesses in the demarcated area of a new urban settlement will be allotted flats and business units with occupancy for life. The printout of a family's data in the Company’s database will serve as its allotment letter. (The allotment of a business unit will be in the name of husband and that of flat in his wife’s name.) The owners will surrender their ownership documents before taking occupation. There vacated properties will be demolished to clear the land. If a property owner does not surrender his ownership documents before the given date, he will not get allotment. Legal action will be taken against the owners, who refuse to vacate their property for no valid reason.
Not all present buildings in an urban area will be demolished before reconstruction. The exceptions may be buildings of cultural, religious or his-torical importance.
The Company will publish on its web site the complete plan for a new settlement. It will invite suggestions and comments from the prospective allottees and other interested people. It will reply to questions by e-mail or phone. Before finalizing the plan, the Company will also consult official and nonofficial experts on town planning and construction.
Basic unit The smallest settlement, whether urban or rural, will have 3000 flats. The number of business units will be more than that to provide space for public services and others. With the national average of a family being seven members, the settlement will have a population of about 20,000. The bigger settlements, such as a Qasba or an industrial city, will comprise of multiples of basic units.
Every two blocks of flats will have a 10-meter wide space between them to allow for a green belt and maximum sunlight into every flat during daytime. In the Bazaar also, a similar passage between blocks will allow easy movement of vehicles and sunlight into every shop and office.



Chapter 13
Common features of housing


T
HE CONSTRUCTION COST of a business unit will be less than one-fourth of a flat. While a flat will give good accommodation to a family, its cost can give business units to four poor families. The advantage will make the choice obvious. The poor would much prefer to get out of poverty immediately than out of present residences, even if shacks.

If incomes can increase now, they will wait willingly for some more time for new housing. Therefore, the Company will build the Bazaar blocks in the first phase of an urban or rural settlement and build flats in the second phase. If sufficient funds are available, flats may be built simultaneously.
Uniform external appearance of residential and commercial areas will not appeal to the eye. Therefore, the Company will provide variety that hu-man nature wants. It will hold every year a contest for external appearance of residential and commercial blocks and factory buildings. A panel of judges will accept all good designs for use and the Company will pay for them.
All good designs will be made available on the web site to get public opinion. The popularity will determine their priority and use. The most pop-ular designs may be used for various blocks. Thus, every block may have a different look, though internal specifications will not change. Colored ce-ment may also be used for further variety. The buildings will reflect also our culture and architecture.
The internal design of a flat will reflect our way of living. We are not isolationists. Our families spend most of their time together. To facilitate it, a flat will have a lounge with doors connecting it with all bedrooms. The de-sign will also conform to local weather conditions, allowing maximum sun-light during the day, while keeping out heat and cold. A balcony to the lounge will serve as a verandah.
For the first time in history, the rural areas will have the same facilities and services as urban residents. The quality of drinking water will be equal to the national standard. Water supply, hot and cold water, sewerage, garbage collection, sanitation, etc. will be the same as in urban settlements.
Basic facilities A flat will have the following minimum facilities:


Internal layout of a flat

(Not to scale)



a) Four bedrooms If every room has two beds, the flat will accommodate up to eight persons. Every room will have built-in almirahs and storage space above bathroom. All doors will be soundproof to keep out noise, especially of children. Every two bedrooms will have a common bath-room.
b) Lounge will be the common area for the family, with TV on one side, dining table on the other (near kitchen) and sitting area between them. Two-meter wide balcony will extend the lounge, separated from it by a curtain or two-meter-high partition. The balcony will be used as play area for children or to enjoy outside view in good weather. Its three sides will have one-way glass, so that nobody may peep from the outside. Balcony will give extra space to kitchen and drawing room.
c) Drawing room will be separated from the lounge with only curtains, as visitors (other than family members) will be rare. Normally, it will be a part of the lounge.
d) Kitchen will have a store attached to it.
e) Garbage shaft will connect the kitchen vertically to the garbage dump downstairs.
f) Hot water will be available throughout the year.
g) Connections for electricity, water, sewerage, gas, air-conditioning
Block Every block will have three stories, each having 20 flats, 10 on each side, with a three-meter passage between them. Only the main door of a flat will open into the passage, keeping out the noise of passers-by. The pas-sage of the first (ground) floor will have a slope at both ends to eliminate stairs, making it convenient for perambulators and wheelchairs. If another story is needed in future, especially in Qasbas and industrial cities to ac-commodate more employees, the foundation and lower stories will be made strong enough to bear the additional load.
Purdah will be observed everywhere, providing seclusion to women from the sight of men or strangers. It is very important in a Muslim society, especially in villagers and urban lower classes. Boys and girls will have sep-arate schools. Only female doctors will treat women and girls in clinics. The club will have separate sections for men and women. The exterior design will not allow peeping into the flats of neighbors. Drawing room will keep unfamiliar visitors from disturbing the privacy of the home.
Air-conditioning Normally, air-conditioning may not be required, as every external wall will be insulated to keep out heat and cold as far as pos-sible. Hot water will pass through buildings to keep them warm in winter. Where air-conditioning is necessary, ducting and wiring will be provided during construction. However, a connection will be given only if the allottee is willing to pay the additional charges.
Bridges Light bridges for pedestrians will connect floors of blocks at the same level. Residential stories will be connected also to the same level of the Bazaar. The sides of a bridge will be covered by transparent material, so that the pedestrians may have outside view, while protected from rain, sun, heat and cold. The roof will have solar panels to keep the passages lighted day and night. Stairs will connect lower floors with upper floors of the Ba-zaar and residential blocks.
Park for women Housewives would love to spend some time in the open during afternoons or evenings, along with their children. For their ex-clusive use, the roof of every residential block will be turned into a park. (The grass on the park will also provide insulation to the roof of the top story of every block.) On one side will be swings and slides for the children.
To avoid dust, grass will cover the entire vacant land of a settlement. Trees will be planted that require minimum or no watering but give fruit or good shade. Between the factories and flats will be open space for gather-ings, celebrations on national days, field sports (hockey and football), etc.
Electricity The Company will buy electricity in bulk from power pro-duces until it is able to meet its needs. It will handle internal distribution in a settlement, maintenance, billing and all types of complaints. It will prevent pilferage and breakdowns. The Company will produce its own power as soon as necessary funds are available and it can have cost of production lower than that of other power producers. It will also keep an eye on devel-opments in solar, wind and other sources of power and will adopt a technol-ogy when it becomes economical.
Transport The passages and bridges connecting residential blocks and the Bazaar will be even and smooth. The deliverymen of shops, children, even some adults, will use skates for moving between blocks and the Bazaar. Bicycles may also be used.
Modern technology is not always more useful and more economical. Donkey cart will be more productive and economical than a motor vehicle. Donkey carts will carry garbage to the main dump during early morning and during the day run as transport vehicles for passengers and freight.
The use of a donkey cart will have several advantages:
a) Cost will be less than a motor cycle.
b) No noise, as there will be no engine.
c) A highly trained driver will not be needed.
d) Little cost of maintenance and repair.
e) Replacement cost will not be a major expense.
f) It will not require any fuel.
Club In our culture, visiting homes of friends is discouraged because it disturbs privacy. Therefore, the Company will set up a club, with separate sections for men and women, where residents may meet, have a cup of tea or play indoor games. Gambling and other illegal or undesirable activities in any form will be prohibited.
The Company will pay for the infrastructure of the club, such as furni-ture, fittings, and appliances. It will also pay the staff salaries. Thus, food and drinks will be heavily subsidized. The low prices will encourage resi-dents to entertain their guests and visitors in the club, especially those com-ing from the outside. They will also have their family functions there, such as weddings.
Graveyard Adequate area will be reserved for the graveyard, keeping in view the normal death rate of the settlement.



Chapter 14
Use of most appropriate technologies


T
HE COMPANY WILL ENSURE that it is aware of latest research on all aspects of its operations. It will adopt technologies that reduce its construction, operating and maintenance costs to the minimum, while maintaining highest possible standards. It will make the best possible use of research available with laboratories in government and private institutions, universities and other organizations, here and abroad.

It will remain in touch with Council for Works and Housing Research of the Pakistan Government. The Council, set up in 1965, concentrates on developing local materials and new methods for construction.
The Company will not set up a research department of its own, as it will be too expensive and not very productive. (However, it will have a lab for testing materials, techniques and equipment.) Instead, it will have a cell, with a few coordinators. The cell will prepare a database of experts in vari-ous fields, both at home and abroad, keep in touch with them and seek ad-vice on various issues, as and when necessary. Normally, the experts will in-form the Company about significance research that they may have come across. They may also meet periodically the Company’s senior executives to discuss the possible benefits of latest research.
Bricks or blocks In the plains, mud or clay bricks have been the most common component of walls. Raw materials are taken from nearby land. Bricks are made manually and then burnt in kilns. As costs rise, kilns around cities can no longer provide bricks at low cost. Cement blocks are replacing clay bricks in some areas due to lower cost and faster production. The Com-pany will select the more economical alternative, keeping in view the pro-duction cost and local conditions.
Wires and pipes The Company will not use concealed wiring and piping due to higher cost of installation, repair and replacement. Maintenance cost is also higher as walls have to be opened to repair damaged portions or replace the entire wiring and piping when due. Electric wiring and optic fiber will be strung along poles, not buried underground. Cost and convenience will be more important than sleek appearance.
Water The Company will recycle all used water. As a result, a) it may not have to pump underground water, and b) not have to filter regularly wa-ter that is brackish or unfit for human consumption. Solar heaters on build-ing roofs will provide hot water that will be stored in insulated tanks for 24-hour supply to flats and business units. Individual meters will indicate charges for monthly usage.
Garbage collection Garbage will be collected by a new (actually quite old) method. Instead of garbage trucks, which are expensive to purchase, operate, repair and replace, the Company will use donkey carts that will be far cheaper in every aspect.
Vertical shafts running down the flats will have a window opening into every kitchen. Residents will drop organic garbage into the shaft but place inorganic garbage in containers placed outside their doors.
In early morning, a driver will place his donkey cart next to the floor of the shaft, pull the garbage-filled container placed at the bottom of the shaft on to it and take it to the service area. Organic materials will be converted into fertilizer. Inorganic garbage will be sorted and recycled completely. Glass, plastic, cardboard, paper, etc. will be sent to factories for reuse. Where possible, garbage will be used for generation of electricity. After collecting garbage, which will not take long, cart drivers will sweep the passages, roads and open spaces.
Garbage collection and sweeping will be over before sunrise. Then the carts will become carriers of passenger and freight for the rest of the day. While the cart drivers will work for the Company on contract in the early hours, they will charge fare for their transport services during the day. The Company will determine the fare, keeping in view the cost of living and op-erating expenses.
Electricity Until early 1980s, electricity was not expensive as it was  mostly hydel. Then, the corrupt people in successive governments paved the way for expensive electricity by bringing in private thermal power plants at very disadvantageous terms and refusing to build any dam. Only a conscious and determined ruler can now bring down the cost by concentrating on cheaper alternatives, such as hydel power or coal in Thar area of Sindh.
The outer walls of all Company buildings will be hollow, filled in by some cheap insulating material. With only a small increase in cost, there will be substantial reduction in cooling and heating expenses. The use of pol-ymerized instead of concrete panels may also provide insulation at low cost. It is estimated that half of the energy used in buildings is for air-conditioning. If the U-value of buildings is 12, air-conditioning may not be necessary. Even with technology already available, the use of energy in buildings can be reduced by half.
The Company will make its own efforts to produce low-cost electricity by installing run-of-the-water power plants on rivers and canals and building small dams wherever feasible. The Company may also install wind turbines along the coast, where wind speed is sufficient. It may also set up coal-based plants. The Company will feed its power into the national grid and get equivalent power for its settlements.
The research on solar power got a boost after the oil price went as high as $150 per barrel towards the end of 2000s. When solar electricity becomes cheaper than alternative sources, the Company will install panels on rooftops. It will install solar pumps that will run the whole day, pouring water into storage tanks for drinking and for irrigation of fields.



EARNING FOR ALL IN BAZAAR


Chapter 15
Common features of the Bazaar


E
VERY SETTLEMENT WILL HAVE commercial blocks, to be called “the Bazaar,” in the middle of residential blocks The units in the Bazaar will be for setting up shops, offices and small industries. On the periphery of a Deh will be bigger units for small industries that are not otherwise suitable for the Bazaar.

A Bazaar will have three blocks, each with three stories. A 10-meter wide passage between two blocks will be for movement of delivery trucks. The large, insulated window in the outer wall of every business unit will provide enough sunlight for working and keeping out heat and cold. Reflec-tors will increase light in interiors. Pedestrian bridges will connect second and third floors of residential and commercial blocks. Stairs will connect lower floors with upper ones.
The first (ground) floor will have mostly shops so that it is easier to bring in consumer products from the outside. The second floor will be most-ly for offices, small industries and other work places. The top floor of the middle block will be mostly for public services, including schools, public library, mosque, clinic, police station, court, etc. The Company offices will be also on this floor.
Every adult will be allotted a business unit, in accordance with rules and priorities. The number of business units will be more than the initial need so that more adults may get allotment in future. While waiting for them, the Company may allot business units temporarily to outsiders, rather than keeping them vacant. The nominated successor of an allottee will take over after his death. Every other son will also get a business unit on reaching 21. However, the allottee of a business unit will get a flat only after he marries, because flats will be allotted only to wives.
The Company will update its database by the end of every financial year, by requiring every allottee to submit latest data about his firm, includ-ing information about himself, his employees, and products that he buys, sells or manufactures.
Shop Every shop, like any other business unit, will have an area of 50 sq. m (5m front x 10m depth). The Company will not allow shopkeepers to sell anything not allowed under the law or otherwise considered harmful or undesirable. Too many shops will not sell the same type of products so that intense competition does not bring down incomes too much.
Office Ingenuity, initiative and resourcefulness will enable offices to offer all types of services to the local community and beyond it. Broadband Internet connections will enable them to contact their customers anywhere in the country, and even the world. The offices may also offer educational and training courses, keeping in view the needs of the community.
Workshop A small industry, which may be located at present in a tiny part of a house, will have enough space in a business unit to manufacture its products. It may also have small machines to increase productivity.
Factory On the periphery of a Deh will be two facing rows of indus-trial units, of 200 sq. meters each (10m front x 20m depth), which are not suitable for the Bazaar for various reasons. Factories will be for industries that have too many employees, use heavier machinery, need more that 220 volts of electricity, use combustible or dangerous materials, cause any type of pollution, bring in materials or send out products in large quantities, need transport frequently and have frequent visitors from the outside.
A 10-meter road will run between the two rows of factories. A roof will cover the road fully to protect against sun, wind and rain. Some trans-parent panels will allow sunlight into factories to save on electricity. Sloping channels will take rainwater directly to the filtering plant for reuse.
Jobs If a business needs employees, part-time or full-time, it will hire them from the community itself, as far as possible. The policy will increase family incomes and not require the unemployed to seek jobs elsewhere.
Unit numbering All commercial and residential units in a Deh will have numbers in sequence to facilitate identification. For example, 0001 to 3000 numbers will be for flats, 3001 to 7000 for business units in the Bazaar and above 8001 for factories. Other settlements will have a similar pattern.
Passage Every Bazaar block will have two rows of business units fac-ing each other, with a passage three meters wide between them. Every first (ground) floor will have two large doors along one wall for delivery of goods. Deliveries will be made only at night so that delivered goods are placed on shelves before shops open.
Escalators will be installed from the basement parking to the top floor of a Bazaar block. These will use less power than lifts, carry passengers con-tinuously (without anybody having to wait) and will not require any opera-tor. Narrow escalators (one passenger on each step) will reduce installation and operational cost. Escalator will be automatic, starting when somebody steps on it and stopping when there is no one on it. One of the Bazaar blocks will have an external lift for heavy appliances. Once unloaded, an appliance will be carried on a platform with wheels to any shop or flat on the same floor.
Basement parking Every block of the Bazaar will have underground parking for all motor vehicles, including motor cycles. Visitors may have to park there even bicycles. No vehicle will be parked anywhere else in the set-tlement. The basement space not used for the time being will be converted to warehouses that businesses may take on rent.



Chapter 16
Common facilities in the Bazaar


T
HE COMPANY WILL PROVIDE several services to the people that the Government has not been able to do due to lack of sufficient resources. The Company will take over from the Government several public services, as soon as it has enough financial resources of its own. Meanwhile, it will need financial help from the Government.

Education The Company will set up in every settlement separate schools for boys and girls, each from class 1 to 12. It will pay the teachers higher salaries than they get in Government schools at present. They will also get rent-free flats. There will be no fee for basic services for students, including textbooks, computers, extracurricular activities and infrastructure. The use of library will also be free. Parents will be responsible for uniform, stationery and personal expenses. As the school will be over before zuhr prayers, the children will take lunch at home.
Most of the children will leave school after passing 12th class. Degree classes will be in colleges in Qasbas and Muhallas, where students from surrounding settlements will get free residence. Hostels will be set up for all  non-local students in universities also. Curricula and syllabi will be uniform. Discipline will be strict, with stress on religious and moral values. The school will keep a child’s complete educational and other record from the first to the last day in school. Admission in a college or university will depend on review of the entire record, not just the result of last examination.
As soon as possible, the Company will have its own teacher training institutions to meet its requirements.
Health The Company will provide free medical care to all residents. It will employ allopath and homeopath doctors and hakims (who use traditional herbal treatment). Basic facilities will be free, such as check-up, minor operations, vaccination, simple tests, etc. A child’s complete health record will be maintained from birth onwards.
To avoid pilferage and misuse, patients will have to purchase medi-cines. The prices will be lowest possible, as the Company will buy in bulk and also import directly. Generic medicines will be preferred, if quality is satisfactory. Research on herbal medicine will be emphasized.
The Company will have its own medical and paramedical institutions.
Mosque Adequate space will be allocated in the middle block of the Bazaar for daily prayers. On Fridays, Eids, etc., prayers will be held in the rooftop park. Azan (call to prayers) will be broadcast from the mosque through wireless-based speakers, and also from the settlement television.
The Company will meet all expenses of the mosque. It will not allow any private mosque, madrassa or any other religious institution, nor allow any outside sectarian preachers.
To lead prayers and other duties, such as weddings and funerals, the Company will appoint a full-time imam, who will be a scholar, free of sec-tarian biases and without any political association. He will also be the head of the public library.
Public library Located between the mosque and the school for boys will be the public library, with a reading room. Printed matter will include reference material and supplementary reading, etc. Audio-visual material will include documentaries, films and archives. The Central Library of the Company, located in the head office, will make its digital holding available on its servers for access from all local settlement libraries through broadband connections.
The Central Library will have a database of all libraries so that one may instantly find out what material is available in which library. It will create as well as obtain all types of digital material.
Every allottee will be a library member. His family members may also use the library facilities with his approval. There will be no membership fee. However, there will be a daily charge for every borrowed item to discourage unnecessary delay in returning it.
Publishers will send to every library a complimentary copy each of their books. Since the librarian will not issue a new book for at least three months. With a long waiting line, many readers may prefer to buy their own copies after they have a look at the library copy. As a result, by donating a single copy to a library, the publisher may sell several copies. Publishers will make purchases easier by supplying books at wholesale rates through the Company’s Delivery Service.
The imam of the mosque, as the librarian, will make the best possible use of his free time between prayers. Since he will have to lead all prayers, he will be present in the library the whole day, up to Isha prayers. Thus, the readers may visit the library at any convenient time.
Public services The Government has to provide several public ser-vices. To meet its legal obligation, it will take on rent from the Company re-quired space for its services and flats for its serving employees.
The Government will give loan equal to the full cost of the office space and flats that it will require in a settlement. (Some examples given be-low.) It will recover the loan by adjusting against the rent. The arrangement will be the same as in case of housing for Government employees. (See Chapter 26, “Settlements for Government servants”)
Police station Every Deh and Zail will have a police station under control of its Khadim. He will ensure that standard procedures and practices are followed for crime control and security. Station House Officer will report to him all incidents of crime.
The police staff, including women, will be mostly from the settlement itself to ensure efficiency and honesty. (Policemen are ashamed to take bribes from their own people or do anything that brings bad name to family.)
The policemen will work in three shifts. They will patrol on cycles, as distances within a settlement will be less than a kilometer. They will check visitors at main gate and photograph him.
Court Every Deh or Zail will have a court. The judge will hear all cas-es, attest documents and decide who will be a successor to an allottee. Liti-gants may present their own cases, cross examine witnesses and challenge evidence. Witnesses will not hesitate to give evidence due to moral pressure of friends and neighbors and convenience in appearing before the judge. While lawyers may not be banned, their delaying tactics will not be allowed.
The court proceedings will be broadcast live on the internal television so that justice is also seen to be done. Any attempt by a witness to hide facts may fail as at least somebody in the settlement may know the truth and rush to the court to tell it after watching the proceedings on television.
Post office A settlements will have a post office inside Delivery Ser-vice premises. The staff will perform usual duties, while the Delivery Service will do remaining work as franchisee. Mail will be placed in boxes of the Delivery Service (one for every residence and business unit).
Pakistan Post will allocate a postal code to every settlement for con-venience in mail sorting and delivery. (The sorters will just look at the postal code and send the mail on its way.)
NADRA Registration of birth and death and national identity card is compulsory. National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) may have an office for one or more settlements. It will also issue passports. Its mobile teams will serve settlements where there will be no office.


Chapter 17
Business opportunities in Bazaar


S
HIBLI NU’MANI NARRATES an incident in his classic Urdu biography of Prophet Muhammad, “سیرۃ النبی” (Seerat-un-Nabi).Somebody came to the Prophet and asked for help. When questioned, he said he had a few things. The Holy Prophet asked him to bring whatever he had. The Prophet sold the items to the highest bidder and gave the money to the poor man. “Buy an axe and a rope,” he advised him, “and bring wood from the jungle to sell.” The poor man returned two weeks later. By now, he had several times more money.

Incomes rise by creating wealth, not by redistributing it. The most ef-fective way to eradicate poverty is to enable a poor man to earn his living. Therefore, the poor will have to produce to get out of poverty. The allottees will get many opportunities under our plan.
Income sources Doing business will be the best way to earn money. Reconstruction Bank will guide allottees in selecting suitable businesses, give interest-free loans and hold their hand all the way.
Shop An allottee, at present having a tiny shop or doing business on a footpath or a rehri (trolley), will have a big shop (50 sq. m.) in the Bazaar.
Office An allottee may set up an office, with area equal to a shop. He may provide his services to clients within and outside his settlement, even outside the country. The services may include data entry, computing, com-posing for books, accounting, research, designing of various types, software development, etc.
Kargah, کارگہ literally “workplace,” will be a cottage industry, the smallest manufacturing unit. What an allottee has been doing in a dark, din-gy place, often within his house, will be done in a much bigger place, in a much better way and under much more conducive conditions. The Bank will guide an entrepreneur in making a suitable selection out of many things that can be done in a kargah. (A longish list may be seen at http://mahameed-poverty.blogspot.com)
Karkhana, کارخانہ literally “work house, will be a bigger unit than kargah. Karkhanas, in two facing rows on the periphery of a Deh, will be for industries that are not suitable for the Bazaar kargahs.
Export Enterprising persons, with good knowledge of the world and English (or any other major foreign language), will explore the whole world on the Internet for buyers of local manufactures. They will relieve the manu-facturers of problems and procedures of import and export. With their re-search on foreign markets, they may also get them higher prices than they can get in local markets.
Warehousing Allottees, who are not physically or mentally fit for any business, do not have aptitude, are illiterate or do not have any helping hand in the family, may still earn a regular income. They may offer space for re-packing, processing and warehousing.
In present urban centers, importers, wholesalers, stockists, manufac-turers, etc. will get space for repackaging of products and materials that they get in bulk. They may also need temporary warehousing of their products that have low volume but high value. It will be a good bargain for both sides. Suppose an allottee wants Rs 10,000 as rent. If products worth Rs 500,000 are stored, the monthly rent will be only two per cent of the total value. Shelves, from floor to ceiling, will make maximum use of space
In rural areas, warehousing will be needed for wheat, rice, cotton, cot-tonseed, etc. to get better prices during off-season. The dealers of agricultur-al inputs will need warehousing space for seed, insecticides, pesticides, ferti-lizers, etc.
Women Housewives may work in the business units of their husbands and close relatives, without disturbing their daily routine. They may take children to school in the morning and then go to work. When the school is over, they may return home with children and resume domestic chores.
Women may make handicrafts, sew clothing, do computer work, etc. They may prepare meals for local sale or supply to the club or pack them in sealed tins for outside sale. There may be several other possibilities.
According to an estimate, in early 2000s, about 13 million women (and their daughters) worked in the informal sector, 75% in their homes. The country got about four billion dollars from the export of their products. The-se women will earn much more by making things in family kargahs and sell-ing directly, rather than through intermediaries.
In case of husband’s death, the widow will take over his business as his heir. She may run it herself or with the help of her children or employees.
New businesses Entrepreneurial ingenuity will have no restraints. Any allottee may take his plan to the Bank. If feasible, it will be financed and he will be on his way.


Chapter 18
Why businesses will not fail


H
AVING FAILED TO GET A JOB despite his best efforts, a young man decided to start some business. His father parted with a portion of his savings to finance him. The young man failed due to lack of knowledge and experience. His father helped him start another business. This too failed. Yet another project was also a failure.
Frustrated by failures and waste of money, the unhappy father told him, “You are very unlucky indeed. If you start making caps, people will be born without heads.”

Success in business is not always certain. Small businesses are more likely to fail. There may be many causes, such as lack of basic information about the business and its nitty gritty, insufficient capital, non-availability of raw materials and skilled labor and failure to keep expenses low.
Guidance and help An example may explain how the Reconstruction Bank will help businesses succeed. Muhammad Ashraf used to work with his father and brothers on the family farm. After shifting from his village to the nearest Deh, he decides to start making shoes on the advice of some friends and relatives.
The Bank gives him a comprehensive plan, helps him buy necessary machines and tools, gives him sources for raw materials and bulk buyers and gives him a loan to meet preliminary needs and have working capital.
Problems did not take long to arise. Suddenly, leather became quite expensive as Ashraf’s suppliers got higher prices through export. The Bank suggested the use of artificial leather and gave addresses of suppliers.
It took some time to find new buyers. Meanwhile, Ashraf does not re-duce production because he believes that any workers laid off now may not come back when needed again. Increasing unsold stock block money. The Bank helps him by providing interim finance.
When Ashraf finds that some of his designs are no longer in demand, the Bank guides him in finding designers. As demand increases, Ashraf con-tinues to adopt new attractive and innovative designs.
Sale on credit Manufacturers like Ashraf may make supplies to sellers on credit. Most shopkeepers do not pay in time or in full. Despite it, suppliers continue supplies, afraid of losing customers to competitors. With most of their capital blocked, some manufacturers become insolvent.
The Bank assures Ashraf that he would do better by not giving unse-cured credit to his customers. The shopkeepers do not buy only because of credit. They also keep in view quality, price and sale potential of products. Credit, even if unlimited, will not be of much benefit if a product does not sell well due to high price or poor quality.
The Bank advises Ashraf to use local letter of credit. The buyer’s bank will give him credit, while paying promptly to Ashraf. (In international trade, letter of credit is quite common.) If both are allottees, dealing through the Bank will make transactions easier and safer.
Export When Ashraf finds that his sales are stagnant, the Bank advises him to explore foreign markets. He is afraid that his quality is not of international standard. The Bank assures him that there are many buyers in this wide world even for low quality products. Therefore, he should not focus on rich countries until he can meet their standards.
Guidance Whenever Ashraf faces a problem, the Bank staff analyze his problem and help him in solving it. The staff know that if Ashraf was not satisfied, he could go to their boss and cause trouble for them.
The Bank will help every business to prosper. Its primary responsibil-ity will be to ensure that no allottee business ever fails. It will guide, suggest solution to problems and provide loan to meet requirements. If it is not pos-sible to revive or sustain the present business, the Bank will propose some other business that the allottee may set up.
When economic conditions deteriorate, the worst impact is on busi-nesses that do not control expenses, do not care about quality of their prod-ucts and borrow beyond their capacity to pay. The Bank will not let any such thing happen to its clients.
Stability will be a compulsion as no business will be able to expand too much. There will be several reasons for it:
a) No karkhana or factory will get more space to expand.
b) Every allottee will have a single business or industry. The Company will not allow him to set up or run another one.
c) It will not be possible to employ too many extra workers in a factory to increase production as they will not be available locally. Moreover, the Company will not allow workers to come from the outside, nor will it provide flats permanently for them.
d) The Bank will not give loan for the expansion of the present factory.
e) It may not be easy to get raw material for increase of production.
f) The Company will not allow unfair or illegal means that are often used to expand an industry too much.
g) If a factory cannot meet the market demand for a product, somebody else may set up a new factory for the same product. It will meet the additional demand and also create competition for the present factory.
Low cost Cheap imports cause havoc for domestic manufacturers. They can protect their market by analyzing their costs minutely, reducing them as much as they can and then offering prices that are lower than im-ports for the same or better quality.
The objective of low prices will be easy to achieve for the business units due to several reasons:
Low rent The space in kargahs and karkhanas will have very low rent. For example, the rent for a kargah will be only Rs 2000 per month.
Low salaries The salaries will be low as the costs of living in settle-ments will not be high. Low rent for flat (just Rs 5000 per month), free edu-cation, free healthcare and many other facilities will make it possible for employees to meet their basic needs even with a low salary.
No interest Businesses will not pay interest on their loans. (There will be only two per cent annual service charge). The burden of loans will also not be high, as the Bank will not provide finance beyond actual needs.
Cheap electricity The charges for electricity have been rising due to high-cost generation. The Company will buy electricity in bulk. It will also generate cheap electricity of its own as soon as possible. Therefore, the share of electricity in cost of production will be low.
Value Added Tax The Bank will collect Value Added Tax (VAT) from businesses on every sale. As mentioned earlier (Chapter 09, “Bank services for businesses”), all payments in a settlement will be through debit cards. The Bank will deduct VAT and deposit it in the Government account at the end of every month. As incomes rise, so will expenditure and, consequently the collection. The amount will be coming mostly from the people, who never paid any tax all their life before moving into a Company settlement.
The rate will be two per cent initially. The rate may not appear to be much but the collection will be a substantial amount when the tax is paid on every product or service. The Government may increase the VAT rate with the approval of relevant allottees of the Company through a referendum.
The Government will not impose any other tax, except customs duties because the Company will cover, when possible, any deficit between its ex-penditure and tax revenue. Therefore, businesses will not have to submit any tax returns, nor will there be any processing and audit by the Federal Board of Revenue. The arrangement will save millions of man-hours every year.



Chapter 19
Job opportunities in the Bazaar


B
AZAAR WILL HAVE MANY job opportunities. Though every allottee will have a business unit, many may not be able to set up and run a business on their own. The reason may be physical or mental handicaps or lack of required capability. They may hire employees to work for them. Part-time jobs will also be available in many businesses.

The family members of an allottee will have priority in working for him. They may not want to work for other businesses or may not get any of-fer. Some examples:
a) No job offers due to undesirable behavior and manners
b) Waiting for marriage after finishing education (girls)
c) Not willing to work for non-family persons (women)
d) Can work only part-time while children are in school (housewives)
e) Can work only after school or during vacation (students)
f) Cannot work well due to old age or physical infirmity
Non-family employers Some family members may prefer to work for a non-family business because they cannot pull on with some family mem-bers, want to have independent income or have no liking for the family busi-ness. They may include widowed daughters-in-law and sons of less than 21 years. (Widowed sister or daughter will become the successors of her hus-band’s business and will not depend on her family. Adult sons will get allot-ment of business units in their own right.)
Employers from outside In the initial stages of reconstruction, some business units may remain unoccupied after all qualified persons get their allotments. Rather than keep them vacant, the Company may allot them to businessmen outside the settlement, subject to certain conditions. The Com-pany may cancel an allotment if an allottee’s son qualifies for allotment on reaching the age of 21. The outside employer with the least stay may be the one that has to go first.
The outside employers will also have to give maximum jobs to the residents of the settlement. That will create many new jobs. The employer will also benefit, as local employees will accept lower salaries (see previous chapter). To ensure compliance with the condition, the Company will not allot flats to outside employees.
Government jobs The Government will provide some public services in every settlement that will be beyond the jurisdiction of the Company, such as NADRA. As far as possible, the Government will employ local residents for its public services. It will pay rent for the office space and the flats for its employees, whether local or from the outside.
Training Employers prefer trained employees so that they get full work from them from the first day on the job. They will inform the Company about the training that they want for their employees and may be even willing to pay for it. The Company will arrange for required training to senior students in various trades and skills in the afternoon classes in the school. Dropouts will also be admitted so that they can have a better start in life. (In Qasbas and industrial cities, specialized training institutions will be set up to meet the need of larger industries.)
The Company will require business units to have every year at least two interns each, of classes 11 or 12. The Company itself will have interns for its Construction Department, which will need thousands of masons, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and other skilled workers. The promising interns may get permanent jobs after they finish their education.
Applying for job A candidate with required qualifications will not have difficulty in getting a job. He will not have to apply for a job here, there and everywhere. Nor will he need any unfair means.
An employer will give an ad on the Company website and in its daily newspaper. He will specify his requirements so that only qualified candidates apply.
Candidates will post their resumes online. Only selected candidates will submit their documents on joining. Employers will interview candidates through video conference.
Every employee will get a letter of appointment, specifying his salary and terms of service. The Bank will deduct salary from employer’s account and credit it to the employee’s account.
The Company will study prevailing laws on labor and employment and apply essential ones in its settlements, with amendments, to ensure rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees. (It will ask the Government to abrogate the remaining laws.)

Chapter 20
Maintaining quality and prices


S
TANDARDS ARE SELDOM ENFORCED strictly in early days of developing countries. Complaints of poor quality and high prices are frequent. The Company will set up a system that will not allow such complaints to arise in the first place. The Khadim will remove complaints promptly and will not hesitate in taking necessary action.

Packing compulsory Every item will be sold in sealed packing to pre-vent adulteration or tampering. Whenever possible, packing will be recycled. Only degradable polythene will be used for packing. Reusable jute or cloth shopper bags will be used instead of plastic.
Specifications, net weight, manufacturing and expiry dates, price, ad-dress of supplier and other details will be printed on every packing. The in-formation will help in identifying the supplier in case of complaint.
Standards No shopkeeper will sell anything substandard. (If he does, he too will be punished.) He will not only refuse any supply that does not meet the required standards but also bring it to the notice of the Khadim so that supplies are stopped and the supplier is punished.
Lower prices No seller will be allowed to get very high profit on any product, say more than 20 percent gross profit. As a result, focus will be on selling larger quantities than charging higher prices.
The prices of items produced in Company settlements will be always low because of their lower costs of production due to several factors, such as low rent, interest-free loan, low salaries, low transport cost and low rates of utilities.
Perishable products The shopkeepers will have to sell right away per-ishable food products, such as vegetables, fruits, milk, meat, rather than keep them refrigerated or artificially preserved for long periods. The pressure to sell all perishable products promptly will create tremendous pressure, and competition, to charge reasonable prices so that no quantity remains unsold by the end of the day.
Non-brand products Brands always cost more than generic products, due mainly to heavy advertising expenditure and huge overheads. The Com-pany will ask leading manufacturers to supply their products of common use (soap, cooking oil, etc.) without brand labels and expensive packing.
They should also not involve any middlemen between them and the shopkeepers so that consumers get products at lowest possible prices. There-fore, the manufacturers will not have exclusive dealers. Any shopkeeper in any settlement may get supplies directly at the same wholesale price and terms. The competition will create a level playing field for all and will ensure lowest prices and best possible service.
In case of equipment, machinery and other durables, every dealer will get full training and service from the supplier so that he can satisfy his cus-tomers. It will be necessary in case of leasing also. Besides businesses, con-sumers may also prefer to get durables on leasing, instead of cash purchase.
Food The Company will arrange for meeting daily food needs of residents at lowest possible cost. Some allottees will have mechanical tandoors to bake chapatti (round unleavened bread) and supply door to door three times a day. The Bank, through its branches, will arrange for procurement of wheat and its storage so that flour supply to bakers remains smooth throughout the year. Khadim will make checks to ensure quality control.
Some allottees will cook food in their business units so that customers may meet their normal as well as emergency needs. (Housewife may not feel well, guests may arrive without notice.)
While milk and its products will come directly from suppliers, the Khadim will make checks to ensure smooth supply and good quality. Milk will be collected from farmers and processed at a central plant in every set-tlement. It will be supplied in sealed glass bottles (that will be reused after washing). Meat and beef will come from cattle farms but processed and packed in settlements. The same will apply to fish and poultry products.
The Bank will make bulk purchases of sugar during the season and make regular supplies to retailers in all settlements. The Company may set up its own sugar mills or import it if supplies from others are not reliable.
Punishment There will be several ways to punish suppliers and re-tailers on getting complaints. Since shopkeepers will be responsible for the quality of whatever they sell, they will boycott unreliable suppliers. The Khadim may impose heavy fines on violators of conditions, whether suppli-ers or retailers. In serious cases, the court may give sentences under the law. Even boycott will be a severe punishment for a supplier because he will be blacklisted for all settlements of the Company. The loss of such a huge mar-ket may cause his bankruptcy.


RENT-FREE HOUSING FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES


Chapter 21
Reconstruction of capital cities


H
OUSING IS AMONG the most important needs of Government employees but is not being met in any of the capital cities. Even Islamabad, which was built from the scratch as the federal capital, did not have housing for all employees even after 50 years. The waiting list always had thousands of names and continued to grow. The Federal Government, supposed to solve the housing problem for the entire country, was unable to do it even for its own employees.

The construction of the federal capital was started towards west of the Federal Secretariat and continued in that direction. As a result, employees had to travel longer and longer and waste more and more time in going to office and returning home.
The original plan was to build sectors in the south, towards Rawal Dam and Kahuta, where land was plainer and underground water was abun-dant. However, Lt Gen. Yahya Khan, the Chairman of the Commission for the new capital (and later the army chief), preferred expansion towards the west to make the city safer. His thinking was that, in case of attack, Indian planes would find it dangerous to throw bombs on Islamabad for fear of hit-ting the Marghalla Hills on the north side of the city. The thinking was un-derstandable because missiles and rockets were not common in early 1960s.
Why shortage The shortage of housing in Islamabad is not due to lack of funds but the collusion of the officials with vested interests. Capital Development Authority (CDA), on its own, should have continued to build houses for Government employees and also open new sectors for the private sector. It did neither. As a result, the shortage of housing for employees con-tinued to increase. With no law for rent control in the capital territory, the owners of private houses got windfall profit when CDA requisitioned their houses for Government officers at high rent. Many of the owners happened to be high Government officials!
The situation can be redeemed at any time. The 40-year master plan for Islamabad expired in 2000. The new plan may provide for expansion to-wards the south. The Government may acquire land and give on lease to the Company for construction of flats for its employees. The Company will ac-complish in two or three years what the CDA could not do in decades. Every employee will get the allotment of a flat without waiting. The Government will pay the Company in lump sum in July every year the annual rent for the office space and flats.
The map of a sector will be similar to a Deh, with the Bazaar blocks in the middle of flats. The area of a flat will be 150 sq. meters for all Basic Scales up to 16, 200 sq. m. for BS 17-18, 225 sq. m. for BS 19-20 and 250 sq. m. for BS 21-22, so that every employee gets a flat according to his Basic Pay Scale. The difference will be necessary because in status-conscious Islamabad, even graves are allotted according to Basic Scales!
The offices of Ministries will shift to new sectors, along with staff. As the present Secretariat blocks are vacated, the offices spread all over the city (and paying heavy rent) will move there.
When the political system changes as a result of reconstruction, only about ten Ministries will remain in the Central Government. The vacated of-fices and flats will be allotted to private sector businesses in Islamabad.



More about flats for Government employees in Chapter 26, “Settle-ments for Government employees”



Chapter 22
New provincial and district capitals


N
ONE OF OUR PROVINCIAL CAPITALS has housing for all of its government employees. Lahore and Peshawar have been capitals for more than a century, while Karachi and Quetta came into being as capitals after Independence. If only five per cent of the employees had been provided housing, the problem would have been solved in 20 or so years.

Provincial capitals have shortage not only of housing but also of office space. New departments were created over the years without having new buildings for them. So, new offices had to take private buildings on rent.
Most important offices of a Provincial Government are in its Secretar-iat. Most important employees also work there. Both are also the worst suf-ferers. The Secretariats were built outside the cities but are now surrounded by built-up areas. In the beginning, no housing was built around the Secre-tariats and now there is no room for it. The offices outside the Secretariat on-ly complicate the problem.
One solution is to build new capitals outside present cities. All office blocks will be in the middle (in the Bazaar), with all blocks of flats around them for employees working there.
Lahore The new Punjab capital may be across the Ravi River, allow-ing people from other districts to visit the Secretariat without passing through the Lahore traffic. A new airport should also be built there, as the present one will soon choke as it has only a single runway. It will also be convenient for passengers from districts beyond Lahore. At present, they have to go through the city to reach the airport.
Karachi The Secretariat of the Sindh Government is an island in a huge metropolis. It is a nightmare to reach there for visitors from other parts of the province. The location of the new capital should be at Jamshoro, which has plenty of open space across the Indus River from Hyderabad. For the convenience of its large population, Karachi can have regional offices of provincial departments.
Peshawar The Provincial Secretariat cannot expand in any direction. Though many roads go out of the city, new capital can be built along either of the two more important roads, Kohat Road and Charsadda Road.
Quetta, capital of Balochistan, too has no room around the Secretariat. The new capital may be along Ziarat Road, Baleli Road or Sibi Road.
Every Provincial Government will acquire land and ask the Company to build the new capital. It will have its own name to create its identity.
Local Governments also need new headquarters, especially District Governments. However, administrative offices and district courts may not be moved outside the city, as adequate land will be available within the city. In most cases, the present premises may have enough space. If more space is needed, the Government may acquire properties surrounding the premises.
Alternative solutions A way out may be not to do anything! That may well happen. As bureaucrats have not built new provincial and district capi-tals so far, they may not do it for quite some time. Then they will not have to do anything, as the need itself will disappear. New settlements will lead gradually to the abolition of Provincial and Local Governments (see below).
Withering away The population of a present Union (about 20,000 in rural areas) will be the same as of a Deh. Therefore, every Deh will replace a Union, taking over all of its functions. Since there cannot be a vacuum, for the time being the Company will nominate every Deh Khadim as its candi-date for Union Nazim and an assistant as Naib Union Nazim. Both will be elected unopposed, as nobody will oppose the Company nominees. They will become ex officio members of the District and Tehsil Councils and watch the interests of their settlements. (Even if somebody opposes them, he will get few votes because people will not expect him to do better than the Company nominees.) The Company will also nominate candidates for other members of a Union Council to complete the legal formality.
As new settlements are built, the Union and Tehsil Municipal Admin-istration, lowest tiers of Local Governments, will have less and less func-tions, as Dehs will take over their functions. After the entire population of a district shifts to new settlements, even the District Government will cease to exist. When all three tiers disappear, there will be no employees to need of-fices and housing. During the transition, the Company will provide office space and flats on rent to Local Governments.
The Provincial Governments will also wither away ultimately. When voters in new settlements become a majority in a constituency, they will elect their own member for the Provincial Assembly. As their members gain majority, they may elect also the Chief Minister, who will dismantle the Pro-vincial Government and transfer its functions to new settlements. Ultimately, only one Government will remain, in Islamabad.

For more details about the housing of Government employees, see Chapter 26, “Settlements for Government employees”

Chapter 23
Housing and businesses for soldiers


A
RMED FORCES PERSONNEL include army, air force, navy and paramilitary personnel, paid for from the defense budget or by the Government. They too come under the category of Government employees but are different from others in several ways:

a) Government employees are posted in cities and towns. Even if in a vil-lage, their daily needs are met easily. By contrast, the armed forces may be posted anywhere, often away from any population center.
b) Government employees rarely face any danger on duty, while the life of soldiers is in danger all the time. Martyrdom is not rare.
c) All Government employees retire at 60, while soldiers, even officers, re-tire much earlier. They have many productive years left but getting a job is not easy. Setting up a business is still more difficult.
Different planning The armed force personnel cannot take their roots at any one place because they have one transfer after the other. Soldiers often cannot live with their families, as it is not possible to provide them housing at the place of posting. As wife and children of a soldier live mostly with his parents in his village, where the quality of education and healthcare is poor. And his salary is not sufficient to meet even the basic family needs.
Under our plan, every married soldier will be treated as a permanent resident of his village (or city Muhalla) and given the allotment of a business unit in the nearest settlement, while his wife will be allotted a flat. The sol-dier’s parents will live with their daughter-in-law.
Application As soon as a soldier marries, he will apply through the Ministry of Defense for the allotment of a business unit and a flat. The Min-istry will forward the application to the Company, with a copy to the Minis-try of Finance, so that it pays regularly from the defense budget directly to the Company the rent for soldier’s business unit and flat.
Obviously, a soldier cannot do any business while in service. There-fore, the Company may allow him to have somebody run the business, such as father, a brother or even wife. The Bank will guide in selecting a suitable business. He will take over the business after he retires from service.
The arrangement will be a great benefit for the soldier. His wife and children will live comfortably. They will get free education and healthcare. In case of a soldier’s death, the family will not suffer any insecurity and fi-nancial difficulty as the widow will take over his business as his successor.
If a soldier is allowed paid leave for up to 12 months before retire-ment, he may take over and revamp his business to his preferences. The Government may allow rent-free flats and business units also to soldiers al-ready retired, if they are unable to make both ends meet.
Finance The Government will give loan to the Company to cover the full construction cost of business units and flats for the armed forces person-nel. It will not be a big burden. In 2009, the total sanctioned posts of Gov-ernment employees were 3.4 million, out of which only 600,000 were in the armed forces. (In addition, 162,000 non-soldiers were being paid from the defense budget.) When the Government will provide housing for all other employees, it must do it also for the armed forces. It may abolish pension for them, to reduce its financial burden and also because the pensioners will be earning much more from business.
When peace prevails in South Asia after the resolution of the Kashmir and other issues, India may reduce its armed forces. In response, our Government may do the same. That will reduce the expenditure on providing flats and business units to the armed forces.
The plan will enable the armed forces personnel to perform their du-ties with great peace of mind. They will not have any worries about their families back home. Free education and healthcare will ensure better future for their children. There will be enough income to meet family expenses. Af-ter retirement, they will not have to seek jobs or look for places to live. A soldier’s life will be much better than even in the richest country.
Cantonments Until the first war with India in 1965, the strength of the army was 160,000. Now it is about four times. As a result, the shortage of space in the cantonments has become acute. The defense budget was nev-er sufficient to meet the need fully. The Company can solve the problem.
The Government will specify its requirements for office space and housing in all cantonments and bases of armed forces. It may decide also for the reconstruction of dilapidated buildings.
The Government will provide loans to the Company for construction and then pay the rent regularly, as in case of the housing for other Govern-ment employees. The Company will maintain and repair the buildings in cantonments in perpetuity without extra cost.


Chapter 24
Housing for policemen


P
OLICEMEN, LIKE ARMYMEN, are always on the move. However, they have some advantages. The upper subordinates (Assistant Sub Inspectors to Inspectors) are posted within a province and lower subordinates (Constables and Head Constables) within a district. They retire at 60. Their daily needs are met easily as there is always population around a police station. (Crime occurs only in populated areas.)

Buildings of most police stations are dilapidated or have inadequate accommodation. Therefore, it will be too much to expect the Government to provide housing to all policemen. A police officer, who joined as ASI, got official residence after 26 years when he became Superintendent of Police.

As policemen are often on transfer and do not get official residence, their families have to live with their parents. The children do not get proper healthcare and education and cannot expect to get better than a poor job.
Every Deh and Muhalla Zail will have a police station. The Company will not only provide space for it but also flats for its entire staff. The Government will give a loan to the Company for the construction cost of the police station and the flats for the staff. It will also pay the annual rent, which will repay the loan and then add to Company’s income.
The Government may allow the policemen, like other employees, to stay in their flats for life after their retirement and may continue to pay their rent.
The police will be legally under the Government while the Company will meet all its expenses, as soon as its income allows it. Until the comple-tion of the reconstruction process in the country, the Government will make lump sum payment to the Company at the beginning of every financial year to cover expenses.


Chapter 25
New hometown for the Railway


W
HEN NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY (Pakistan Railway now) came into being in 1860s, its headquarters was set up in Lahore. Workshops were also built for servicing and repairing locomotives and carriages and manufacturing wagons. The “shops,” as these are called, were then outside the city. Now dense population surrounds them.

The Railway now has several workshops and factories outside Lahore also, including diesel locomotive factory in Risalpur, near Peshawar, passen-ger carriage factory in Rawalpindi, bridge factory in Jhelum and concrete sleeper factories at several places.
The Railway now needs a new hometown, where it may shift its headquarters, workshops, factories, and other installations to improve efficiency and reduce operational expenses. It may be called “Railpur” or “Rail Nagar,” following the common naming practice.
The new hometown should be away from a big city and in an area, where it may accelerate economic development in its surroundings. There should be several other considerations in selecting the new location.

a) Open space The Railway should be able to acquire large enough area for not only its offices and installations but also for the housing of all em-ployees working there. There should be room for expansion in future.
b) Geographical center The Railway is a truly countrywide network. There-fore, its location should be near the geographical center of the country.
c) On main line The new hometown should be on the main railway line, which connects Karachi with Peshawar via Lahore. Most important trains run on this line.
d) Big junction The location should be near a big junction, where several lines converge so that locomotives, coaches and wagons may be sent at less cost to various Divisions of the Railway. The employees from vari-ous areas may also reach the head office in less time.
e) Services The location should be near a small town so that its daily needs are met with convenience and low prices.
Keeping all considerations in view, the most suitable location for the new hometown of the Railway appears to be between Khanewal and Multan. It should be closer to Khanewal, which is 50 kms from Multan, and has a population of 3.12 million (1998). It is a district headquarters but a small town. It is on the main railway line, with several lines branching out.
The Government will arrange for long-term loans to the Company to cover the full cost for the construction of buildings and flats and later pay rent regularly. The employees will get the same services and facilities as in settlements for other Government employees. Therefore, the employees at present working in Lahore and elsewhere will gladly move to the new hometown.
The Company will maintain and repair the buildings in perpetuity. The Railway will pay the rent regularly, while concentrating its resources on its operations. The Railway will move installations and machinery from present locations and reinstall at the new location.


Chapter 26
Settlements for Govt employees


T
HE OPERATIONS OF THE COMPANY will start with the construction of settlements for Government employees in capital and other cities. The settlements will provide rent-free flats to Government employees. The rent paid by the Government will be a perpetual source of finance for the Company for construction of settlements.

As the first step, the Company will gather details of the lands owned by various Governments in urban areas all over the country. The details will be available in various offices and will only have to be consolidated.
The Company will take satellite pictures of major cities with profes-sional edition of Google Earth or some other program and ask the Federal, Provincial and District Governments to mark their lands on the pictures.
The Company will not wait for all details. To begin with, the details of Government lands in Islamabad and provincial capitals will be enough to start construction, as most of the employees live there. The details of lands in other places will be needed later.
Two categories The Government employees will be divided into two categories. The Provincial Secretariat employees will be in the first category. They may have new capitals outside the present ones. (See Chapter 22, “New provincial and district capitals”). If new capitals are not to be built, the Company may construct new Secretariats for them in the present premis-es, along with housing for all employees working there.
The second category will be of non-Secretariat employees, who have public dealing in their offices (which are spread all over the place). They will be split and have their new offices in various parts of the capital, along with their housing. All offices can be concentrated at one place but it will cause inconvenience for most people, who will have to travel long distances to reach there, especially in large cities, like Karachi and Lahore.
How long? In 2009, the total of sanctioned posts of Government em-ployees in the country was 3.4 million. Six hundred thousands were in the armed forces, with 162,000 civilians working for them and paid through the defense budget. The other numbers were: Federal Government 376,000, Punjab 902,000, Sindh 478,000, NWFP 300,000, Balochistan 166,000, au-tonomous bodies 390,000.
For the construction of flats for three million non-defense employees (allowing possible increase), the Company will require Rs 6,300 billion as loan, at the rate of Rs 2.25 million per flat. If the Government decides that all flats should be built in 10 years, it will provide Rs 675 billion in loan for 300,000 flats every year. To complete the project in 15 years, Rs 450 billion will be required, for 200,000 flats annually. If financial constraints require the Government to take 20 years, the annual loan will be Rs 337.5 billion.
If the Federal Government decides to provide loan of Rs 675 billion to the Company every year, it can do so without much difficulty. The federal development budget was Rs 517 billion for 2008-09, Rs 621 billion for 2009-10 and Rs 787 for 2010-11. The amount will continue to increase over the years. (On the other hand, Rs 126 billion of the 2008-09 allocation was not even spent.) Funds can also be taken from the total budget that was Rs 2,900 billion for 2009-10. Provincial Governments, having most employees, will divert maximum funds for settlements.
Secretariat and offices No Provincial Secretariat has enough space for its reconstruction and also for housing for all of its employees. New capi-tals outside the present ones are required to meet both needs. If it is not pos-sible, the present Secretariat may be reconstructed, with flats for maximum number of employees within the complex or nearby.
The other offices scattered all over the capital city may be built in independent settlements if the number of employees justifies it. Alternatively, the Government may rent office space and flats in other settlements. The offices of same department that deal with people will be split and its sections will be set up in various parts of the city so that it is convenient for the people to reach there.
The Federal Government, in consultation with a Provincial Govern-ment, will decide where new settlements for its employees should be built, their number and sequence of construction. It will give the plan to the Com-pany and arrange loan for the Company.
Where the number of Provincial Government employees is not suffi-cient to have a whole settlement for them, the balance of space and flats may be given to the employees of Federal and Local Governments. When a set-tlement is completed, the Company will ask the Federal Government to allot the space and flats to employees. In this way, the Company will not have to deal with conflicting demands of Government offices and their employees with regard to allotments. The Federal Government will pay the rent on be-half of all employees of other Governments.
Benefits. The provision of flats to Government employees will give many advantages:
a) The efficiency of employees will increase, as rent-free accommodation will remove a major financial burden. The saving will be of great help in meeting living expenses.
b) As more and more blocks come up in settlements for Government em-ployees, the Company’s revenue will continue to rise. The Company will use the entire income on its new settlements.
c) As the Company builds more and more settlements for Government em-ployees, the rent for private housing in the city will go down. Due to fall in rents, the employees waiting for their flats will benefit.
d) The rent of flats and office space will pay back the Government loans. As a result, the Government will provide housing to all of its employees and also get back the money that it gave it to the Company as loans.
If the Government can give hundreds of billions as loans to the Com-pany, why can’t it build on its own new settlements for its employees? Well, it would have if it wanted to. If housing had been built every year for about five percent of employees, the problem would have been solved in two to three decades.
After retirement The Government may allow its retired employees to continue to live in their flats without paying rent so that they spend their re-maining days without dislocation and inconvenience. After the death of an employee, his widow may succeed him as allottee for the rest of her life. However, an employee will not have any other person, say a son, as his suc-cessor because his allotment will be in lieu of his long service to the country, not as a right that he may transfer to somebody else. If a retired employee wants to set up some business, the Company may allot him a business unit for life in the same settlement, if available.


SUBSISTENCE HOLDINGS FOR FARMERS


Chapter 27
Too little land for too many people


D
URING EARLY DAYS, when population was very small, a farmer could clear and cultivate as much area as he wanted because cultivable land was abundant. However, there was a limit to how long and hard he could work. Most tasks were manual and implements were crude and heavy. Every day was a day of hard labor.
Help was available. A farmer’s whole family would join him in his work. There was plenty of work for everybody. Nobody needed to work away from the village to earn a living because income was enough for all.
With every new generation, more land was cleared for cultivation. When it was no longer possible, a land holding would be divided among the heirs on the death of the head of the family. Every succession reduced fur-ther the size of individual holdings. Today the land is over-populated.
The law of succession caused division after division of land holdings as families grew. Every heir got his due share under the law. Those who worked on the land could hardly make both ends meet. On top of it, the sib-lings, who had jobs or businesses in the city, would also claim a share in the farm’s income as joint owners.
When holdings became too small to sustain families, the owners start-ed giving their land to tenants and contractors for cultivation. They also asked their sons to try luck in the city and support the family with their in-come. The desperate need forced them to take up even jobs, which they and their elders earlier considered below their dignity. The tradition, superiority complex and ego gave way to necessity.
The increasing pressure on land made life difficult also for the landless skilled and unskilled labor. (They constitute about half of the total rural population.) Carpenters, masons, shoemakers, weavers, ironsmiths, hair-dressers, etc. worked for the farmers. For their services during the year, the farmers would give them grain from spring and autumn harvests. When farmers could no longer support them, the workers also started moving out.
The landless labor started leaving the village for another reason also. The oil boom of 1970s led to huge construction activity in the Persian Gulf. Both skilled and unskilled workers rushed there. When the boom was over, more workers were returning home than going there. Unemployment again became a major issue.
To eliminate the pressure on land, job and business opportunities must be available to both small landholders and landless labor right where they live. After redistribution of land, the minimum size of a holding should be of “subsistence size,” enough to meet the basic needs of a family. The surplus farmers should have an alternative way of earning a living. Similarly, the landless labor should also have jobs or businesses. There must be no mi-gration to cities, where problems are already too difficult to solve.


In the coming chapters, we shall describe how two-thirds of the total population living in villages can get out of poverty without moving to the city. In the next chapter, we shall review the consequences of the division af-ter division of land holdings.


Chapter 28
Present distribution of land


M
OST OF THE FARMERS will become landless if the land under cultivation at present is redistributed to raise the minimum size of every land holding to “subsistence level.” In 2000, the total area under cultivation was 20.48 million hectares, while the number of farms was 6.62 millions. If the entire area is divided into farms of five hectares each, the number will come down to just 1.63 million farms, a huge reduction of 4.99 millions. If every farm supported seven persons on average, about 35 million persons will need alternative sources of income and housing.

The following tables give data on land distribution.
The first table (“Pakistan: Sizes of land holdings for various categories of farms”) gives the sizes of small, medium and large farms in various provinces that the banks use for approving agricultural loans. The sizes of farms in the Punjab and Khyber provinces are smaller because of greater fer-tility of land, while in Sindh the sizes are larger due to less fertility. The sizes in Balochistan are largest because the fertility of land there is lowest. The yield in Balochistan is also less than that in other provinces because almost entire land is barani (rain-fed).
The second table (“Land distribution by farm size”) gives the propor-tion of various sizes of farms in the country. While the percentage of small farms is about 80 per cent, their total area is about 39 per cent. The smallest farms are of less than two hectares each. The largest farms are over 60 hec-tares each and cover 10 per cent of the total area, while about half of them remain uncultivated.
The third table (“Number and area of farms by farm size, 1990 and 2000”) gives in more detail the number of various sizes of farms and the ar-ea under them, making the pattern of land holdings clearer. The smallest farms are of less than half hectare. The farms of over 60 hectares each in the country were only 14,000, with total area being 1.68 million hectares.
The fourth table (“Punjab: Number and area of farms by farm size, 1990 and 2000”) gives the data for Punjab, the largest province. The number of farms of over 60 hectares in Punjab was 6,700 in 1990 (749,200 hectares) but came down to 4,900 10 years later (469,300 hectares).

Farms and land distribution in PAKISTAN

Sizes of land holdings for various categories of farms
Provinces Subsistence holding
Small farm Economic holding
Medium farm Above eco. holding
Large farm
Punjab Up to 12.5 acres 12.5 to 50 acres Above 50 acres
Khyber Up to 12.5 acres 12.5 to 50 acres Above 50 acres
Sindh Up to 16 acres 16 to 64 acres Above 64 acres
Balochistan Up to 32 acres 32 to 64 acres 64 acres
Source: State Bank of Pakistan, Agricultural Credit Department, “FAQS”

Land distribution by farm size (1999 Agriculture Census)
Sizes, in hectares % of total farms % of farm area % of cultivated
Less than 2 hectares
2 to 5 hectares
Subtotal, up to 5 ha 47.5%
33.4%
80.9% 11.2%
27.5%
38.7% 92%
91%
5 to 10 hectares 12.2% 21.5% 80%
10 to 20 hectares
20 to 60 hectares
Over 60 hectares
Subtotal, up to 60 ha 4.7%
1.8%
0.3%
6.8% 15.8%
13.9%
10.1%
39.8% 79%
70%
54%
Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, Food and Agriculture Ministry

Number and area of farms by farm size, 1990 and 2000
Size (in hectares) Number
    1990          %     2000             % Area (in hectares)
    1990           %           2000           %
<0.5 679,000 13 1,290,000 19 193,000 1 363,000 2
.51-<1.0 689,000 14 1,099,000 17 510,000 17 821,000 4
1.0-<2.0 1,036,000 20 1,425,000 22 1,447,000 22 1,981,000 10
2.0-<3.0 841,000 17 966,000 15 1,974,000 15 2,257,000 11
3.0-<5.0 857,000 17 891,000 13 3,309,000 13 3,443,000 17
5.0-<10 623,000 12 580,000 9 4,134,000 9 3,891,000 19
10-<20 238,000 5 261,000 4 3,033,000 4 3,324,000 16
20-<40 -- -- 78,000 1 -- -- 1,955,000 10
40-<60 -- -- 15,000 .. -- .. 689,000 3
60 and > 15,000 .. 14,000 .. 1,935,000 .. 1,683,000 8
TOTAL 5,071,000 6,620,000 19,150,000 20,407,000
Source: Pakistan Statistical Year Book 2004

PUNJAB
Number and area of farms by farm size, 1990 and 2000
Size (in hectares) Number
    1990          %      2000         % Area (in hectares)
    1990           %       2000           %
< 0.5 363,400 12 703,600 18 104,600 1 201,100 2
.51-<1.0 385,200 13 617,300 16 286,100 3 459,400 4
1.0-<2.0 594,000 20 844,200 22 827,100 8 1,166,800 10
2.0-<3.0 499,600 17 597,900 16 1,181,300 11 1,403,900 13
3.0-<5.0 506,300 17 536,400 14 1,964,800 18 2,081,500 19
5.0-<10 406,200 14 368,400 10 2,633,600 24 2,422,300 22
10-<20 147,400 5 149,000 4 1,845,600 17 1,858,600 17
20-<60 48,600 2 36,700 1 1,377,900 13 909,200 8
60 and > 6,700 .2 5,700 .1 749,200 3 263,100 2
TOTAL 2,957,400 3,864,100 10,970,200 11,235,200
Source: Punjab Development Statistics, 1997 and 2003



Chapter 29
Creation of subsistence holdings


T
HE SUBSISTENCE LEVEL of a farm size is considered to be five hectares, especially in the Punjab. It can give enough income to meet the basic needs of a family. With better techniques, the farmer may get much higher income. He may also do other types of farming, such as poultry, dairy, fish, etc.

Five hectares is the standard size of a subsistence farm in the Punjab. However, we may use it only as a benchmark. An accurate measure will be the Produce Index Unit, which determined ownership limits under the land reforms, enforced by President Ayub Khan (1958-69). To determine the cur-rent size of subsistence level farm, the Produce Index Unit for various re-gions will be recalculated, based on land fertility and other factors.
What should be the average area of a Deh? What should be the dis-tance between two neighboring Dehs? The answers will be inter-dependent. If the area is too large, many farmers will be too far away from their Deh and face difficulty in visiting their families and meeting other daily needs.
Suppose the total area of a Deh forms a square and its boundaries on all four sides are two kilometers away from its center. If the neighboring Deh has the same area, the distance between the two Dehs will be four kilometers. In less populated areas, the land area of a Deh may be larger. Consequently, the distance between any two neighboring Dehs will be longer.
Making the start About 80 per cent of land holdings are of less than five hectares. (See chart in previous chapter) Therefore, redistributing agri-cultural land in farms of five hectares each will be a major change. Any ef-fort to bring about redistribution rapidly will cause uncertainty and tension. The basic objective will be to eradicate poverty, not to cause disturbance in the society. Therefore, the change must come without haste.
The implementation should start in areas, where all owners have less than five hectares. The Government will ask them to increase their holdings to the minimum level within the specified time or sell the whole of it. To make it possible, the Government will amend the present law that requires the sale of entire holding if it is less than five hectares.
An owner of less than five hectares will have several options:
a) Buy land from others to raise his holding to five hectares
b) Sell his entire holding and set up a business in the Bazaar
c) Sell holding, invest money somewhere and get a job in the Bazaar
d) Keep the money and enjoy a life of retirement
An owner of 10 or more hectares will divide his holding into farms of five hectares each, retain one farm and transfer other farm (or farms) to fam-ily members. He may sell surplus area (less than five hectares) or purchase land to increase it to another holding of five hectares.
Some land may remain unsold as nobody may need to buy it or inter-ested buyers may not have money. The Government will take it over and give it on lease to the Company for incorporation in the Deh area. The sellers will get from the Company the fair price for the land that the Government will determine under a formula. (See Chapter 32, “Land acquisition and compensation”)
Consolidation While all holdings will become equal in size after re-distribution, not all fields of an owner will be at one place. It will not be something unusual due to several reasons:
a) Owners bought fields at different places, depending on who was selling.
b) The distribution under inheritance law caused a bigger problem.
c) The land is often not of uniform quality.
d) Some fields are more fertile.
e) Some fields are easier to irrigate due to proximity to a well or tube-well.
f) Some fields have higher value due to proximity to the village.
g) Every inheritor wants a share in all types of fields.
Consolidation is not a new phenomenon, as the law provides that it should be done after every 20 years. This time it will be carried out for the last time, as there will be no further divisions of holdings. The Company will level the entire land, divide it into farms of equal size and create permanent boundaries. Every owner of five hectares will be allotted a farm. Every farm will have a unique national identity number.
A five-meter road will pass along every farm, so that its allottee may bring in inputs and equipment and carry his harvest and products to market.
The allotment of a farm will be for life but without ownership rights. It will not be state ownership in any way. The allottee will have full control on his operations. He will sow whatever he wants and sell his produce wher-ever he can good price. The only restriction will be that he will not be able to sell the land. Why should he, when he is to earn his living from it for the rest of his life? After his death, his successor will take over, again for life.
The allottee will not have any tenant or contractor on his farm. If he does, his allotment will be cancelled. No more absentee landlords.
Alternative The Government will not abolish the ownership of land in a Deh area until the Company has provided all facilities and services in the Bazaar for setting up businesses. Sellers of land holdings will get allotment and occupation of business units before transferring their land to buyers. The smooth transition will prevent uncertainty.
Besides the seller of land, other adults of his family will also get al-lotment of business units in their own right. Some may prefer jobs. With businesses or jobs, the family will be earning much more than from their tiny farm. The new prosperity will assuage the pain of leaving the land.
If the Company does not have enough funds to build a complete Deh, it may build the Bazaar first. With a business unit costing about one-third of a flat, the Company may set up three Bazaars in three Dehs rather than a complete Deh, taking more people out of poverty in less time. Flats will be built in the next phase. Meanwhile, the villagers will continue to live for some more time in their present houses.
Cultivable waste According to Agricultural Census Organization, the cultivable waste in 2000 was 2,877,377 hectares. That will be equal to 575,475 farms of five hectares each, providing sustenance to as many fami-lies. As the Government has been unable to arrange for its cultivation, it would allot the land to the Company.
Company’s Agriculture Department will recruit experts, lease machin-ery and arrange for canal or tube-well irrigation to make land cultivable. If cultivation not possible, land may be used for grazing, dairy farming, poultry farming, fish farming and industries for locally produced raw materials.
If the farmers, who sold their land, are interested in farming again, the Company will invite them to join the project and may allot them farms.
End of patwari After redistribution of land into subsistence farms and their allotment, the Government will no longer have any role regarding land. The Company will handle all matters, including those relating to canal-irrigated areas. It will maintain a database of agricultural matters, including data about crops. Court will decide the succession of deceased allottees.
With the Government having no more control over land, patwari پٹواری its lowest but important official, too will be gone. The abolition of patwari will be a great change. The complications, which he creates about land ownership, and the consequent litigation, will be gone forever. In fact, one of the major causes of litigation in rural areas will disappear.


Chapter 30
Revolution in agriculture


T
HE ALLOTMENT OF FARMS after redistribution of land will be a great change in itself but it will be actually the first step towards a revolution. Not only will agriculture improve tremendously in various ways but the farmers too will have a life that they can never even imagine under present situation.

Every farmer will have his farmhouse, where he will keep his cattle, implements, stocks of inputs, etc. The Company will build it for him at its own cost and charge him rent. His employees will also reside there. The road passing by the farmhouse will link it with the main road of the Deh, making transport easy and convenient.
Let us review some major improvements that will occur in agriculture:
Fields A farm will have 10 fields, each of 5000 square meters, or half hectare. Every field will have permanent boundaries. It will have its national identity number. The farmer will keep all records for every field, such as crops in spring and autumn and their harvested quantities, number of water-ing, quantities used of seed, fertilizer, insecticide, pesticide, etc. The Com-pany will use the data of farms for research, analysis, estimates and policy.
The farmer’s children or part-time employees will help him in record keeping, if he cannot do it on his own. However, his successor will be educated and able to do the task easily. He will also have latest information about weather forecasts, market conditions, and supply and price trends, through Internet, phone and other means.
Solar tube wells Depending on the need, every farmer will install a number of solar pumps. Water will flow into tanks, built a little above surface. The tube wells, even if their water flow is low, will keep tanks full by running on all clear days. As the cost of solar panels drops, the farmers will no longer have to worry about the high cost of electricity or diesel. The dependence on rains will also be less.
Cultivation As the size of all farms will be the same, the Company will promote the manufacture of tractors and other machinery of the most economical size. Manufacturing of standard tractors at large scale will reduce the price further. The Reconstruction Bank will make acquisition affordable by providing leasing.
Seed Farmers will prepare good quality seeds for their own use and for others. The Bank will help them buy and sell seeds through its Inquiry Service. If necessary, the Bank will import seeds. Research farms of the Company will work on improvement of seeds through experimentation and develop varieties that need less water, less fertilizer, less inputs.
Fertilizer The Company will encourage the use of organic fertilizer as far as possible. Most of it will be produced in the garbage processing centers of settlements. In case of chemical fertilizers, the Company will set up its own factories and, when its supply is temporarily inadequate, negotiate best possible prices and other terms with other manufacturers or import. Supply will be directly to allottee-dealers in Dehs.
Insecticide, pesticides The Company will arrange for supply of insec-ticides and pesticides in the same way as in case of fertilizers.
Machinery As farmers use most of the agricultural machinery for short periods, they need not buy it. The Company will encourage interested allottees to provide machinery on hire. The Bank will provide them leasing. The machinery may include tractors, threshers, bulldozers and levelers. The Company will consult suppliers and farmers and keep in view the costs be-fore determining rent for machinery.
Harvest Farmers have to sell their crops immediately after harvest be-cause they do not have storage facility and also need cash to pay their loans. The dealers exploit their situation and pay much less than fair price.
The Bank will have its own warehousing facilities in Deh and allow storage to farmers at nominal charges. It will also give them loans against the stored crops to meet their cash requirements. The farmers will sell the crops through the Bank when the prices are acceptable and pay the bank loan. As a result, they will get much higher return than they get at present.
Trees Farmers will plant two types of trees along the boundaries of their fields: one to provide timber, the other to bear fruit. The farmers will find retail sellers of fruits in various settlements through the Bank’s Inquiry Service and supply them directly, without involving any intermediary. They will collect the sale amount through the Bank. As a result, consumers will get fresh fruit at lowest possible prices, while farmers will get reasonable profit. The same will apply in case of timber.
Employees Farmers will set up dairy, poultry, fish and other types of farming, besides normal farming. As they may not do the entire work on their own, they will need employees to help them. The salary and perquisites of employees will be the same as of industrial workers. The Company will allot flats to permanent agricultural employees, just as in case of employees in the Bazaar. A farmer may employ his relatives. However, he will not be allowed to have tenants or contractors.
Self-defense Every farmhouse will be a world by itself, with the farmer and his employees working and living there. In the interim period, before the entire population shifts to settlements, they will be vulnerable to attacks, as armed dacoits may take away at gunpoint their cattle, machinery and other possessions.
The following measures will be taken for the protection of farmers:
a) Every farmer will be issued at least two licenses for arms. The certainty of armed resistance will dissuade most criminals. If a farmer kills an intruder in his own territory, he will exercise his right of self-defense and will not face any charges.
b) Farmers will plant solar-powered sensors along the road to their farms so that they know immediately if a vehicle is coming towards them.
c) Every farmhouse will have a wireless phone, connecting it to the ex-change of his Deh. In an emergency, he can call police through the con-trol room of the settlement.
d) Farmers will not sow near the farmhouse crops that have plants of man-size height, such as sugarcane, corn, bajra, jawar. The clear view of the fields on all sides will prevent surreptitious attacks.



LIVELIHOOD AND HOUSING FOR ALL IN DEH


Chapter 31
Planning for a Deh


W
ITH TWO-THIRDS OF POPULATION being in our villages, most of the poor also live there. Naturally, the eradication of poverty will also begin there. Even the poorest villagers have shelter and may wait a little longer for modern housing. What they need urgently is a dependable source of income so that they can meet their basic needs.

Most of the villages are so small that it is not possible to provide them basic services economically. A village’s population may not be enough for setting up a water supply system, a high school or a health center. If only large villages get basic services, life in small villages may never improve. Even large villages may not change much due to inherent limitations, such as common walls of houses on three sides.
Deh Only new settlements with reasonable population can provide the basis of a system that will eradicate poverty and provide much better living. The smallest will be Deh, with a population of about 20,000. It will be large enough to justify municipal and other services and small enough to retain social and cultural values of the area. The Company’s Planning Department will recommend the boundary of a Deh and ask the Government to demar-cate and notify it. The demarcated area will be included in the Deh, and the population in it will shift there. After evacuation, the present villages will be demolished and the cleared area will be merged with agricultural land. “Mauza,” at present a legal term for the boundaries of a village, will be used for Deh.
According to the national average, a family has about seven members. Therefore, a Deh will have 3000 flats for its population. Dehs will replace gradually all present villages. Their services and facilities will be the same as in new settlements in present cities. Thus, for the first time in 10,000 years of our urban history (since Mehergarh) , the residents of villages and cities will have the same living conditions and the same governance.
Every Deh will have its own name. It may be of a village in the area or a new one. Over 60 per cent of the total allottees will approve the name. However, the name will not indicate linguistic, ethnic, sectarian or any other bias. The voting will be on all proposed names and the name getting lowest votes in a round will be dropped before the next round.
Qasba The next level in size after Deh will be “Qasba” (literally a small town). It will be a new industrial settlement away (but not too far away) from a present city. Its population will be five times that of Deh (about 100,000), divided into five units, called “Qasba Zails,” each being equal to the size of a Deh. Qasbas will provide space for industries located at present in cities and meeting the daily needs of the city and also surrounding Dehs. (For more details, see Chapter 35, “Qasbas for small industries”)
Industrial city The Company will set up new industrial cities in unin-habited or very thinly populated areas for factories of all sizes and types, mostly shifted from present cities. The population will be one million, or ten times that of a Qasba. A city will be divided into “Muhallas,” of 100,000 each. Every Muhalla will have five units, called “Muhalla Zails,” each equal to the size of a Deh. (For more details, see Chapter 38, “New cities for in-dustries”)
Present cities Most population of present cities will either shift to Qasbas and industrial cities, along with their factories. Individuals, especially those living in kachi abadis, will go back to their villages, from where they came in the first place. To eliminate problems of a big city, efforts will be made to reduce, or keep, the population of a city to a million or so. With no new housing being built any more, the population of a renewed city will stabilize. Any natural addition may be balanced by shifting excess to Qasbas and industrial cities.
Beginning The Company will not start work in all villages simultane-ously because it may not have required human, financial and other resources. Secondly, change at a large scale will create tensions, dislocation and dis-turbance in the society. Therefore, beginning will be made in areas where residents cooperate fully.
If owners of over 60 per cent of land in a notified Deh area apply in writing, the Company will start construction. The others will also give their consent when they see the Deh coming up. (Some people take time in ac-cepting even something obviously good.) When a few Dehs come up, the demonstration effect will persuade many villagers in the region to have Dehs of their own. The Company will give special attention to backward and re-mote areas.
Location The Company’s Planning Department will recommend the most suitable location for a Deh, using Google Earth satellite pictures and maps of the Survey of Pakistan. The Department staff will visit the proposed area and hold extensive consultation with the people, who will be shifting to Deh. The merits and demerits of the proposed site will be discussed in open meetings. The staff will make video recording of the entire proceedings so that no point is ignored in planning.
The location of a Deh must be higher than the surroundings for pro-tection against floods from rainwater, a breach in a nearby canal or overflow of a river. Rare floods should not cause complacency because it could be devastating even if once in a lifetime. In the U.S., the Katrina hurricane de-stroyed most of New Orleans because the levies were not high enough to protect the city from sea. The planners had calculated that water had never risen to the height of levies. So, why waste money on raising the height of levies further?
The other considerations for location may include availability of water (underground, canal, river), proximity of a main road, accessibility of gas lines (natural or liquefied) and electricity.
The Government will acquire land for the proposed Deh area and give it to the Company on renewable 99-year lease, at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year. After the entire population shifts to Deh, the Company will demolish all present villages and merge their vacated land with the agricultural land. (More on land acquisition and compensation in next chapter.)
The first step will be to construct Karkhana (Factory) Zone, two rows of buildings all around the Deh. The buildings will face each other, with a 10-meter wide road between them. With buildings of factories joined togeth-er, the back of the outer line will naturally take the form of a boundary wall. The main gate will be the only entrance to the Deh. (See map in Chapter 33, “Map of a Deh”)
In the first phase, the Company will build only the two rows of factory buildings in Karkhana Zone and the three Bazaar blocks, if it does not have necessary funds to build residential blocks simultaneously. The objective will be to give priority to raising incomes through businesses or jobs, while families stay on in their present houses in the village for the time being.
Even before the construction is under way, the Company will invite applications for allotment of business units in the Bazaar or industrial units in the Karkhana Zone. Allotments will be made in advance, while units will be handed over when available.
Stable population The population of a Deh may remain more or less constant at 20,000 due to several reasons:
a) Some families may leave for a Qasba or an Industrial City to do business at a larger scale
b) Some may migrate to a city
c) Some couples may not have any children
d) Some young women will leave their Deh after wedding
e) Some families may leave to settle in some other Deh (present or new) for personal reasons)
As there will be no expansion beyond the limit of 3000 flats, further increase in population will not be possible. The surplus will have to move out if local adjustment is not possible. That will happen in any case, as many adventurous young men will seek better opportunities in Qasbas and indus-trial cities or prefer to try their luck elsewhere. Visiting their families will also be easier for them, as the Motorway and the network of national high-ways will reduce travel time to hours.
Reconstruction The buildings may last for a hundred or more years. The Company will undertake their reconstruction for the next period without dislocating the residents. A new residential block (box in light lines on the right in the illustration below) will be built behind the last one in a row (box E in heavy lines). When it is ready, all occupants of block E will move in, vacating their own block for demolition and reconstruction. When the se-cond block is ready, the occupants of block (D) will occupy it. And so on.
The block (in broken lines on left) will be new construction. As occu-pants continue to move in the newer blocks, the block at the end will be de-molished. That will create vacant space (dotted lines).
After the last row of residential blocks on one side is finished, vacant spaces (dotted lines) will become available along the entire length of the nearest Bazaar block. The column of vacant spaces along all residential blocks will be equal in length to the Bazaar. Therefore, it will provide space for the construction of a new commercial block of the Bazaar. When ready, the occupants of the nearest Bazaar block will move in, making the recon-struction of their block possible.




Chapter 32
Land acquisition and compensation


T
HE GOVERNMENT WILL ACQUIRE land and give it to the Company on 99-year lease, at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year, for the construction of Dehs, Qasbas and industrial cities. The Company will pay compensation to the owners of land according to fair price that the Government will determine under a formula worked out separately for every district.

The state always owned land in South Asia. However, legal problems will arise if the Government insists on its ownership rights. The big land-lords, who are quite influential, will create political problems for the Gov-ernment. They will agitate the issue in Parliament, take recourse to courts, make noises in the media and may succeed ultimately in stopping the im-plementation of our plan. The same people managed to get a judgment from the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court that there could be no limit on ownership of land under Islam. As a result, the land reforms intro-duced by Ayub Khan and modified by Z A Bhutto were nullified.
The wise way out will be to pay compensation for the acquired land. In any case, the price of agricultural land is not high and paying compensa-tion will not be a big financial burden.
Fair price The Company will not adopt the market price for compen-sation, as it is artificially high and even may be inflated to exploit the situa-tion. It will ask the Government to determine a fair price for every district so that it neither causes uncertainty among landowners, nor allows officials to misuse their powers.
Three formulas are possible to determine fair price:
a) On the purchase of land, price is mentioned in the transfer documents. The record of all land sales is available in Local Government offices. The prices given in transfer deeds for all sales during the past five years may be added up and divided by the total area of the land sold. The average may be treated as fair price.
b) The total area in the district under every main crop during the past five years may be added up and multiplied by the average yield per hectare. (A main crop will cover at least 10 per cent of the area under cultivation in the district.) The total yield of a main crop may be multiplied by its average market price during past five years to get the total value and then divided by the area under a crop. The total average price of all crops will give the fair price.
c) The Government will convert the Produce Index Unit into rupees to get fair price. The Index Unit was created to measure the fertility of land in various regions of the country to determine the maximum limit for own-ership of land under the reforms of President Ayub Khan (1958-69).
The average price worked out under each of the three formulas may be added up and divided by three. That will give a much better calculation of fair price of land for the district.
No burden The cost of land will not be a major burden for the Com-pany. Suppose the fair price is half a million rupees per hectare, or 10,000 sq. meters. It will come to only Rs 50 per square meter. The Company may pay the compensation promptly to earn goodwill. The owner, if he wishes, may get the amount adjusted against his rent as an allottee.


Chapter 33
Layout of a Deh


D
EH WILL HAVE A SQUARE SHAPE (almost), with length and width being about 500 meters. The road passing along the entrance gate of the Deh will link it with other Dehs in the neighborhood and the nearest highway that will lead to the nearby cities and other parts of the country. (See map at the end of chapte)

On entering the main gate, one will see a road that makes a round of the Deh, passing through the two rows of factories. The back walls of facto-ries in the outer line will form the boundary of the Deh. A service road along it (on the outside) will be for maintenance, patrolling and protecting it from water in nearby fields.
Some people may not be happy with a fort-like appearance of Deh but the protection of the community and the prevention of crime will be more important. Moreover, with only one gate to the road available, other open-ings will be unnecessary.
The protection of a village is not a new concept in our part of the world. In the tribal areas in the north, a village has a high wall around it, with observation posts for sentries. Even in the plains, the backside of hous-es makes a common outer wall for the village, with only a few lanes going outside. The lanes too are quite narrow to defend against armed gangs. The terrorist attacks in late 2000s made the security concern extremely grave.
The Government will help the Company in getting utilities and ser-vices, such as electricity, gas, roads to nearest Qasbas and cities, water from nearby river or other source, etc.
Internal layout In front of the main entrance will be the Bazaar, the commercial blocks. A 10-meter wide lane between every two blocks will be for deliveries to businesses. The vehicles will enter a lane but return by the outer lane to avoid crossing each other and the possibility of an accident.
All blocks will have three floors. The low height will make it easy to go up and down. It will also not be obtrusive in surrounding fields. Every residential block will have 20 flats on every floor, in two rows, with a three-meter passage between them. Pedestrian bridges will connect second and third floor of residential blocks, and also the Bazaar blocks at same levels. With a smooth floor surface all over, one may go to any flat or business unit on the same floor without a single step changing the pace on the way.
Every two residential blocks will have a 10-meter wide green belt be-tween them. On the grass, boys will play and men will chat in good weather. Along the front of every block will be a passage for collection of garbage from the dumps at the bottom of shafts in flats.
Karkhanas The factories in the two rows around the Deh will have small industrial units that are not suitable for the Bazaar. The buildings will be single story, unless a factory needs another one. All buildings will have the same area, 10m front x 20m depth.
Between the residential blocks and factories on either side of the Deh will be open grounds for recreation, sports, festivals, etc. The second (mid-dle) story of residential blocks will connect with factories by a bridge for the convenience of employees. A transparent material, such as glass or plastic, will cover open sides of a bridge to protect pedestrians against sun, cold, rain and wind, while its roof will have solar panels for electricity. The bridges will have no pillars to avoid any obstruction on the ground.
On the far side of the Deh will be the service area, having plants for water filtration, garbage disposal, air-conditioning, etc. The stable for don-keys will also be there. On one side will be the graveyard, with graves in straight lines and green patches.

Basic features The following will be the main features of the build-ings for industries in the Karkhana Zone:
a) Concrete floor
b) Roof, with A-shape frame, covered by GI (galvanized iron) or some other suitable material, with some transparent sheets to allow enough sunlight for work during the day
c) Pillars under roof, with boundary walls common with neighboring units
d) Solar panels covering the entire roof
e) Ventilator near the ceiling in the front wall for natural exhaust of heat
f) One office room for allottee, one for the staff
g) One toilet each for the allottee and his staff, with wash basin and floor-level commode
h) Electricity connection
i) Gas connection, if available
j) Water connection
k) Sewerage connection
l) Broadband connection
m) Window opening to the road, with one-way mirror
n) Shutter on the main door
o) Basement, for use as storage space
p) Group insurance for all factories, like businesses in the Bazaar, against
a. Crime: theft, dacoity, arson
b. Accidental loss: accident, explosion, attack
c. Natural disaster: rain, flood, earthquake, lightening, storm, cave-in of earth
d. Death: Accidental death of the owner or a permanent employee
Some allottees may need more space than provided in the standard de-sign. The Company will reserve for them some plots at one end of the inter-nal row of factories and build on them two-story buildings. The roof of the first floor will be shifted to the second floor and replaced by a concrete roof. The allottees will pay additional rent for the second floor.
Many features of Deh that will be in common with Qasba and Indus-trial City have not been covered. More details about them are in the relevant chapters.


 




Chapter 34
Livelihood and housing in Deh


M
ANY VILLAGERS WILL HAVE natural aptitude for business while others will learn the ropes with guidance and help of the Reconstruction Bank. Those unable to run a business on their own will join with friends and relatives, who already have experience of doing business or running a small industry in the city.

The business units in the Bazaar of Deh will have space for small businesses and industries. Each will have an area of 50 sq. meters (5m x 10m), and will be suitable for shops, offices and small kargahs (workshops). The industries that require more space or are not suitable for the Bazaar in any way, will be set up in the Karkhana Zone. The area for each industrial unit there will be 200 sq. meters (10m x 20 m).
The Company will prepare, in consultation with experts, uniform de-sign for factory buildings and will use all available techniques and technolo-gies to save time and labor. To reduce cost, it will use pre-fabricated pillars and blocks, made preferably on site.
List of industries Every allottee will select a business or industry according to his aptitude, capacity, experience and resources. Some businesses are already there in villages. There are many others that can be considered. (See a more elaborate list at Annex B)
Help Running a business or industry will be quite a new experience for villagers because agriculture has always been their biggest economic activity, directly or indirectly. The Bank will have a crucial role in bringing about their transformation. It will finance the acquisition of machinery and equipment on lease and later provide working capital.
Feasibility Business always has risks. Therefore, allottees will need guidance at every step. The Bank will provide them its own feasibility re-ports to ensure their success in business, as well as secure its own loans. Necessary amendments will be made in reports for various regions of the country. The Bank will publish all feasibility reports on its web site so that anybody may study whatever interests him.
Government help District Governments have Financial and Planning Groups of Offices, covering finance and budget, planning and development, accounts, business promotion and investment. They will provide useful in-formation to allottees, including free consultancy. The Federal and Provincial Governments will also provide advice and help. As District and Provincial Governments fade out under the new system, the Company will take over their services.
Subcontracting Outside industries will get their work done in Dehs, as the costs there will be lower. They will provide technical help to manufac-turers to get the required quality. They can even arrange for on-the-spot in-spection to remove faults during production. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other trade associations will advise their members about available opportunities for subcontracting.
Subcontracting will be of great benefit to Deh industrialists. They will get raw material, technology, machinery, etc. As their clients will take entire output, they may use their full capacity, without worrying about sales.
Outside industrialists may get components made by several producers and then assemble them at a central facility. (The exporters of surgical in-struments and sports goods in Sialkot are already getting their components made in villages of the area.) They may even get finished products. So, out-sourcing labor-intensive processes to Deh will be quite profitable.
Advantages The industries in a Deh will have many advantages:
a) The businessmen will be able to work with a low margin of profit due to lower living expenses (nominal rent for a flat and a business unit, free education, free health care).
b) Employees will accept lower wages due to low living costs.
c) Skilled workers, such as carpenters and shoemakers, will easily train their employees to get good results.
e) Locally available raw materials will be cheaper, as their transport cost will be lower.
f) Villagers, already running industries in the city, may like to return to their Deh because of better prospects and living conditions.
g) Families will give financial and moral support because they would want the novice industrialists to succeed.
Succession An allottee will occupy the factory building for life. If he continues to pay rent regularly and abides by the law and rules, the Compa-ny will never eject him. He may nominate his successor, who will become the allottee after his death, again for life. The laws on inheritance will not apply because the allottee will not be the owner of the building.
The legal heirs will not be made joint allottees as only one person can run a business successfully. As in case of agriculture, joint control of busi-ness will lead to conflict and disputes.
In case a successor is not nominated, the matter will go to the court after the death of the allottee. The court will consider the claims of all claimants and nominate the most suitable one. If the court does not consider any of the claimants suitable, it will ask the Company to auction the business, distribute the proceeds among the heirs and allot the building to somebody on the waiting list.
Residence The Company will build flats in the second phase of a Deh. (If it has the required resources, it will build flats and business units at the same time.) The flats will have the same facilities as in cities, abandoning the concept that rural people should have inferior facilities.
While a business unit will be in the name of the husband, his wife will get the allotment of the flat. In case of death or divorce, the wife will contin-ue to live in the flat, while paying the rent.



QASBAS AND CITIES FOR INDUSTRIES


Chapter 35
Qasbas for small industries


O
NE CATEGORY OF INDUSTRIES serves the needs of present urban population, supplying its products to the consumers promptly. Such industries will be relocated out of but near the city, in a new settlement to be called “قصبہ” (Qasba), so that the needs of the surrounding area are also served, besides the residents of the city.

The second category of industries need not be near cities because their products are not time-sensitive, such as textiles, engineering goods, leather products and electronics. Such industries will be set up in new industrial cit-ies, preferably in uninhibited or thinly period areas, and present industries in cities will be shifted there. (More details in Chapter 38, “New cities for in-dustries”)
Difference Deh and Qasba will be different in nature. In Deh, allottees will do business for themselves. Their allotments will be for life. Their successors will also have the same right. The flats will be allotted to the wives of the business unit allottees.
In Qasba, most residents will be working in factories and will stay in the flats as long as their jobs continue. The business units will be allotted on-ly to outsiders, whose services will be needed for the Qasba. The allottees will also be allotted flats as long as their businesses continue. However, there will be no right to nominate successors because they will not be life-time allottees in their own right.
The Company will select the most suitable site for a Qasba. It will also consult the industrialists, who will relocate there. The Government will acquire required land and allot it to the Company on lease.
A Qasba will be five times bigger than a Deh. The Company will build several Qasbas around large cities. However, the distance between them and the city will at least 10-15 kilometers to avoid concentration of population. Qasbas will be limited to their physical boundary. The agricultural land between any two Qasbas and between a Qasba and a city will come under the respective Dehs and will be used for agriculture alone. No construction of any type will be allowed there.
Qasba Zail With population under him five times of a Deh, a Qasba Khadim will not be able to look into every matter personally and promptly. Therefore, a Qasba will be divided into units. The division will be by the number of flats, not population, in order to keep the size uniform. With the total number in a Qasba being 15,000, every unit will have 3000 flats.
Every unit will be called “قصبہ ذیل” (Qasba Zail) or just “Zail.” It will have the same number of flats as in a Deh, and the same population. The layout will also be the same. However, a Zail will have factories all around the residential and commercial (Bazaar) blocks, instead of karkhanas. The Bazaar too will have space only for necessary public and essential services.
Three Zails will be on one side of the Qasba. On the other side, there will be two Zails and “Qasba Markaz” between them. (See layout below). The Markaz (center) will have common services, such as office of Qasba Khadim, main branch of the Reconstruction Bank, degree college, Qasba hospital, court of senior judge, cultural center, super market, etc.
The industrialists will get flats closest to their factories for all of their employees. Every employee will get a flat and may stay on even after re-tirement if the employer allows him and continues to pay his rent.
Normally, two commercial blocks, with three floors each, should be enough to meet the needs of the residents and the public services. Unlike Deh, the purpose of a Bazaar in a Qasba will not be to provide business op-portunities because residents will have jobs in the factories.
Every Qasba Zail will have its own name to identify itself. Over 60 per cent of the total allottees will decide the name. However, it will not have any linguistic, ethnic, religious or provincial bias. The voting will be on all proposed names and the name getting lowest votes in a round will be dropped until final selection.
The Bank will keep on its web site a database of all industries in a Qasba. The allottee-industrialists will update their data as and when changes occur. The suppliers of raw materials and buyers of products will get infor-mation about clients and then settle terms with them. Young men will contact prospective employers to get suitable jobs.
Khadims Ever Zail will have its own administration. Its head will be Qasba Zail Khadim or just “Zail Khadim” in common usage. He will be equal to Deh Khadim in status, powers and duties. He will deal with com-mon matters of all Zails. The Zail administration will be similar to that in Deh and provide similar services, with staff having similar duties and perks.
The staff in a Zail, by making a written request, may get transfer to any other Zail but not outside the Qasba. The administration will not make any transfer on its own, without an employee’s written request.
Factories The number of factories in a Qasba will depend on the number of employees working in them. Further allotment of factories will stop when the number of employees reaches 15,000.
The Company will construct factory buildings according to a standard design. The standard size of a factory will be 1000 sq. meters (20m x 50m). If a factory requires more space, it will have front longer than 20m. For example, a factory of double size will have a front of 40m but width will remain 50m, the same as that of a standard one. The result will be symmetry for the Qasba layout. If a factory cannot fit within the given sizes, the industrialist will have to take it to an industrial city.
While allotment will be normally on “first come, first served,” first priority will go to factories that will be shifting from the nearest city, so that they continue to serve it.
An allottee may have his own building design but will have to follow the Company rules. He may also ask the Company to use materials of his choice. He will pay the extra cost, if any.
Every industrialist will arrange for a loan to cover the total construc-tion cost of his factory building and the flats for his employees. Thus, he will not have to block his own capital that he can use to run and expand his busi-ness. (More in Chapter 47, “Private sector industry loans for housing”)
The Company will build flats simultaneously with factory buildings so that there is no delay in starting operations. The allotment will be in the same sequence as factory buildings. Allotment will be only to permanent employees. (More on flats later)
A factory will pay in advance in July every year the rent for all flats allotted to it, even if some remain vacant. (The charges for municipal and other services will be extra.) The factory will make allotments to its employ-ees according to its own policy and rules.
An individual owner may nominate a successor for his business. If he does not, a court may appoint a successor, after considering all claims. In case of a public or private company, succession will be an internal matter as directors and shareholders can decide it.
Services A Qasba Zail will have the same services and facilities as in a Deh, such as schools for boys and girls, health care center, public library, mosque, police station, etc.
Every Zail will have municipal services similar to Deh. However, Qasba administration may take over common services for two or more Zails, such as water filtration and garbage disposal, if it can reduce expenses and improve efficiency.
Some services will be common for all Zails, described below:
Bank The main branch of the Reconstruction Bank will handle all matters common to customers in various Zails. A branch in every Zail will provide local services, such as deposit and withdrawal of cash, submission of documents. The credit officers, based there, will visit clients, discuss fi-nancial matters with them and observe business developments in the Bazaar, as they will do in a Deh.
Education Due to large population, Qasba will have degree colleges, separate for boys and girls. The colleges may also be local campuses of the relevant Company University in subjects in which substantial number of students are interested, with all policy matters handled by the university.
Special emphasis will be on subjects relating to industries of the Qasba and the surrounding Dehs to help students in getting jobs right at home. (Not every student need become a doctor, engineer, scientist or computer expert. There is a lot else in life to study and learn.) A subject will be taught only if the number of students is 20 to 30, enough to make a proper class. The colleges will not offer a subject only because it is fashionable or impresses others.
The students of Dehs around a Qasba will also get admission after tests and interviews to determine their suitability. (Free education up to 12th class will be the right of every student but higher education will be only for the qualified.) All students from Dehs will get hostel accommodation in some flats reserved for them.
Health A health care unit will be in every Zail. Qasba hospital will have facilities not available in Dehs and Zails, such as major operations or indoor treatment.
Public library Qasba will have a single public library, supplying books to all readers. Every Zail will have a reading room, providing news-papers, magazines, audio-visual material, etc. Computers will be available for access to content on Internet. The main library will keep all books and issue them through the Zail reading rooms.
The main library will update regularly its database of its own re-sources and that of Zail and Deh libraries. The database of library users will indicate their interests and help in selection of books for purchase.
Police Every Zail will have a police station. The Qasba police office will help police stations in Zails and surrounding Dehs to deal with common matters. It will also have lock-ups for dangerous criminals that police stations cannot release on bail. Their cases will also be heard in Qasba courts for convenience in presenting the accused before judges.
Courts Every Zail will have a court, similar to a Deh. Qasba will have at least a Deputy District Qazi (Additional District and Sessions Judge) to hear cases of serious nature and appeals against the judgments of courts in Zails and Dehs.
Cultural center The cultural center of the Qasba will have the public library, hall, exhibition center, art gallery, super market, etc. The hall will be for school functions, lectures, concerts, plays, film shows, etc. The exhibi-tion center will display new products of manufacturers and suppliers.
Transport Despite a population of 100,000, the Qasba will not need motor vehicles for internal transport. Young people, delivery boys of the Ba-zaar shops and many others will use skates on smooth surfaces to move on the same floor. Bicycles may be used not only in open areas but also in the passages between flats. Donkey carts will carry passengers and luggage within a Zail, as in Dehs. Private wagon and coaches will run between Zails and other places. The Company will allow the use of cars and motor cycles only to residents, who have to travel regularly outside their Zail.
Benefits The shifting of small industries to Qasbas will have many benefits for present cities:
a) Reduced load on water supply and sewerage
b) Easier disposal of liquid and solid waste
c) Reduction in air, water and noise pollution
d) Saving in use of electricity, gas, oil and coal
e) Less load and smoother movement of traffic
Most of the industrialists will shift voluntarily to Qasba because of the obvious advantages. (If some resist without any valid reason, law will take its course.) The industries shifting to Qasbas will have many benefits:
a) Faster delivery The vehicles carrying raw materials for food items from distant places to factories will no longer have to enter the city. (Only de-livery vans, carrying finished products will enter the city.) The newspa-pers will make faster delivery of copies to other places by shifting their printing to Qasbas, while retaining editorial office in the city.
b) Bigger warehouses Factories need space for storage of raw materials and finished products. Small factories have to find storage in different parts of the city to meet their expanding needs, causing logistical and security problems. They will have abundant warehousing in Qasba.
c) Pollution control Factories in cities face difficulties in disposal of liquid and solid waste, as it is not economical for them to do it on their own. Qasba will have necessary facilities for all factories.
d) Easy expansion Most factories realize after some time that they need more space. It is very difficult to get enough space at the present location, or even elsewhere in a city. In Qasba, adequate space will be available right in the beginning.
Changes in population The population of a Qasba will continue to increase as factories shift there from the city. Once it reaches 100,000, the Company will make efforts to keep it stable at that level. If a Qasba is al-lowed to continue to grow, it may well turn into a city, the place from where the factories shifted in the first place and the same problems will emerge that led to the shifting of factories.
On the other hand, it is not necessary that a Qasba’s population should continue to increase. Due to several reasons, the population may remain more or less stable. (More in Chapter 31, “Planning for a Deh”)


Chapter 36
Layout of a Qasba or Muhalla


T
HE LAYOUT OF A QASBA will allow easy access to any of its Zails. (It will be similar to that of Muhalla in a present city.) A side road will take off the main road, with Zails on both sides. The same road will be used to enter another Zail. After the third Zail, the road will have a dead end.

Every Zail will be closed from all sides, with only one entrance. The staff at the gate will keep a record of all vehicles entering or leaving. The vehicles going to a factory may park in its premises for convenience in load-ing and unloading. Other vehicles entering a Zail will go to underground parking of the Zail Bazaar. Loading and unloading for businesses in the Ba-zaar will be similar to a Deh.

Every vehicle will get a gate pass on arrival, indicating the time of ar-rival and materials brought in. On departure, the time will be noted on the entry pass and the materials brought taken out of the Zail.
The main gate will have still cameras on both entry and exit points to take pictures of vehicles, along with their drivers. The record of pictures and gate passes will be retained for three or more years for possible use in crime investigation.
Factories There will be two rows of factories on both sides of the res-idential blocks. A two-way road between the rows will have one-way traffic. It will avoid difficulty in crossing of vehicles coming from opposite direc-tions. It will also eliminate the possibility of vehicles hitting each other.
On right and left sides of the main gate will be some karkhanas to meet needs of the residents, such as pakki pakai roti (fresh-backed chapatis), bakery, cooked food.
Between factories and housing blocks will be parks on both sides, with green grass. On the edges of the parks will be flowerbeds and fruit trees. On the far side of entrance of the Zail will be the service area, includ-ing water filtration plant and garbage recycling plant. On one side will be graveyard, similar to a Deh, with enough space to meet the requirement of the population.
The outer walls of factories in Zails will form a boundary wall for the Qasba, similar to the boundary wall of a Deh. Outside the wall will be a three-meter service road. It will be at least a half-meter higher than the ground level to protect the wall from water in the surrounding agricultural fields of the relevant Deh.
Difference with Muhalla While a Qasba will be primarily for small factories, a Muhalla will be a residential community, similar to a Deh. A Muhalla will also have Zails, but no factories. Instead, its Zail will have of-fices and shops in the Bazaar and residential blocks on both sides. It will not be necessary that every resident must have a job or business in the Zail, as he may be working somewhere else in the city and his allotment will be on behalf of his employer, who will be paying his rent. However, the allottees providing essential services will have permanent allotment of both flat and a business unit, as in a Deh.
Layout of a Qasba or Muhalla
(Not to scale)






Chapter 37
Industrialization of Balochistan


B
ALOCHISTAN IS THE BIGGEST province but has been the least developed, due primarily to poor governance. Population is very sparse, the whole province being smaller than just the district of Lahore. The land is mostly barren, not allowing agriculture due to lack of water. Industrialization will play major role in the eradication of poverty.

Major changes became visible due to several initiatives under Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008). He ordered the extension to the entire province of the jurisdiction of police and judiciary, which covered previous-ly only five per cent of area. Over 300 dams were planned on small rivers and rivulets, whose total storage was to be twice that of Tarbela Dam on the Indus. The construction was started of the 400-km long Kachhi Canal, which would irrigate 289,000 hectares and also allow Balochistan to take its share for the first time from the Indus under the 1991 water accord. Rs 150 billion were allocated for the development of the province. Exploration of oil, gas and minerals was started in earnest. Gwadar port was built.
The most important decision was to build highways that would link Gwadar with all other provinces, to Ratto Dero (Sindh), Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab), Dera Ismail Khan (Khyber) and Chaman (Balochistan) near Af-ghanistan border. The coastal highway to Karachi was already built.
Besides provinces, the highways will link Gwadar with countries of the region also. The highway to Chaman will link with Afghanistan and Cen-tral Asia. The road to Dera Ismail Khan will link with Karakoram Highway that connects with China’s Xinxiang province, whose distance to ports in country’s east is four times more than to Gwadar. Thus, China will have a much shorter route to West Asia, Africa and Europe.
Industries blossom along highways. So, highways from Gwadar will lead to rapid industrialization of Balochistan. Factories from other provinces will move to new industrial cities. New industries will also come up.
Location For several reasons, it would be unwise to build a very large industrial city in the vast expanse of Balochistan. It would be very difficult to provide housing for all employees near their factories, while living away from places of work will create transport and traffic problems. The uninhib-ited areas around the city will be unable to meet its daily needs. The concen-tration of a very large work force may paralyze the whole city if there is a strike in any one area. The municipal services will come under heavy pres-sure. The conflicting problems of various industries will make administrative problems too complex to solve easily. In other words, we may end up with another Karachi, perhaps a bigger one.

Therefore, many new industrial cities will be built along the new highways in the province. With no more factories allowed beyond the max-imum limit, every city will have stable population, around one million.
Prerequisites The site for a new industrial city will be selected care-fully, keeping in view the requirements of the industries and the overall planning for the region. Subsoil water may be available at many places. If
How the Indus divides the country



not, it may be drawn from nearby dams, rivers, canals and other surface sources. The Indus may also meet the needs of nearby cities. Recycling of sewerage will reduce the need for supply of water from external sources. If the national grid cannot supply it, the city may generate its own electricity, using local coal or gas. In the coastal areas, strong wind can run turbines. According to an estimate, the wind in coastal areas of Balochistan and Sindh has the potential to generate more than 100,000 MWs. The city will be at least one to two kilometers away from the highway to avoid traffic hazards.
Impact on Balochistan The new industrial cities will have two great advantages for Balochistan. Local investors will set up industries based on local raw materials, such as fruit juices, fruit packing, agricultural produce and mineral processing. Fruits and minerals imported from Afghanistan will also be utilized.
The second benefit will be full employment for all adult workers of the province. No young man will have to go elsewhere. The tribal nomads, wandering in deserts for times immemorial, will enjoy urban life for the first time, their miseries ending after centuries. The tribal people will be no longer exploited by their sardars, or chiefs, as they will no longer be economically dependent on them. Foreign powers will also not be able to hire them for subversive activities. Thus, political problems will also be solved along with the economic ones.
The industrial cities will turn the most under-developed province into the most industrialized. The area, where the world’s first city, Mehergarh, emerged 10,000 years ago, will become a model for other countries.




Chapter 38
New cities for industries


N
EW INDUSTRIAL CITIES will be set up in mostly uninhabited areas, for industries that do not meet daily needs of urban areas and thus may be located anywhere in the country. (The factories producing items of daily use will be in Qasbas, located close to present cities for convenience in delivery of products.)

Besides Balochistan, other provinces also have vast uninhabited areas. Most population of Sindh is along the Indus, while there are vast uninhabited areas beyond the river. Population is thin in southern Punjab also. There are many factories along the Peshawar-Nowshera corridor but few in the east and west of the province. While Balochistan may get priority, other provinc-es also need new industrial cities.
Every industrial city will have up to 150,000 industrial workers. That will give a total population of about one million. The limit on number will keep the population stable. All workers will have housing within walking distance of factories. Any two cities will be 50 to 100 kms apart to avoid concentration of population.
The Company will identify factories that should shift to new cities. Trade bodies will advise members to avail of the advantages of shifting. In some cases, pressure will be necessary. Due to inertia, some industrialists may be reluctant to accept change despite being aware of its benefit. The Government may punish those, who do not shift within given time.
Every industrialist will give the number of flats that he will need for his employees when he gets the allotment of a factory building. If the num-ber of employees is too large to have all flats opposite the factory, the Com-pany may add one or two stories to relevant residential blocks.
The shifting of industries from big cities will have a very healthy im-pact. Most of the common problems a city will disappear. There will be a huge reduction in population, as employees go with the factories to the new locations. With the environment becoming more conducive, cities will devote more resources to promotion of knowledge, culture and arts.
If wrong decisions take a factory to the verge of bankruptcy, the Com-pany will help in its restructuring. If the owner cannot revive his factory and decides to wind up, he may take away his machinery and other installations and hand over the vacated building to the Company for allotment to some-body else. The Company may allot the building to some other businessman on the assurance that he will retain as many employees as possible.
Benefits Factories in an industrial city will have many benefits for the businessmen, their employees and clients:
a) Availability of raw materials Suppliers of raw materials will make less marketing effort in an industrial city because they will have many clients at one place. On the other side, industrialists will be able to get best pos-sible terms through collective bargaining with them.
b) Common warehouse The Company will have a warehouse for temporary use of factories. They will use it when their own warehouses are full.
c) Marketing The concentration of similar industries at one place will benefit them as well as their customers. Buyers will compare specifications and prices of competitors and also visit factories for more information.
d) Exhibition center The Company will set up an exhibition center for products of its allottees. It will help buyers, including foreigners, to select products. They can then visit the factories for negotiations and orders.
e) Specialized transport Transport companies will be aware of the requirements of industries and offer them most suitable mode of transport. Being on highway, transporters will take export containers promptly to port.
f) Complementary factories The Company will ask factories complementing each other to be close and in line. The raw material for one will be the finished product for the next one. For example, cotton-weaving unit should be ahead of spinning and behind finishing units.
g) Common solutions Industrialists will find it convenient to meet and dis-cuss common problems. At present, it is time-wasting and expensive for industrialist in various places to gather for discussions.
h) No exploitation An unhappy employee may easily go to another factory. Similarly, industrialists will attract employees of others with better salary and perquisites. An employee will not worry about job loss because he can go elsewhere and an industrialist will not be able to retain an em-ployee despite poor treatment. Thus, neither side may exploit the other.
i) Training center Industrialists will set up training centers, with the Com-pany’s cooperation, for prospective employees to help them start normal work from very first day. There will also be refresher courses.
j) Job oriented training The Company, with the help of industrialists, will arrange for training in its schools and colleges to help students get jobs immediately after studies. Students may get internships and part-time jobs during vacation. Some may get scholarships for further studies.
k) Specialized city The Company may build a whole city for a single in-dustry. For example, it may have one or more cities for textile industry alone. There may be other cities for leather, electrical and electronics industries.
City administration An industrial city will have 10 administrative units, each called “Muhalla.” In population, a Muhalla will be equal to a Qasba. Every basic unit of a Muhalla, to be called Muhalla Zail, will be equal to a Qasba Zail. It too will have 3000 flats.
Every Muhalla and its Zail will have its own name for identification, with the approval of 60 per cent of allottees. Its layout will be similar to that of a Qasba. The public services will also be similar.
As distances within a Zail will be very short, skates and bicycle will be used if one does not want to walk. Donkey carts can take one to another Zail, or even Muhalla. Motor cycles and cars will be necessary only for frequent travel outside the Muhalla.
The administrative head of a city will be Shehr (City) Khadim, while Muhalla Khadim will be equal to Qasba Khadim. The head of a Zail will be Muhalla Zail Khadim (or just Zail Khadim). He will be equal in status to Qasba Zail Khadim or Deh Khadim.
Muhalla Zail Khadim will deal with local matters, while Muhalla Khadim and Shehr Khadim will be responsible for common matters within their jurisdiction. Every Zail will have its own staff. An employee may get himself transferred anywhere in the city but only if he asks for it in writing. If he does something wrong or is inefficient, he will be punished right where he is posted, not imposed through transfer on the allottees of any other Zail.


Industrial cities will have many features in common with Qasbas and Dehs. For details, see relevant chapters.


Chapter 39
Layout of an industrial city


A
N INDUSTRIAL CITY WILL BE the biggest settlement in size. It will be in harmony with the smaller ones. Its Muhallas will be similar to Qasbas in size and layout. Their Zails will also be similar. A Zail, in turn, will be a replica of a Deh. The whole industrial city, like smaller settlements, will be almost a square, giving shortest distances between various parts of the city. (See map below)

The main highway going to other places will pass through the city. A smaller road will cross it vertically to serve Muhallas. The first Muhallas will be built on the three corners of the chowk (junction or crossing) of two roads. Their actual length and breadth will create a standard size for other Muhallas. The City Center will have common services.
Within every Muhalla, a road will pass by all Zails, with no barrier on it. Entry to a Zail will be through its main gate, where the staff will check and keep photo records of all visitors and vehicles.
The road passing through a Muhalla will have three Zails on one side and two on the other. Between the two Zails will be the Muhalla Center, with cultural and common public services.
Every Zail will have flats and the Bazaar in the middle, with grassy ground and flowerbeds on either side. Workers will enjoy the scene on their way. The factories will be in two rows, with a two-way road between them.
A factory plot will be normally 100 meters in front and 200 meters in depth. The size (two hectares) will be sufficient for most large industries. If more space is necessary, the front may be increased. For example, if a facto-ry needs double the normal size, its front may be 200 meters, while depth will remain the same (200 meters). The row will have a uniform width.
City Center The City Center will have common services for the city:
a) Two universities, one each for boys and girls
b) City public library
c) City hospital
d) Exhibition center and gallery
e) TV and communications center
f) Main stadium for sports
g) Main conference hall
h) Common warehouse for storage of industries
i) Office of City Khadim
j) Court of District Judge, who will hear appeals from lower courts
k) Office of City Police Officer
l) City post office
m) Office of NADRA
n) Training center for employees
Residence The Company will try to allot flats for all employees of a factory opposite it. If the number is too large, the blocks may have one or two more than the standard three stories. The objective will be to reduce to minimum the distance between a factory and the flats attached to it.
Layout of an industrial city
(Not to scale)


RECONSTRUCTION OF PRESENT CITIES


Chapter 40
Shantytowns and slums


M
IGRATION TO CITIES has been increasing in recent decades. Migrants find life difficult in their villages and small towns and head towards big cities to try their luck. With no housing available, they occupy any open space. Their shacks formed what is called a kachchi abadi, کچی آبادی, or shantytown.

Most of the old city areas are slums, where the poorest are permanent residents, with only dreams of having modern services and facilities. Several stories are built on a very small area, making the structure quite weak. The house walls are common with neighbors on all three sides, blocking air and sunlight. Most streets are so narrow that only bicycles and motor cycles can enter the lanes.
Shanties are put up on vacant private or public land, after occupying it illegally with the help of criminals. As Local Governments, under the law, cannot provide any municipal services to unauthorized settlements, the crim-inal elements arrange for illegal connections for water, electricity, etc. with the collusion of corrupt officials. They collect monthly bribes for their ser-vices to residents. Lack of sanitation and sewerage pollute the air. Disease is common. Criminals find refuge without any difficulty. The dwellers create unemployment by taking away jobs from locals by accepting much lower wages for their services.
With the passage of time, illegal occupation of land becomes perma-nent. The owner of land finds it impossible to get it vacated when he wants to build something on it. Police may try to help but Opposition politicians and the media inflame emotions with accusations of “inhuman treatment to the poor.” They demand alternative space when occupants have no legal right to it, being trespassers in the first place.
The reconstruction process will eradicate shantytowns. A cut-off date will be given after which the dwellers of kachchi abadis will not get owner-ship rights. Those given ownership earlier will be treated as slums and will come under reconstruction plans.
Prevention If dwellers continue to get ownership rights, new shanty towns will come up. The new illegal occupants of vacant lands will presume that they too will get ownership some day. If they are allotted flats in a new settlement, new hordes will descend on the city to take their place. As a re-sult, the shantytowns will always be there.
The Government will give a deadline to all illegal occupants to return home. After that date, their shanties will be demolished. In the meantime, many dwellers would have already gone as new settlements emerge in their own villages after reconstruction. They would get much better housing back home and also an opportunity to earn a living.



Chapter 41
New Muhallas in present cities


T
HE RECONSTRUCTION OF A CITY will start on the presumption that ultimately the whole, or at least most, of it will be rebuilt. The work will start from any slum and continue in other areas according to the plan. With most occupants of shantytowns and other temporary residents already gone back to their villages, the reconstruction will start in old slums, where the residents will have nowhere else to go.

The Company will demarcate sites for new Muhallas. Normally, every site will be a geographical unit, with a canal, main road or railway line as its natural boundary. So, a Muhalla’s total population may vary.
A Muhalla will be almost equal to a Qasba in population (100,000). It will have five units, called “Muhalla Zails,” each having 3000 flats. In its middle will be the Bazaar. On the periphery will be a single row of karkhanas, primarily to meet the needs of the Zail, not to serve outside cus-tomers. Every Zail, like Muhalla, will have its own name, approved by at least 60 per cent of its allottees.
A major characteristic of a new Muhalla will be that its allottees will not be necessarily working there. For example, an employee, who has been allotted a flat by his employer, will occupy it only as long as he is in service, while he may be working outside the Muhalla. (By contrast, allottees in new settlements will be invariably working there.)
Residence control During reconstruction, many outsiders may want to live in new Muhallas of present cities. Their demand will be impossible to meet because there will be no end to it until the reconstruction is complete all over the country. Therefore, the Company will allot flats only to permanent employees of public or private companies and recognized organizations. If necessary, some persons may be employed from outside the city.
The ban on allotment to outsiders will be an effective restriction on in-flow of migrants. Only natural net growth of population will be an addition to the city, keeping city’s population stable.


See the relevant chapters for more details as many features of new Muhallas will be in common with Dehs, Qasbas and industrial cities.



Chapter 42
Allotment of flats in new Muhallas


T
HE COMPANY WILL ALLOT FLATS only to individuals in its new Muhallas of present cities, except allotment of flats to organizations for their employees. Joint allotment of a flat to two or more persons will inevitably cause friction, as disputes are quite common in a family living under the same roof.

Joint allotment will not be even necessary, when a flat will be allotted to wife and her husband will get a business unit in the same settlement. The humiliation that a daughter-in-law often suffers at the hands of her in-laws will not occur, especially if she becomes a widow. As the Arabs say, “Keep your hearts together but tents should be separate.”
The allotment of a flat to wife will be for life. If she abides by the law and pays the rent regularly, the Company will never eject her. However, she will not have ownership rights. In other words, she will not be able to sell it or transfer it to somebody. To retain her allotment, she will have to live in the flat and not allow anybody to occupy her flat or any portion of it, with or without payment of rent. In case of the wife’s death, the widower will be the logical successor.
Irregularities In allotment matters, the Company may come under pressure from politicians, bureaucrats and other vested interests. They may want allotments out of turn or for persons not qualified for it. The law will prohibit strictly the Company and its officials from violating priorities and sequence of waiting list.
The Company will have a plan to frustrate pressures. It will prepare a database of all qualified persons in a settlement and issue allotment letters to them before even a single flat is built. When a block is ready, the allottees will get occupation in the given sequence. If somebody tries to deprive any of them of his right, the Company will tell him that it could not deny any-body of his right, or it would be in trouble itself. It may even go to a court, along with the affected allottee, to seek redress.
The political party in power may try to change the law and procedure for its ulterior motives. To prevent it, the law relating to reconstruction (See Annex A) will provide that no amendment will be made in it unless allottees approve it through a referendum. The Company will take legal recourse to block any undue amendment. It will also urge allottees in all settlements to take out processions, hold demonstrations and sit-ins and seek help of oppo-sition parties and the media. The protest will be strong enough to deter any attempt to deprive the allottees of their rights.



Chapter 43
Flats for private sector employees


T
HE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES in private organizations (recognized by the Government) was 12.72 millions in 2005-06. A large Company may have much fewer employees than a single Government department, such as the Railway (86,564 employees in 2006-07). However, small private units have collectively far more than Government employees (2.8 millions in 2009).

Private industries do not provide housing, though some large ones have it but only for some senior employees. The lack of housing is due to two reasons. First, most private factories do not have land for this purpose, nor can they buy it because of high price. Secondly, they cannot afford to block their capital in housing, when they need it to run their business.
The private sector industries will be quite willing to get flats for their employees when they will pay only the rent. However, they neither have their own land, nor may provide loans to the Company from their own funds. A new approach will solve both problems.
Solution All factories will leave for Qasbas and new industrial cities. Only non-industrial businesses will remain, whose employees will need housing. A few Zails, or a new Muhalla, may be built for them.
Land will become available easily. A Zail to replace a slum area will have three stories of flats. Even after allotting to all occupants of the area re-quired for the first Zail, many flats will still be available. These will be allot-ted to residents of a neighboring area, which will be cleared for the next Zail. As the process continues, more flats will become surplus for allotment to private sector businesses for their employees.
Some land will also become surplus, after flats have been built for all employees. It can be used for flats for employees of private businesses.
The next requirement will be to provide loans to the Company to cov-er the construction cost of flats. Every business will provide a loan for the flats required for its employees.


The housing for employees of businesses will have many characteris-tics in common with other settlements. For details, see relevant chapters.



Chapter 44
New Muhallas for the ‘non-poor’


A
FTER RECONSTRUCTION OF SLUMS in a city is complete, the Company will satisfy the demand for reconstruction in somewhat better areas of the city. These areas may already have better housing than slums but may lack services and facilities that new Muhallas will provide. The Company will plan reconstruction after owners agree to it.

The owners of houses will have to understand a basic reality: owner-ship of a house will not mean the ownership of land under it. The Govern-ment will abolish the ownership of land in the demarcated area, though the owners may continue to live in their houses until the time comes for demoli-tion. In the meantime, they may sell their houses but not the land under them. Whoever owns a house will get a flat in lieu of it in a settlement.
Who will want to buy a house that is going to be demolished? If re-construction will not start for quite some time where he lives at present, he will like to buy a house in the demarcated area so that he gets a flat when construction starts there.
Since reconstruction will not be compulsory, except in slums, the Government may hold a referendum in other “non-poor” areas to get the ap-proval of the majority of owners before starting the process. Every house-hold will have a single vote and the approval will need 60 percent votes. If not approved, there may be another referendum after six months or so.
Posh areas Reconstruction may not be possible in posh areas because the present houses will be much more comfortable than the standard design of flats that the Company will build. Therefore, the residents of posh areas will not be disturbed.
However, when present houses of the rich crumble, the Company will demolish them and clear the debris. It will not rebuild them on present foun-dations. Instead, as soon as enough area is cleared, it will build “امیرمحلہ” (Ameer Muhalla or Muhalla for the rich).
If no vacant space is available in the present posh areas, the Company will build new Ameer Muhallas elsewhere, so that the newly rich may also enjoy their wealth. For this purpose, the Government will acquire land and lease it to the Company. The Ameer Muhallas will have luxury flats. The al-lotment will be through auction, so that all newly rich have the same oppor-tunity to get a flat of choice.
Allottees will pay much higher rent for their flats due to bigger size and better facilities. They will also provide the Company loan equal to full construction cost, to be adjusted against rent.
Facilities Every flat may be 500 sq meters or more. The interior design will be the choice of the allottee. As allottees will work outside the Muhalla, there will be only flats in it (except business units and public services to meet the needs of residents). The Company will build maximum floors in a block so that it may provide flats to largest number of people in minimum space. Every block will have underground parking, providing space for more than one car for every household.
Ameer Muhalla will have public services, like schools, clinic, mosque, library, club, etc. The standard of service in every case will be to the expectations of the allottees. Besides shops, there may also be super markets to meet specialized requirements.
After the death of an allottee, his nominee will become his successor. If there is no nominee for any reason, a court will nominate a successor after hearing all claimants. If there is still no successor, the allotment of the flat may be auctioned.
Housing for servants The allottees will afford to have domestic serv-ants, including drivers, cooks, cleaners, etc. The Company will provide them housing of standard size in separate blocks, where servants will live with their families. They will have services and facilities similar to the housing in new Muhallas of cities. The Reconstruction Bank will deduct from the ac-counts of allottees salaries, house rent and other dues on behalf of their do-mestic servants and transfer funds to their bank accounts. The arrangement will ensure that allottees do not exploit their servants or deny them rights.
The Company will also build for allottees of business units flats (150 sq. m) within Muhalla so that they do not have to live outside.


The housing for “non-poor” will have many characteristics in com-mon with other new settlements. For more details, see relevant chapters.



SOURCES FOR FUNDS


Chapter 45
Sale and purchase of Company shares


T
HE COMPANY WILL NOT NEED to sell shares. The reconstruction will start with the construction of flats for Government employees in capital cities, for which the Federal Government will provide required funds annually as loans to the Company. Then the rent of these flats will finance the construction of new settlements.

The Company will not register itself at the stock exchange because it will not allow sale or purchase of its shares to non-allottees. Every allottee of the Company will buy just one share directly from the Company at the rate of Rs 100 each. So will every employee of the Government or private sector businesses and industries living in a flat.
The purchase of a share will give an allottee the right to vote in affairs of the Company. It will be compulsory for all allottees to cast their votes whenever an occasion arises so that they express their collective opinion.
Every allottee will purchase his share through his account with the Bank. He will fill in a form on the Bank web site. A printout, signed by the manager, will be the receipt and proof of purchase. An allottee will sell his share to the Company when he is no longer an allottee.
The Company will get exemption from any limit to the issue of its au-thorized capital because it will be selling its shares only to give the right to vote, not to get any specified amount. Therefore, it will continue to sell shares to new allottees, one each. The Company will be registered as non-profit, allowing it to retain all income for its projects.
To prevent interference by politicians and bureaucrats, the Govern-ment or any of its bodies will not be allowed to purchase any shares. Foreign nationals and organizations will also not have permission to buy shares.
Loans The sale of shares will not bring much capital, as every allottee will buy just one share. As we shall explain in the next two chapters, the ma-jor sources for funds will be the loans that the Government and the industri-alists will provide the Company for the construction of flats for their em-ployees. (The industrialists will also arrange for loans to get allotment of buildings for their factories.)
The Company may borrow money on its own but not from commer-cial banks or at market interest rate. It can repay only through its rent in-come. If a monthly installment (including interest) is higher than the rent in-come for a unit, the Company will be losing money. Therefore, it will take only loans that are for long term (20-30 years) and bear no or little interest.
Even if commercial banks can give it large loans on favorable terms, the Company will not accept them because as a result the economy of the country will suffer. The loans for the Company will reduce substantially the funds that the banks may allocate for business and industry. When the de-mand for loans causes pressure, the banks will exploit the situation by rais-ing the interest rate, which will in turn increase production costs for busi-nesses and cause inflation.
Non-resident Pakistanis The Company can get substantial funds from Pakistanis working abroad. They send billions of dollars every year to their families. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the remittances were $6.451 billion in 2007-08 and $7.811 billion in 2008-09 and exceeded $12 billion annually in later years. If the Company gets only half of the amount, it can build several million units for the poor every year.
Pakistanis working abroad are mostly from lower middle class fami-lies. They would certainly want that all adults in their families should be able to earn their living and live comfortably. Moreover, they themselves may like to have a much better life when they return home.
Their interest will be huge when they learn that they will not have to invest their money but just give it as a loan to the Company for allotment of business units and flats. They can also give loans on behalf of relatives and friends, besides family members. While a loan is paid through adjustment against rent, the allottees will make much more profit in the meantime from their business units.



Chapter 46
Govt loans for employee housing


A
S THE FIRST STEP towards eradication of poverty, the Government will decide to make the life of its own employees better by providing them rent-free housing. It will be a major relief for the employees, as the money thus saved will meet their basic needs. The Government will save the present rent allowance that it pays employees.

The Government will provide a loan to the Company every year for a number of years and recover it by adjusting against the rent. After the loans are cleared, the Company will have the rent revenue as a major source of regular funds for perpetuity.
In 2009, the total number of Government employees in the country was 2.8 million (excluding defense personnel). Less than 10 per cent of them were estimated to have official housing. The rent-free housing will benefit about 20 million family members of employees. The number will go higher if the families of retired employees also get the same facility.
The Government will determine the number of flats that the Company will build every year for its employees. If 300,000 flats are built annually, all employees will get housing in about 10 years. It will take more time if fewer funds are made available.
If the cost of a flat were Rs 2.25 million, 300,000 flats every year would require Rs 675 billion. If the Government cannot provide the amount or the Company, at least in the beginning, is unable to utilize it at that rate, the Government will reduce the amount or the Company will ask for less.
Increasing revenue Funds should not be a major problem. The Fed-eral Government revenue started increasing in early 2000s. The tax revenue that hovered around Rs 300 billion during 1990s was over one trillion rupees in 2007-08, while the national income doubled in just six years. The increase was due to rapid economic growth and revolutionary changes in tax collection. It was now possible to increase expenditure on development. The development budget, which used to be around Rs 100 billion during 1990s, rose to Rs 517 billion in 2007-08. In 2009-10, it went up to Rs 621 billion. If the trend continues, the federal budget and its development budget will in-crease further in coming years. Therefore, it will be possible for the Gov-ernment to allocate required funds for the housing of its employees.
The housing will not be only for Federal employees, whose number is small. As many more employees serve under the Provincial and Local Gov-ernments, the Federal Government may deduct funds from their allocations to reduce its own expenditure. (Its own employees will need only 376,000 flats.) To avoid delays and bureaucratic hurdles, the Federal Government may pay the total amount directly to the Company and deduct it later from the allocations of Provincial and Local Governments under the National Fi-nance Award.
The Federal Government will take over flats as and when completed and allot them to relevant Provincial and Local Governments for their em-ployees according to its policy and priorities. The allotment will be only to full-time, permanent employees.
Loans If the Federal Government cannot provide the required funds in full from its own budget, it may borrow to make up the deficiency. It will have several options:
a) Borrowing from the State Bank of Pakistan may appear to be an easy way out but it will increase inflation, which will have harmful impact.
b) Federal Government may issue long-term bonds (for 20-30 years) and sell in local and foreign markets. On maturity, the Company will pay the principal amount, while the Federal Government will pay the interest (until the Company can).
c) World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions have been giving loans to the Federal Government for pov-erty alleviation. The loans are for long term, with a grace period of 10 years. There is either interest-free or 0.5-2 percent interest. The Federal Government will transfer the money to the Company on same terms.
Rent payment The Federal Government will pay the entire due rent on behalf of Provincial and Local Governments, besides its own. The amounts will be deducted from the funds that the Federal Government trans-fers to them under the National Finance Commission award.
The annual rent of a flat will be 1/15th of its cost of construction. If the cost is Rs 2.25 million, the rent will be Rs 150,000 annually. Thus, the cost will be recovered in 15 years. If more efficient technologies reduce the cost, the rent will be proportionately less.
If the Government starts adjusting the rent against its loans immedi-ately, the Company will have no funds for 15 years for its projects. There-fore, the Government, rather than start adjusting the rent against its loans immediately, will give the Company a grace period of 20 years. The rent that the Government will be paying will be used for the construction of Dehs and other settlements. Then the Company can easily allow the Government to adjust its rent payments against its loans because rent income from settle-ments will provide substantial funds.
Offices outside Secretariat The offices of Provincial Government outside the Provincial Secretariat will be shifted to new Muhallas built in the capital city for its employees, while the Bazaar will provide space for offices. The present Secretariats of the Provincial Governments will be shifted to new locations outside the present capitals to provide offices and flats at the same place for all employees. (More in Chapter 22, “New provincial and district capitals”)
If the number of Government employees at a place is not enough for a Muhalla or even a Muhalla Zail, the Government will rent space in a settle-ment of the Company. The arrangement will allow any Government De-partment to set up an office in a Bazaar wherever there is a need for it to serve the people. The Government will also rent flats for employees in the same settlement.
If the Government gets three million flats for its employees, the rent will be Rs 450 billion, at the annual rate of Rs 150,000 per flat. The amount will be enough for the Company to build 200,000 flats every year. If it builds Bazaars instead, the number of business units will be 900,000. (A business unit will cost Rs 500,000.) In other words, that many families will get out of poverty. The annual rent income will enable the Company to continue to build new settlements, even though the Government will stop providing further loans after the housing for its employees is completed.



Chapter 47
Private sector loans for housing


T
HE GOVERNMENT WILL REQUIRE limited companies (both private and public) to provide housing to all of their employees. The companies that set up factories in Qasbas and new industrial cities will get flats on rent along with factory buildings. Those doing business in present cities will get flats in new Muhallas.

In both cases, the companies will arrange loans for the Company from their banks or other financial institutions to cover the full cost of construc-tion so that they do not have to block their own capital. The Company will adjust the rent against the loan that a company will arrange for it. The companies will pay interest on their loans directly to their bank or financial institution. The annual rent will be 1/15th of the cost of construction.
After it clears a loan, the Company will become the owner of flats, while the companies will continue to pay in perpetuity the rent for their flats. The Company will use the entire income for the construction of new set-tlements.
Rent for factories Besides the flats, the buildings for factories in Qasbas and industrial cities that the Company will construct will be another source of revenue. A company will arrange for a loan to cover the construc-tion cost of its factory building and pay rent for it. The Company will be-come the owner of a factory building after its loan is cleared, while the client company will continue to pay the rent in perpetuity.
The loan for flats and factory building and the interest on it will be business expense for the allottee company. The rent in both cases will also be tax deductible. Therefore, the actual financial burden will be less than the amount of rent the companies will be paying.



SOURCES OF INCOME


Chapter 48
Estimates of cost of construction


T
HE ESTIMATE OF COST of construction will be the base for calculating rent and the period for its recovery. The price of land will not be a part of the cost, as the Government will acquire land for settlements and give it to the Company on 99-year renewable lease, at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year. With good construction, it will be more than 100 years before reconstruction is due.

The cost of construction may vary from district to district, as it will depend on prices of materials, wages of workers and other expenses. The costs can also be different in urban and rural areas.
The cost per square meter of business units will be less than for flats due to several factors, such as less internal walls, only one door and toilets instead of bathrooms.
The costs will not remain the same during construction of new settle-ments. Therefore, it is not possible to calculate uniform cost of construction per square meter for the whole country, for the present or in the future.
The Company will continue to keep costs to the minimum. It will avoid ornamental features, which are common in private houses and com-mercial buildings to impress people, without bothering about expenses. The Company will spend only what is essential. It will have long-term agree-ments with suppliers of cement, iron, woodwork, sanitary fittings, etc. in or-der to get lowest possible prices.
Cost estimates Suppose the construction cost of a flat is Rs 15,000 per sq. meter, giving a total of Rs 2.25 million for a flat of 150 sq. m. The estimated cost of a business unit of 50 sq. m. will be Rs 500,000, at the rate of Rs 10,000 per sq. m.
The cost of an industrial unit of 200 sq. m. in the Karkhana Zone of a Deh will be Rs 2 million, at the rate of Rs 10,000 per sq. m. Though the rate may be the same, the cost of an industrial unit in a Qasba and new industrial city will depend on the area of a factory.


Chapter 49
Rent and its calculation


T
HE COMPANY WILL CHARGE its allottees in Dehs and new Muhallas of present cities the lowest possible rent because its primary objective will be the eradication of poverty. The rent for factories in Qasbas and new industrial cities will be higher in order to generate funds for new settlements, though the rate will still be much lower than what is being charges at present in cities.

Dehs and new Muhallas will have these rates of rent:
Flat Area: 150 sq. m., Cost: Rs 2.25 million. Rent: Rs 5000 per month. Recovery of cost of construction in 37.5 years.
Business unit in Bazaar: 50 sq. m. Cost: Rs 500,000. Rent: Rs 2000 per month. Recovery of cost of construction in 20 years.
Karkhana Area: 200 sq. m. Cost of construction: Rs 2 million. Recov-ery of cost of construction in 20 years.
In all three cases, the period for recovery of cost of construction will be long so that the rent is not a financial burden on allottees.
The poor of the urban slums and villages will take some time to stand on their feet. Therefore, an allottee from such an area may not pay rent for his flat for the first 12 months, saving him Rs 60,000. The Bank will give him an interest-free loan for a similar amount without any collateral. Thus, an allottee will have Rs 120,000, enough to start a small business. By the end of 12 months, he will have enough income to start paying from the 13th month the current rent as well as that for the previous 12 months. However, the rent for a business unit and a karkhana will be paid from the first month, as it will be a part of business expenses, and a small one at that.
As other family members start working full- or part-time, the rent of the flat will become a small portion of the total family income.
If the prices of building materials, wages and other expenses increase, the Company may raise rents. If the costs decrease, it will reduce the rent. However, the change in rent will be for new buildings, not for those already there.
In Qasbas and industrial cities, the rent of a factory building and flats for employees will be 1/15th of its total cost. Thus, the loan provided by an industrialist to the Company to cover the cost of construction will be recov-ered in 15 years. The rental income after that will go towards the construc-tion of new settlements. The rent for flats for employees will be higher than for flats in Dehs and new Muhallas because the industrialists can afford to pay more. However, the rent will be much lower than in present cities, de-spite many facilities that the Company will provide. (More on rent for em-ployees in the next chapter)
Ameer Muhalla The rent for luxury flats in the settlements for the rich will be according to the construction cost. (See Chapter 51, “Major sources of income for Company”)



Chapter 50
Rent of flats for Govt employees


T
HE GOVERNMENT WILL PAY 45 billion rupees every year for the 300,000 flats that it will get from the Company in a year. It will not adjust the rent against the loan that it will give to the Company. Thus, the entire rent amount will be available for the construction of Dehs. The adjustment will start 20 years after construction.

After flats for all of its three million employees are built, the Govern-ment will be paying Rs 450 billion as their annual rent. The Company will use the entire amount for the construction of new settlements.
The Government will start recovery of loans from 21st year after tak-ing possession. For next 15 years, the rent amount will be adjusted against loans. By that time, the Company will be having enough rent income to con-tinue construction of new settlements on its own.
If the Government starts adjusting the rent right from the beginning, the Company will not have money for its plans for eradication of poverty. Moreover, the Government will face criticism that it is having flats for its employees but not caring for the poor. If the rent amount goes for new set-tlements, the Government will become very popular among the masses and will have much better results in elections.
An industrialist will book flats for his employees at the same time he asks the Company for a factory building. The construction of both will be simultaneous. As a result, the workers will be there when the factory starts its operation. The industrialist will arrange for a loan before booking. He will not pay rent for his factory building and flats for employees for 15 years, as the amount will be adjusted against the loan that he will provide to the Company.
The Government and private industrialists will pay 1/15th of the cost as rent to recover the loan fully in 15 years. After that, the Company will use the entire rent revenue towards the construction of new settlements.



Chapter 51
Major sources of income for Company


T
HE COMPANY WILL REPAY LOANS with the rent that it will be receiving from the Government and private sector industries. The Government will pay rent for flats of its employees, while the companies will pay rent for the buildings for their factories and for the flats that they will get allotted for their employees.

Let us now review the major sources of revenue and estimate the ap-proximate income that the Company will be getting regularly.
Flats for Government employees After all Government employees get flats, the total rent will be Rs 450 billion, at the rate of Rs 150,000 per flat per year. The Government will pay full rent for the first 20 years after the takeover of a flat. It will stop paying rent from 21st year and adjust it for 15 years against its loan.
By the time the loans are cleared in 15 years, the Provincial and Local Governments would have withered away gradually and the number of their employees would have decreased substantially. (See Chapter 57, “New sys-tems to replace old ones”) The Company will take over flats that the Gov-ernment employees vacate but continue to pay the outstanding amount of loans taken from the Government, if any. It will then allot the vacated flats to employees of private and public limited companies and large organizations.
Factory buildings Unless the number of factories in Qasbas and new industrial cities is known, it is not possible to calculate the total area required for them. Let us suppose the average area of a factory is 1000 sq. m. and the rent is Rs 1000 per sq. m. If the total number of factories ultimately comes to 50,000, the annual rent will be Rs 50 billion.
Flats for factory employees If 12 million flats are built for factory em-ployees in 20 years at the rate of 600,000 per year and the annual rent is Rs 150,000 per flat, the total revenue will be Rs 1800 billion per year from the 21st year. If industries need them, more flats may be built in future and will add to Company’s income. The industrialists will not pay any rent for the first 15 years, as it will be adjusted against the loans that they will give to the Company. Therefore, the Company will start receiving rent after 15 years of the allotment of a flat.
Flats for employees of businesses in present cities After the Company builds all new Muhallas and all factories move out, the Government will re-quire all private and public companies and other large organizations in the city to get flats allotted for all of their full-time employees and pay the rent themselves. The Company will allot flats to them in new Muhallas, wherever available. The businesses will provide loans to the Company to cover the full cost of construction of flats. The rent will be adjusted against the loans for the first 15 years. If the total number of business employees in cities comes to one million, the annual rent will be Rs 150 billion.
Flats in Dehs and new Muhallas After excluding three million flats built for Government and six million for industry employees, we assume that about 10 million flats will still need to be built for ordinary people. When all flats have been built, their rent will come to Rs 600 billion every year, at the annual rate of Rs 60,000.
According to a Government survey in 1998, there were 9,211,738 houses in the country. The 6.92 percent people, who had houses with five or more rooms, may be less comfortable in flats. Therefore, only the remaining 93.08 per cent, or 17.88 million, will need flats.
As every married couple will also be allotted a business unit along with a flat (business unit to husband, flat to wife), the rent from 10 million business units will be Rs 240 billion annually, at Rs 24,000 per unit.
The lowest rent will be for the flats and business units in Dehs and new Muhallas. The cost of a flat will be recovered in 37 years and that of a business unit in 20 years. So, a flat will recover its cost about three times and a business unit about five times before reconstruction is due after 100 years.
Some points about housing:
a) The survey was held in 1998. The number of houses must have increased substantially since then.
b) As the population has been increasing since the survey, its need night not have been met fully. According to Planning Commission, there was a shortage of nine million housing units. Every year 1.5 million new hous-ing units were needed, only about half were built.
c) Housing requirement can be estimated realistically after knowing the number of married couples. According to 1998 census, 73.1 million per-sons were above 15 years. Those never married were 31.22 per cent (22.8 million). Out of the remaining 50.3 million, married couples may be half of the number. If they all were to get housing, the shortage was of six million even in 1998.
Ameer Muhallas In large cities, luxury flats will be built in Ameer Muhallas for the rich. A flat will be about 500 sq. m. or more.
What will be the likely number of flats? In 2010, the population was 170 millions, or 25 million families, with an average of seven members per family. If we take five per cent of the families as prospective allottees for luxury flats, the number will come to 1.2 millions. The number of flats in every Ameer Muhalla will be 3000. (For the sake of uniformity, the number of flats will be the same as in Dehs or Zails.) That will give the number of Ameer Muhallas in the country as 400. The Company will continue to re-ceive applications from prospective allottees in major cities. Whenever the number reaches 3000, it will construct a new Ameer Muhalla.
If the construction cost is Rs 15,000 per sq. m., the same as for ordi-nary flats, the total cost of 500 sq. m. will be Rs 7.5 million. (The additional features will cost more.) Allottees will arrange for a loan for the Company to cover the full cost. The rent will be 10 per cent of the cost, or Rs 750,000 annually (Rs 62,500 monthly), with extra charges for services. No rent will be paid for the first 10 years, as the entire amount will be adjusted against the loan that an allottee provides.
After 400 Ameer Muhallas have been built, the rent from 1.2 million luxury flats will be Rs 900 billion.
Estimate of income The above estimates of income are only approx-imate but do indicate that it will be huge. (Some minor sources of income have been excluded, such as the rent of office space allotted to Government.) Below is an estimate of income under major heads:
Flats for Government employees: Rs 450 billion annually, from Year 21, after flats have been built for all employees
Factory buildings: Rs 50 billion annually, from Year 15, if the number of factories is 50,000
Flats for factory employees: Rs 1800 billion annually on completion of 12 million flats, from Year 21
Flats for employees of businesses in present cities: Rs 150 billion an-nually, if flats are for one million employees
Flats in Dehs and new Muhallas: Rs 600 billion annually from Year 20 if 10 million flats are built
Business units in Dehs and new Muhallas: Rs 240 billion annually from Year 21 if 10 million units are built
Flats in Ameer Muhalla: Rs 900 billion annually, after 400 Muhallas are built
Total income The Company will start earning the day it allots the first block of flats in any settlement. The income will grow rapidly. However, there are so many variables that it is not possible to calculate the actual in-come of the Company for any year. However, what is important is to know that the Company will get very large income, enough to not only take up all of its projects for eradication of poverty in due course but also do a lot for the country. (Details in next chapter)
The above description of major sources indicates that the total annual income may be well over Rs 4 trillion approximately after Year 20. (By comparison, the Federal Government budget for 2009-10 was Rs 2.9 tril-lion.) Even if the income is somewhat less, it will still be enough to meet most of the objectives.
Income through saving As the Company will not incur some expens-es and reduce others to the minimum, the saving will add to income. Some ways to save:
a) The Company will register itself as a non-profit Company. As a result, it will not have to pay income tax or dividend to shareholders.
b) The Company will be exempt from all taxes of Federal, Provincial and Local Governments.
c) The Company will not have lavish offices and facilities. It will also not spend on advertising because it will not need to.
e) The Company will not make up business losses because it will not under-take any risky operations. Its own business will be free of all risks.



Chapter 52
How Company will use its income


T
HE RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS may be completed in approximately in two to three decades if Company’s operations continue smoothly. After that, the Company may not undertake any major projects until reconstruction of its settlements is due for the next 100 years. Meanwhile, the Company will have huge regular income that will make it the richest institution in the country.

It will be a great financial revolution. For the first time in history, a Company will not only meet any deficit in the Government budget but also make the country strong and great. After the Provincial and Local Govern-ments fade away and the size of the Federal Government is reduced drasti-cally, its expenditure will become so small that it will be met by only two taxes: Value Added Tax (VAT) and the customs duty.
It will not be easy to have an accurate estimate of the Company’s in-come until at least most of its projects are completed. However, as described in the previous chapter, the Company will have a large income despite very low rents and will have to plan for its proper utilization.
Obviously, the Company will complete all its projects as its first prior-ity. It will also take over, in due course, all functions of the Provincial and Local Governments. More and better facilities for allottees will increase ex-penses. Still, the Company will have every year very large funds available.
Investment The Company will not make any investment to make money because it will not need it. However, it will certainly invest for its own purposes. It will set up factories for producing cement, iron bars, woodwork and other construction materials to meet its own requirements at lowest possible cost and also ensure their regular supply. As an alternative, it may buy all or controlling shares of companies already producing construc-tion and other required materials. The Company may also set up plants for essential items of daily use, such as cooking oil and sugar.
Among the heads on which the Company will spend its surplus funds will include the following:
a) The Company will clear all outstanding foreign and domestic debts of the country. Parliament will prohibit the Government by law from taking any more debt.
b) The Company will undertake all major development projects of the coun-try at its own cost, ensuring implementation at the lowest cost and without mismanagement and corruption. It will upgrade all major roads to highways of international standards and improve the efficiency of the Railway, ports and airports. The mineral resources, especially oil, coal and gas, will be exploited only to meet the country’s requirements be-cause there will be no need to earn money through their export. The de-mand for electricity will be met at the lowest possible cost. Water re-sources will be developed and used most economically.
c) The Company will give massive aid to poor countries. Starting with Rs 100 billion, the annual aid will be increased to Rs 1000 billion, even more, making the country the largest donor in the world. The aid will be primarily to help eradicate poverty and meet current basic needs of the people, such as food, clothing, medicines, and educational materials. The Company will also build model settlements, similar to its own, and set up vocational training institutions in poor countries at its own cost.
d) The Company will transfer necessary funds to the State Bank of Pakistan for the purchase of gold to replace foreign currencies as the reserve for the national currency. Rupee will thus become one of the strongest currencies, fully backed by gold, allowing its use for all international financial transactions.
e) The Company will build reserves to meet the entire reconstruction cost of buildings, due after 100 years, rather than asking the Government and industrialists for loans.
f) The Company will raise salaries of its own employees to the highest level to attract and retain the best talent.
g) The Company will replace its machinery and equipment on due dates, ra-ther than waiting until completely worn out. It may donate the used ma-chinery to the needy.
h) The Company will provide more funds to the Reconstruction Bank to fi-nance industries that require large amounts of money.
i) Electricity, diesel, petrol and gas may be subsidized for both industries and consumers.
j) Company’s universities will specialize in subjects relevant to the needs of the country and raise their teaching to highest international standards.
k) Research institutions, with abundant funds available from the Company, will concentrate on solving the country’s problems and not duplicate one another’s work. Researchers will get finance to patent, market or com-mercialize the results of their research.
l) The Company will prepare the largest database on Islam and Muslims in all major languages and allow free access to it. It will also digitize, if not already done, manuscripts and rare books on Islam and Muslim in all li-braries of the world, public and private.
m) The Company will arrange for translation of important books in major languages on Islam and Muslims.
n) The Company will invite, at its own cost, every year a large number of scholars, teachers, journalists, artists, students and others from Muslim countries to stay and work with their local counterparts for better mutual understanding.



Chapter 53
When will poverty end?


T
HE ERADICATION OF POVERTY will be dependent on the answers to several questions. What will be the amount of funds available to the Company every year? Where will reconstruction start? What will be the strategy? What will be the priorities for the Company in building new settlements in various parts of the country?

The loans and its own income from rent will determine the number of new settlements that the Company will build. If 300,000 flats are built every year for Government employees, the annual rent will be Rs 45 billion. If less number of flats are added, the income will be reduced proportionately. With more loans, it will build more settlements.
Two-thirds of the country’s population lives in villages. Hence, most of the poverty is also there. So, the Company will start reconstruction in ru-ral areas. There is another reason for making a beginning in villages. In comparison with the number of flats for Government employees, twice the number of flats will be built in Qasbas and industrial cities. If the Company can build in 10 years three million flats for Government employees and six million flats for industrial workers, nine million urban families (with 63 mil-lion members) will benefit.
While urban employees may have jobs but no housing, villagers may have housing but no regular income to meet their basic needs. The construc-tion cost of a flat in a Deh will be 4.5 times that of a business unit. If the Company focuses on providing livelihood first and housing later, many more millions can get out of poverty.
In first phase, a Deh may have the first row of karkhanas (forming a boundary wall around it). Inside, the Bazaar will have essential facilities and services. The allottees may continue to live in their present houses in sur-rounding villages until they get flats in Deh.
We return to the funds issue. In the beginning, the rent for the flats for Government employees will be the only regular income for the Company. The first year’s amount of Rs 45 billion will be enough for 90,000 business units, taking 630,000 people out of poverty. The progress in subsequent years is shown in the chart below:
In the second phase, the Company will complete the skeleton Dehs by constructing flats and providing remaining services. It will not take long. From Year 11, the Government will be paying Rs 450 billion annually. The amount will be enough for 200,000 flats. From Year 16, Rs 90 billion will be added every year as rent from the flats of industrial workers.
The progress of construction will depend on loans and income. If the Company gets loan from the Government for 300,000 flats annually, it will be getting Rs 45 billion as rent for every 300,000 flats after the first year.
The private sector industries will also make huge contribution in erad-ication of poverty. Every year 600,000 flats will be built for industrial em-ployees. For 15 years, the employers will not pay any rent because that amount will be adjusted against the loans that they will provide to the Com-pany to cover the construction cost. In Year 16, Rs 90 billion will come from them as rent. The amount will increase by Rs 90 billion every year.
In first 15 years, the rent will be from flats for Government employees alone. From Year 16, the rent from flats in Qasbas and new industrial cities will also be added to it. The Company will use the combined rent income to build new Dehs.
Population benefiting from business units
Year Rent (billions) Business units Population
01 -- -- --
02 45 90,000 630,000
03 90 180,000 1,260,000
04 135 270,000 1,890,000
05 180 360,000 2,520,000
06 225 450,000 3,150,000
07 270 540,000 3,780,000
08 315 630,000 4,410,000
09 360 720,000 5,040,000
10 405 810,000 5,670,000
11 450 900,000 6,300,000
12 450 900,000 6,300,000
13 450 900,000 6,300,000
14 450 900,000 6,300,000
15 450 900,000 6,300,000
In 15 years 4,725 9,450,000 66,150,000

Progress speed In 2010, the population of the country was 170 mil-lion, according to official estimate. Even if the actual number is less due to many unforeseen happenings and developments that can happen over the years, the eradication of poverty of millions will be a unique achievement. In the history of the world, so many people will be taken out of poverty for the first time and permanently.

Rent from Government and industry
Year Govt Industry Total Year Govt Industry Total
16 450 90 540 24 450 810 1260
17 450 180 630 25 450 900 1350
18 450 270 720 26 450 990 1440
19 450 360 810 27 450 1080 1530
20 450 450 900 28 450 1170 1620
21 450 540 990 29 450 1260 1710
22 450 630 1080 30 450 1350 1800
23 450 720 1170 31 450 1440 1890


RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY


Chapter 54
Crime, law and justice


C
RIME IN NEW SETTLEMENTS will be insignificant, both in nature and in number. The reason will not be the nature of residents because human beings are essentially the same. The real difference will be that the Company will not only eliminate common causes of crime but also create conditions that will prevent criminal activities.

The new system will protect the rights of all. It will not be possible for any resident to usurp the rights of others. The Company will enforce the law promptly and effectively. It will ask police to investigate all minor and major cases, even scuffles between two persons, quarrels with neighbors and cus-tomers, harassment, etc. It will impose fine on the guilty. For further pun-ishment in more serious cases, it will refer the matter to the court.
Every Khadim, as the head of local administration, will have to get a vote of confidence every year and may face impeachment at any time. If he colludes with criminals, he will face prompt punishment.
Politicians and Government officials are at present the main supporters of criminals. Poloiticians will not exist in any settlement because there will be no parties. There will be no Government officials, unless specifically allowed. If officials support criminals, they will have to pay a heavy price, besides losing their jobs, because full transparency in administration and constant monitoring will expose their objectionable actions within no time. Nobody will be able or willing to protect them.
Drinking, gambling and prostitution will not be possible because no-body will provide space for such activities in his flat or business unit. Illegal occupation of a flat or a shop will be fruitless, as the Company will end it promptly.
Many crimes in rural areas occur due to land disputes. With ownership of land replaced by lifetime occupation, the base will no longer be there for litigation, illegal occupation and related use of violence. The abolition of the post of patwari, the lowest official, will end the exploitation of landowners by him for personal benefit.
Theft Poverty is the most common cause of theft. It will not exist in any settlement because the very purpose of the plan its eradication. An ama-teur thief will be caught immediately because many people will recognize him after watching recordings of surveillance cameras. Entering a flat will not be easy because its door will be quite strong, while a chain lock will stop any intruder from barging in. An eye lens in the door will give a full view of the person outside. Domestic servants, often accused of stealing, will no longer be there. (With jobs and opportunities available to all, why would an-ybody work as servant?)
Theft will be possible in shops and offices but not of cash, due to the use of debit card for all transactions. Surveillance cameras in shops and in the Bazaar will record theft, if any. Doors and window displays will have unbreakable glass. Automatic alarms will protect all doors. For identification, fingerprints found on site will be compared with the databases of the Company and NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority), as both will have fingerprints of all adults.
Entering a settlement from the outside will not be easy. No stranger will enter without an allottee taking full responsibility for him during his stay. A dacoity (defined under the law as an act by a group of at least five), will be still more difficult. Sensors in factory walls will alert police and a three-meter wide outer ring road along the boundary wall will enable it to reach immediately the spot where an attempt is made for break-in.
Police While inspecting a police station in a remote area, an officer noted that the crime in the area was negligible. “I think this police station should be closed, as there is no need for it,” he commented. “Sir, we shall need it later if we close it now,” said the wise old Station House Officer.
Despite negligible crime in Company settlements, the police will still be there. Every Deh or Zail will have a police station. The staff will be local as far as possible because local knowledge will be of great help in inquiries and investigation. It will also be difficult to exploit people one knows personally. The recruitment, training and promotion will be according to police rules. Patrolling will be 24 hours, in three shifts.
The police at the reception will take picture of every person or vehi-cles (along with its driver) while entering the settlement. It will help in in-vestigations. Regular visitors will get passes.
Police action will be strictly according to the law. In case of a dispute, both parties will be called to the police station, where SHO will try to recon-cile them in the presence of witnesses. If any party is unreasonable, the case will be sent to the court. Normally, arrest will not be made and the accused will be released on his personal surety only or that of any allottee. If a crime is serious and the accused is likely to cause further trouble, he will be arrest-ed and sent to police lock-up in Qasba or Muhalla. His case will be prose-cuted there. If the final appeal is rejected, the Company will expel the convict from the settlement and cancel his allotment, as no allottee will agree to have him as his neighbor. This action will be another deterrence.
The SHO will have to get a vote of confidence of the allottees to retain his job. If he does not get it three times, he may lose his job. With no outside interference, the police will not spare criminals. (No policeman will want to lose his job for favoring a criminal.)
Court Every Deh and Muhalla Zail will have a court, located next to the police station for convenience. The court will hear both civil and criminal cases, settle family disputes, decide succession cases, attest legal documents and perform other duties under the law. The court will not sentence any convict to imprisonment because there is no provision for it in Islamic law. Imprisonment is also the worst violation of human rights. A criminal may be punished in any other way (stripes, fine, compensation to the victim) but the society has no right to deprive him of days of his life. The British introduced jails in South Asia, where none existed earlier. Whatever jails were there were for rebels of the state, not for crimes under the law.
Each party will present its case in the court in person and may also cross examine witnesses. Truth will come out easily and cases will take kittle time. Lawyers may appear in court but a case will not be postponed only be-cause a lawyer failed to be there.
The hearing of cases will be broadcast live on the settlement’s televi-sion so that justice is see being done. Anybody finding a witness making a wrong statement may appear in the court and present the factual position.
The Government will pay the salaries of the judge and the court staff, along with rent for their flats, to ensure its independence from external influ-ence. The judges will be under the Supreme Court, which will hear the final appeals against their judgments. No judge will be transferred unless on pro-motion or on his personal written request. He will have a personal scale of pay, getting annual increments until he reaches the end of his scale, even without promotion.


Chapter 55
Why poverty will never return


N
O BUSINESS WILL FAIL in any of the settlements, as explained earlier (Chapter 18, “Why businesses will not fail”) The main cause of failure is loss of sales during a slump, when consumers prefer cheaper products. The manufacturers in the Company settlements will always offer low prices because of their low cost of production. Therefore, their sales will not fall much even during poor economic conditions.

When an employer does well, he will have no reason to fire any em-ployee. So, employees too will not become poor. An employer might fire an employee for dishonesty or inefficiency but he will have to prove it in the court. If the charge is proved, the employee will have to improve himself to remain in service or seek a job elsewhere.
If a business fails because it cannot compete with new technology and new products, it will also switch over. If it is not possible to compete, some other business may be taken up, with the advice of the Bank. Small busi-nesses can easily adjust with changing conditions because it will not take much effort. By contrast, large companies cannot make a complete change. It is not easy for an elephant to do tap dance.
In due course, the Company will have enough income to give unem-ployment allowance but will not do it. Unemployment allowance is only a temporary relief. If given for an extended period, it makes people parasites. If a person does become unemployed, the Company will do everything pos-sible to help him stand on his feet again. It will be far more helpful than giv-ing allowance for a short period. The Company will also do a lot for wid-ows, orphans and other needy persons. (See Chapter 59, “A new way of life”)



Chapter 56
What ails politics and government


E
VEN AFTER INDEPENDENCE, our rulers continued with the political and administrative systems that the British had introduced in South Asia. They did not realize the inherent problems and incompatibility of the two systems with our genius and culture. As a result, we still do not have an efficient, equitable and truly democratic system.

Let us start with our political system, which is beyond repair because of numerous fundamental problems:
a) Political parties In Pakistan, a leader comes before his political party. He either breaks away from an existing party because he had irrecon-cilable differences with the leadership, or forms a new party. In case of split, some colleagues may also join me. If a new party is formed, the top leader-ship may be fewer than the seats in a taxi. The number of parties already registered with the Election Commission is over 130. Obviously, in most cases, a party is just alter ego of its leader, not an organization to serve the people. There may be different views about running the country but certainly not that many.
b) Membership Party leaders boast about the number of votes they got in various elections but never talk about the number of party members and how many of them renew membership every year. The reason: they have no interest. Benazir Bhutto asked a close associate to get party identity cards for members. He asked an expert to prepare a plan. The plan, which would have raised a large sum every year as membership renewal fee, did reach her but was somehow never implemented.
c) Party elections The political parties have a principle: “one member, one vote, one time.” Mostly, the first time is the last time an election is held. The party leader nominates every official and may dismiss him, as and when he pleases.
d) Courtier When a member cannot rise in the ranks with the support of others, he is dependant totally on leadership for a higher position. As a result, he is reduced to the level of a courtier. He is expected to carry out or-ders, not to question them.
e) Life president Monarchy is gone but its mindset is still entrenched. Like monarchy, the leadership of political parties is hereditary. The party may lose elections again and again but the leader never accepts responsibility and never resigns. Only death or grave illness can remove him. Only a son or a close relative can take his place. Anybody demanding that the successor be elected is silenced or expelled from the party.
f) Dictatorship The head of a party always has the last word. Nobody lasts long in the party if he dissents.
g) Ticket To become a candidate for an election, one has to get from the leader what is called “ticket,” or nomination. A candidate also has to pay a large sum to the leader in the name of party fund. The leader can change his mind any time before elections and cancel a ticket. The party members in a constituency cannot decide who should be their candidate.
h) Manifesto Political parties make tall claims about improvements and reforms if they come to power. They include every wish in their mani-festo, with no intention of taking any action. In fact, some copies of the man-ifesto are available just before the election and none afterwards.
i) Biases Politicians promote ethnic, linguistic, sectarian, regional and parochial biases to get votes. They make even settled matters controversial, creating dissension.
Elections Many problems relate to elections, some are common to other countries, while others are indigenous:
a) Candidates imposed The party members in a constituency cannot choose their candidates. The party leader nominates candidates, irrespective of their position and popularity in their constituencies.
b) Considerations The considerations for nomination of a candidate are his family, tribe, money and his ability to win election by all possible means. His character and abilities have little importance.
c) Expenses The procedures make it quite expensive to contest an election. The number of polling stations is kept low so that the candidates with money may provide transport to voters in return for their votes. As polling staff comes from outside the constituency, the candidate providing them lodging and boarding gets favorable treatment from them.
d) Bitterness Every candidate does character assassination of his op-ponents, causing bitterness, even enmity, which continues long after the election.
e) No choice If the parties do not put up capable and honest candi-dates, the voters have to choose one of the less undesirable ones. As the practice continues, there is no change.
f) Misconception Adult franchise is a misconceived principle. Most voters do not take their vote seriously. Many are lured by small bribes. Eth-nic, linguistic and tribal loyalties are more important for others. Those with real interest in national affairs often do not bother to vote. A teenager of 18 years is expected to decide about the future of the country when he does not know what is good for himself.
g) No majority Few candidates get more than 50% of votes cast, not to speak of total votes. Therefore, the claim of representing the majority is not valid. Before 2008, not a single party could get more than 10 million votes in any general elections.
h) Betrayal If a candidate is not sure of winning, he contests from two or more constituencies. If he wins two or more seats, he adopts one, betray-ing the voters of other constituencies.
Assembly The members of National and Provincial Assemblies claim to be people’s representatives but do not carry out their duties. Due to many deficiencies, Assemblies represent unfulfilled expectations.
a) Education The basic function of an Assembly is legislation, which is impossible for an illiterate member. However, the members claim una-shamedly that just being elected is enough. When President Pervez Musharraf imposed the condition that a Member must hold at least B.A. or equivalent degree, even media persons (influenced by politicians) criticized the restriction. When Asif Zardari got the condition removed by the Supreme Court, there was little criticism of the judgment.
b) Training The Members of Assemblies do not get any training be-fore taking up their duties. Being unaware of the legislative procedures, rules and practices, they cannot take part effectively in proceedings. Most of their time is spent in getting personal problems solved by ministers.
c) Legislation Under parliamentary system, legislation is supposed to be done by Parliament but in reality, the Prime Minister does everything. No Member can get his bill passed without his approval, however necessary it may be for the people. Bureaucrats prepare a draft law, the cabinet approves it and the House passes it, with the majority support of the party in power. Parliament can only make minor amendments, again only with the approval of Prime Minister.
d) Representation The concept of people’s representation is a legacy of the horse-driven buggies, when travel was arduous and took long time. Hence, voters would elect somebody to represent them.
The Members of Assemblies claim to be people’s representatives but actually serve the interests of their own and of their parties. A Member has no way of finding out accurately the views of his constituents on every issue. Then his own bias may make him go against the majority of his constituents. If the party leader takes a decision, the views of Members and their constitu-ents become irrelevant. A Member may be expelled from the party or may even lose his Assembly seat if he disagrees with his party leader.
e) Insecurity Politicians talk of democracy all the time but shiver at the prospect of facing an election. They always wish that an Assembly com-pleted its five-year term, when, under parliamentary system, there is only the maximum term and elections may be held any time before that for a fresh mandate.
f) Government For several decades, a political party rarely got a ma-jority in any Assembly. Coalition governments were inevitable, making it impossible even for the biggest party to implement its manifesto. Voters feel betrayed when their party allies with opponent parties just to enjoy benefits of power.
g) Incompetent ministers Under parliamentary system, ministers have to be Members of Parliament but parties rarely have candidates, who are honest, capable, have unblemished character, and can also win election. Most ministers lack basic understanding of government systems and procedures. Closeness to party leader and support of other Members is more important for getting a ministry. On the other hand, most ministries require specialization and good experience. As a result, bureaucrats lead ministers by the nose.
i) Blackmail In parliamentary system, a Prime Minister cannot sur-vive without majority in Parliament. As a result, Members pressurize, even blackmail, him to get what they want for themselves. The Members also use their influence on Government officials.
Present administrative system Government employees, who used to be “public servants,” were made “Government servants.” In recent times, politicians in power turned them practically into “personal servants.” They obey the orders of politicians and are answerable only to them. The people are treated as mere subjects.
a) Appointment Degrees and certificates are considered as the only proof of capability for a government job. It does not matter whether a candi-date getting good marks in examinations is also able to do his job efficiently. Many Federal Government officers cannot write a comprehensible note on a file, even though they passed the examination for Central Superior Services in English (which is still the official language). Bribe and influence play a major role in recruitment at lower levels.
b) Job security An employee learns very soon that job security lies in blind obedience of the bosses. If they are satisfied, the people’s complaints will not have any effect, nor will they get punishment. The process for dismissing an employee for inefficiency or misconduct is very cumbersome and rarely ends in termination of service.
c) Bribery When higher-ups share bribes, complaints against lower officials do not get attention.
d) Insecurity After the constitutional protection was taken away (by Z A Bhutto), the Prime Minister could take action against Federal Government officers, rather than the President. As a result, postings, transfers, promotions and rewards depended on the elected chief executive. If he was unhappy, an-ything could happen to an officer. He could be even handcuffed merely on allegation of misconduct. Feeling insecure about their future, many employ-ees decide to make hay while the sun shines.
e) Low salary One reason for corruption is low salary. After the eu-phoria of getting a Government job is gone, an employee realizes that he cannot make both ends meet with his salary. He finally succumbs to corrup-tion or resigns.
To continue with present political and administrative systems will be disastrous. Six decades were enough of a trial period. If the two systems had been replaced by better ones after Independence, the country would not have faced the problems that bedevil it today.


In the next chapter, we shall explain how we can evolve new systems to replace the present ones.



Chapter 57
New systems to replace old ones


T
RUE DEMOCRACY WILL EMERGE as the eradication of poverty proceeds. New systems will replace the present political and administrative systems without violating the Constitution. The hurdles that vested interests have been creating will disappear. The people will become the masters of their destiny.

The new political system will allow prompt and direct vote on every major issue, without requiring any elected representatives at any level. The Government employees will fade out gradually, as far more competent and efficient staff of the Reconstruction Company takes their place.
No political parties When there are several views on an issue, the vot-ers can form opinion with the help of newspapers, television, radio and In-ternet and then express it through voting. Political parties have nothing better to do in molding public opinion because they lack relevant expertise. If a party is in opposition, it has to oppose instinctively whatever the party in power proposes. Parties oppose or support what their leaders want, people’s interest being subservient. Therefore, voters will not need political parties to form opinion on various issues.
Representative no longer needed As a voter will express his opinion directly and immediately through Internet, he will no longer need to elect anybody to represent him. (Details a little later) That will eliminate problems and corruption associated with elected representatives at various levels.
Vote of confidence A Khadim will be appointed by the Company but will have to get a vote of confidence every year from the allottees in his set-tlement. If he fails, he will lose his job. He may also be impeached at any time. As a result, he will be accountable for his actions all the time, some-thing unthinkable at present in case of elected representatives.
Voting only by allottees Only allottees of the Company will vote be-cause they alone will feel the impact of the decisions made by the Company and the Government. Giving the right to vote to other adults will serve no purpose because they will not have genuine interest in the outcome.
Equality for women The votes of men and women will have equal im-portance. While men will be allottees of business and industrial units, women will be allottees of flats. Thus, men will vote on measures affecting their businesses, while women will give their views on education, health and oth-ers issues of concern to their families. (In case of housing for Government and private sector, only their employees will be allottees of flats, irrespective of whether they are men or women.)
Voting compulsory Voting will be compulsory. (A voter will be fined for failure to vote.) In early stages, a polling station will be set up in the Company office with voting machines in it. As it will be within walking dis-tance for all voters, it will be enough for a Deh or a Zail. The process will be faster when voters will be able to vote through Internet.
Referendum All allottees will have broadband Internet connections that will allow them to express their opinions promptly and directly on every important issue. They will get all information about issues through paper and electronic media. An allottee will press a button to give his opinion. It will be the biggest possible referendum on every issue.
Direct democracy All allottees will themselves give their views on policy matters and issues of concern to them. Thus, they will not need any representative.
Our proposed system will be direct and consultative. It may be unique among over 40 types of democracy that exist in the modern world The Holy Qur’an says, “And those who answer the call of their Lord and establish worship, and whose affairs are a matter of counsel…” (Surah Shura, Ayat 38) Therefore, we may call the proposed democratic system Islamic also. There cannot be a better system for us, considering our conditions.
Khadim In the proposed administrative system, the basic unit will be Deh. Its administrative head will be a Khadim. (In a Qasba or city, Zail Khadim of Qasba/Muhalla will be his equivalent.) The Company will appoint a Khadim after reviewing his qualifications, family background, character, etc. His minimum age will be 40 years. His career until then will indicate his suitability for the job. Some relevant questions may be: Was he busy making money? Did he prefer jobs involving use of authority? Did he like jobs involving public service? Did he have stable personal life? Was he un-comfortable working within rules and regulations? Is he content with his life? Is he physically and mentally fit? Is he married? The Company will place a candidate’s resume on its web site so that anything not disclosed by him may become known. Only candidates meeting all criteria will be ap-pointed.
All Khadims will study the resume of a candidate, who is selected for appointment as a Vice President or some other high office. The appointment will be made only if they do not find anything substantial against him. Their approval will be essential because they will be dealing with him. The head office will not be able to appoint any unsuitable person.
Deh Khadim will not neither a government servant, whose job is per-manent, nor will he be a people’s representative, who feels secure until the next election. He will have to get a vote of confidence every year and may be impeached at any time by 25 per cent of total voters. (If even one-fourth of the voters are unhappy, his performance must be quite unsatisfactory.) He will also face prosecution for any crime he commits.
The heads of various departments in a settlement will also have to seek every year a vote of confidence, including school principal, clinic in-charge, mosque imam, Bank branch manager, Delivery Service manager, police chief, etc. They may also be impeached at any time for misconduct.
There will be no retirement age for a Khadim. He will get pension equal to his last basic pay and rent-free flat for life even when he is no long-er mentally and physically fit. Thus, he will have no worry about his future.
A Khadim will be responsible for the conduct and performance of all employees under him. He will recruit most of them. If an employee is not doing his job efficiently, Khadim will have to discipline or even dismiss him. Every employee will know that nobody will save him if he does not do his job well.
The President, Vice Presidents and other senior officials at the Com-pany head office will also have to seek a vote of confidence. The votes of allottees will not be relevant in their case because they will not be dealing with them directly. Therefore, only Khadims will vote, as they will be deal-ing with the head office almost daily. The number of Khadims will be soon in hundreds and later in thousands. Thus, their vote of confidence will be a true reflection of satisfactory performance.
Local Governments The Local and Provincial Governments will wither away as reconstruction process proceeds. The lowest tier of Local Governments—Union—will have no role after a Deh takes over all of its functions. A Deh Khadim will perform far better than a Union Nazim, as he will have to seek a vote of confidence every year and may face impeachment any time. By contrast, the only punishment that a Nazim ever faces is defeat in the next election. Until then he has a free hand.
The population of a Deh will be 20,000, about the same as a Union in a rural area. Therefore, a Deh will replace a Union and elect Union Nazim, Naib Union Nazim and other members of the Union Council. They will have nothing to do because the Company will provide all services and perform all functions that a Union Council is supposed to do under the Local Government Ordinance. The Company will nominate Deh Khadim as Union Nazim and candidates for all other posts. All candidates will be elected unopposed because they will meet only a legal formality.
Union Nazim and the Naib Union Nazim of a Deh will be, by virtue of their office, members of the District Council and Tehsil Council respec-tively and will be active participants in their proceedings. It will be the be-ginning of political transformation.
As Dehs continue to come up, the Naib Nazims representing them will ultimately have a majority in the Tehsil Council. They will then elect the Tehsil Nazim and control the affairs of the Tehsil Municipal Administration. They will confine the operations of the Administration only to the area of the Tehsil not covered by the Company settlements.
The same process will continue at the district level. When the Union Nazims representing Dehs will have a majority in the District Council, they will elect their own District Nazim. The role of the District Government will continue to shrink as population shifts to Company settlements. When the Company settlements cover the entire population, all tiers of the Local Gov-ernments in the district (Union, Tehsil, District) will disappear as they will be left with no functions to perform.
The Company will form a council of all Khadims of its settlements in a district. It will be a consultative body for coordination among them and so-lution of common problems. Its head will be District Khadim.
Benefits The replacement of Local Governments by Company admin-istration will have many benefits:
a) Khadims will be able to do whatever is necessary for their settlements, as they will not face any political opposition.
b) The Company will have abundant income to meet all expenses of munic-ipal and other services. Local Governments are always starved of funds, especially when political opponents are in power in the Provincial Gov-ernment.
c) The elected representatives and corrupt officials may misuse public funds through mutual collusion due to lack of transparency and accountability, something not possible in Company administration.
d) The Company will recruit only the staff actually required. There will be no featherbedding for political reasons.
Withering away Khadims will represent the Company settlements in the Provincial Assembly. More and more of them will become MPAs, in ad-dition to members of District Councils, by getting votes of their settlements. When their number will cross 50%, they will elect their own Chief Minister.
With the support of representatives of Company settlements, the Chief Minister will start dismantling the Provincial Government. His measures will include:
a) There will be a ban on new recruitments. Any post becoming vacant will be abolished.
b) No new development projects will be started.
c) Expenses will be kept at less than income. No deficit budgets.
d) Taxes will be reduced. As budget surplus increases, there will be propor-tionately further reduction in taxes.
e) No more grants will be necessary from the Federal Government.
f) No more loans will be taken from the Federal Government
g) No more overdrafts will be taken from the State Bank of Pakistan.
h) Departments of the Provincial Government will be abolished, as the Company takes over their functions.
i) The officers of the Federal Government on deputation to the Province will be sent back as their posts are abolished.
As the above measures take effect and the Company takes over their functions, the Provincial Governments will exist only in name. However, they will continue until the new constitution abolishes them. The Federal Government will take over the functions that are common to two or more districts, such as highways and canals.


Chapter 58
Salient features of new constitution


W
HEN THE REPRESENTATIVES of the Company settlements in the country get two-thirds of seats in National Assembly, they will present the draft of a new constitution. The number of their votes will be enough to approve it. The new constitution will transform the political, administrative and other systems of the country. Its main features will include:

a) Parliament will consist of all Khadims of Dehs and Zails by virtue of their office. As every Khadim will have to get a vote of confidence every year from 75 per cent of his total voters, his representative status will be greater than that of a present member of the National Assembly. Moreo-ver, the number of Khadims will be soon in hundreds and may ultimately reach as high as 10,000. Such a large number will make external manipu-lation impossible for approval of any measure that the Khadims do not consider in people’s interest.
b) Local and Provincial Governments will be abolished, as their functions will be transferred to the Company and its units. As a result, the Govern-ment of Pakistan will no longer have “Federal” in its name.
c) The President will be the head of the state as well as the government. He will be elected directly and only for a single term of five years. He will have a cabinet of not more than 10 ministers, who will not be members of Parliament. They may face impeachment by Parliament at any time for misconduct.
d) All judges will be promoted from lower levels. Deh and Zail Judges may become Qasba and Muhalla Judges, who in turn may become District Judges. There will be 10 High Courts in various parts of the country, with their judges being promoted from District Judges. Then there will be the Supreme Court. A High Court will supervise District Judges in its juris-diction and hear appeals against their judgments, while all judges in a district will be under a District Judge. District Judges will be promoted from lower judges. All judges of High Courts will be promoted from the District Judges, based on seniority and performance, with no lateral entry. There will be no age limit for retirement, provided a judge is fit physical-ly and mentally. If he decides to retire, his last salary will be his pension for life. He will also get rent-free housing for life. Thus, judges will be independent of Government in all respects. All judges of the Supreme Court will come only from the High Courts, based on seniority and per-formance, with no lateral entry. They too will continue as long as they are physically and mentally fit. When they decide to retire, they will get their last pay as pension for life and rent-free housing.
f) All taxes will be abolished except two. Customs duty will give protection to local industries, when necessary, by making imports more expensive and prevent dumping. Value-Added Tax (VAT) will be payable by all businesses. The Company will cover any deficit in Government budget.
g) Provinces will be abolished. There will be not more than 100 districts. Where necessary, the Government will create new districts for administrative reasons or merge present ones with adjacent ones.
h) All political parties will be banned. All organizations promoting sectarian, ethnic, linguistic, racial and others biases at the cost of national unity will also be banned.
i) The Government, by law, will not borrow funds or accept aid from any foreign source for any purpose, unless Parliament approve by two-thirds majority.
The draft of the new constitution will be sent for comments and sug-gestions to all Khadims, who will all be educated, well informed and free of any external influence. Moreover, their number will be in thousands. There-fore, their suggestions will be in the best interest of the people. Any amend-ment, if approved by more than 50 per cent of total votes, will be incorpo-rated in the draft. A majority of all eligible voters in the country will approve the final draft. The new constitution will reflect the views of the entire coun-try, not of a very small number of politicians.
Approval of Budget Beginning in the first week of May, all Minis-tries, turn by turn, will circulate their budget proposals through Internet among all members of Parliament. Every budget item will have details of expenditure during the previous financial year and the proposed expenditure for the next. Full justification will be required for every new item of ex-penditure proposed in the budget. The Ministry will also describe what will happen if an item was not approved. Every item must get approval of over 50 per cent of the total votes through a check box against it.
Election of President The President will have only a single term of five years. It will be sufficient period for him to do whatever he planned for the people. He will leave the post with grace, as he will have no worry about re-election, nor will he make undesirable compromises or decisions.
Any person may be a candidate if he is above 60 years and has always been a citizen of Pakistan. Parliament will consider all applications (as there will be no political parties). If 10 per cent of members approve, an applicant may become a candidate. If there are more than two candidates, Parliament will vote for all of them. The candidate getting the least number of votes will be dropped in the next voting. The process of eliminating candidates with lowest votes will continue until only two candidates are left.
Complete information about the two candidates, including declaration of their assets and those of their family members, will be published on the Government website. A few weeks before polling, both will debate every week on policy matters on television networks to help voters make a choice. Processions and public meetings will not be allowed. Advertising will also be banned on paper and electronic media or in any other form. Since the Government will bear all election expenses, no candidate will be allowed to spend anything to influence voters. Even a person of modest means will be able to compete on equal terms. Voting will be through Internet.
Cabinet The President will have no more than 10 ministers in his cab-inet, each an expert with a long experience in his field. The President may dismiss a minister at any time for misconduct or poor performance. Every minister will have to seek a vote of confidence from majority of Parliament every year. Parliament may also impeach a minister at any time for miscon-duct.
The President’s cabinet will have only the following ministries (in al-phabetical order):
Communications, including railway,  ports, shipping and airlines
Defense, including defense production
Finance, including economic affairs, statistics
Foreign affairs, including Kashmir, overseas Pakistanis
Home affairs, including areas at present under Provincial and Federal administration, minorities
Law, including religious affairs
Natural resources, including electricity, oil, gas, science, technology
Water, including rivers, dams, irrigation canals
Every ministry will have an institute for research on all matters relat-ing to it. It will have core staff to gather research from all available sources and analyze it for preparing proposals for policy and legislation. Every institute will publish its reports on its web site and also circulate among Parliament members. Parliament may turn research proposals into laws.
Legislation Parliament will pass laws in a new way. The Law Ministry will circulate all bills initiated by the Government among members of Parliament through Internet. The amendments proposed by a member will reach all members directly. Members may also initiate bills and circulate them directly among members, bypassing the Ministry.
Any bill or amendment approved by more than half of total members will become the law. The President will sign every bill passed by Parliament as he will not have power to reject it.
Govt employees As the Local and Provincial Governments wither away, posts of their employees will be abolished. With the total number of its employees coming down to a small number from three millions at present, the Government will have a new structure for services.CSS (Central Superior Services) will be abolished, as their need will no longer exist due to various reasons. The Public Service Commission will make recruitments to meet the specified requirements of various Ministries. An employee wishing to go to another Ministry will have to resign before joining the other as a new employee. All Basic Scales for salaries will be abolished. Instead, every employee will have his personal scale and get annual increments, whether promoted or not. Thus, the Government will not have to create new posts just to promote employees.
The Government will need public servants in the real sense, not officers. Their service will not be for life. An employee may continue to work as long as he is mentally and physically fit and his performance is satisfactory, with no age limit for retirement. He may be hired at any age to take benefit of his knowledge and experience.
Police will be legally under the Government but under the administrative control of the Company. The Company will select candidates, recruit and train them. It will also deal with training, posting, transfer, salary, housing, leave and other administrative matters.
Most of the present posts of policemen will be abolished. In a police station, there will be only a SHO (Station House Officer), two Deputy SHOs and required number of constables. Above the SHO will be the District Police Officer and required number of investigation officers, who will be equal in status to SHOs and directly under District Police Officer.

  
Chapter 59
A new way of life


O
UR SYSTEM WILL TRANSFORM the society. It will not only eradicate poverty forever but also bring about economic, political and social revolutions that will be unique in the world. For the first time in history, the villagers will have no reason to migrate to cities for better life. Cities will also improve tremendously after the eradication of slums and shantytowns and shifting of factories and their employees outside cities.

There may be even reverse migration. When telecommunications and good roads will make physical distances irrelevant, many people in cities, especially those who had migrated from rural areas, would decide to move back to Dehs, to get away from tensions of urban life.
Every effort will be made to reduce the population of most, if not all, cities to manageable levels. The small size will eliminate problems that prevail in big cities at present. Life was much more pleasant when cities were small, even though many modern services and facilities were not available.
Bright future The young people will no longer face worries that uncertainty causes even before they finish their studies. At present, the children of the poor do not know how they will earn a living, how they will get jobs according to their qualifications, how they will support their families. Our system will give them positive answers. They will make the best use of their potential to serve their families and the country. Their life will be peaceful, stable and creative. In most cases, they will study, start married life and spend the rest of life at the same place. Childhood friendships will continue.
Social equality The social inequalities will disappear. The flats and services will be the same for all. Business opportunities will be open to all. Employees will get due compensation for their work and will not be exploited. Nobody will be treated as inferior to others.
Due to universal and free education, the next generation will have better understanding of life. The young people will not face any social discrimination. There will be no private schools or madrassas. The lack of fluency in English will not be a handicap as it will be required only for higher studies, international relations and specialization in science and technology.
Economic equality Everybody will have an equal opportunity to earn his living. One may earn as much as one can but without using any unfair means. Inheritance will be only in the form of business or cash, not land or property, which will no longer have private ownership.
Businesses will have a level playing field. The Reconstruction Bank will give every businessman interest-free loan, according to his credit worthiness and without collateral.
All families will have a similar living style. There will be simplicity and contentment in life, not a rat race. The ban on advertising will discourage consumerism. With his basic needs met, every individual will make the best use of his faculties for personal development. His creative abilities will benefit him and the society. Economic freedom and equality will promote better relationships.
One man, one business To ensure economic equality, an individual, firm or company will have only a single business or industry. The Company will allot only a single business, industrial or agricultural unit to an individual or firm. Nobody will be allowed to be a shareholder or a director of two or more private or public limited companies. With a single business, a person will concentrate his efforts on it. He may become rich but never filthy rich.
Sectarianism Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was once asked, “Are you a Sunni or Shia?” “My faith is the same as that of Prophet Muhammad,” he replied. He knew that all sects were created long after the Holy Prophet. Sectarianism is against Islam. Therefore, nobody will be allowed to profess or promote it. Nobody will be appointed khateeb or imam of a mosque if he has sectarian views. Sectarian literature of any type will not be placed in the public library, even if supplied free of charge. Only books and other content of non-sectarian authors will be available.
Law and crime The Company will enforce laws of the land and its own rules fully and vigorously. Showing any leniency will lead to more violations in future. In any case, crime will be negligible and of minor types. There will be no poor, who may have to steal. There will be nobody to occupy illegally a flat or a business unit because nobody will benefit and there will be nobody to pay for it. No mafia of any type will exist because nobody will sponsor it. (See Chapter 54, “Crime, law and and justice”)
Bribes Officials extort bribes by delaying legitimate action or doing illegal favors. Invariably, they have protection of influential persons or collusion of bosses. The Company officials will dare not use either way, as they and their bosses will end up losing their jobs and getting severe punishment.
Economic development Economists often lay great stress on fast economic growth, arguing that it will increase national income. However, while the rich may become richer, the poor do not necessarily become less poor. If an individual’s income does not increase, it is irrelevant for him whether the growth rate is two or 10 percent. The trickle down takes ages to benefit the poor, if at all. No wonder, there are poor even in rich countries. Instead of higher growth, the emphasis should be on meeting the basic needs of the people at lower levels and making life better for all.
Politics With gradual fading away of political parties and elected offices, there will be ultimately no elections (except for the President of the country). There will be no need for political agitation, as the Company will be solving all issues as and when they emerge at local levels. Freed of political manipulations, people will be able to concentrate on genuine issues that affect their lives, not what politicians tend to raise for their own purposes.
Until the political system is changed, allottees in Company settlements will vote in all elections. Voting will be compulsory for them. That will get them an advantage over others, who live outside settlements and do not vote. Ultimately, voting will be only on the affairs of the Company.
Advertising As the Company will not need income, it will not allow commercial advertising. It will not allow hoardings or display ads anywhere in its settlements, nor commercials on its television channels. Only the Company’s daily newspaper will carry ads because readers can, if they want, turn the pages without reading them. People will buy only products that they need, not what the advertisers want them to purchase. It will be more important for the Company to save its residents, especially children, from negative influence of commercial advertising.
Family relationship The Company will make marriage a three-legged race for the sake of security of family life and peace in society. It will allot a business or industrial unit to husband and the flat to his wife. It will create for them a compulsion not to break up even if there are differences. Moreover, the in-laws will not be able to make a widow homeless.
If the husband decides to divorce, he will not be able to live in the flat. He will have to seek shelter with his parents or some other relative or marry again (in which case his second wife will get the allotment of a flat in her own right). If the wife gets khula’ (divorce), she too will have to seek shelter elsewhere. In both cases, husband and wife will have to keep the family together in their own interest and also save their children from the agony of a split. If the wife dies, the husband will become the allottee of the flat. If he marries again, his new wife will become the allottee, provided she continues to take proper care of her husband’s children and parents.
Life will be quite difficult for the unmarried men and women. An adult man may get allotment of a business or industrial unit but will have to live with his parents or other family members until he marries. Similarly, a woman will get the allotment of a flat only after she marries. The result will be marital bliss for all, like it or not.
Affairs If a man or a woman is suspected of illicit sex relations, the Deh or Zail Khadim, on getting complaints, will inquire into the matter. In case of extramarital relations, both sides will have to give a written undertaking that they will end the relationship immediately. Each will also provide two sureties. If they still do not sever relationship, they will lose their allotments (of business or flat) and will have to live outside any Company settlement. They will prefer to abide by their undertaking, rather than suffer homeless life. The Company will cancel the allotment of the guilty, as social necessity will have priority over individual’s rights.
Boys and girls will have no place to meet in private. Their educational institutions will also be separate. If they still have illicit relationship, the Khadim will ask their parents to discipline them. The parents may marry them if both have reached the legal age. If it is not possible, they may be asked to send their son or daughter to relatives elsewhere. The Company will expel the parents and cancel their allotments if they refuse to cooperate in any way. The step may look harsh but will be essential to maintain the moral values and standards of the society. It will also be a deterrent to young people, who do not want to control their lust.
Easier life for housewives The Company will reduce the drudgery that is common for housewives. Domestic servants will no longer be available to help them (as everybody will have a job or business of his own.) Some of the services arranged by the Company will include:
Pakki-pakai roti (thin round unleavened bread, readymade) will be delivered by tandoors (chapati makers) at doorsteps thrice a day at fixed price.
Pre-cooked meals will be available throughout the day on order. The service will helpful when a housewife is not feeling well or some guests arrive suddenly.
Laundries will be set up by some allottees, where housewives will take their clothes for washing and ironing.
Cleaning services will be offered by some allottees for offices and homes or a regular basis.
Welfare With all having jobs or businesses, nobody will need charity or donation. However, severe financial problems may sometimes arise.
On the other hand, there will be many, who will follow the command of Allah to give in charity “whatever is beyond your need” (Surah Baqarah, Ayah 219) They will deposit their donations with the Company Welfare Fund. The Company, after consultation with donors, will formulate conditions for helping those, who can no longer earn their living. They may include terminally ill, handicapped, widows, orphans, etc. The donors will be satisfied that their money is going to the needy.
The head office will control funds. Its sanction will depend on the comprehensive report of the relevant Khadim and the conditions prescribed by the Company. Khadim will meet the needy persons and their neighbors to get all details. If a person can do some work, the Khadim will arrange for it. The Khadim will recommend assistance but only for a specified period.
The arrangement will ensure that nobody gets excessive aid because his settlement has large funds. Nor will anybody be deprived of sufficient assistance because his settlement has inadequate funds. The Company will enable every needy person to stand on his feet as soon as possible.
Some possibilities:
a) If a husband suffers from some serious illness that incapacitates him, his wife will take over and run his business with the help of children and employees. A widow will do the same.
b) If it is not possible for the wife to run her husband’s business, the Khadim will help her have a contract with somebody to run the business and give her a specified amount every month. The arrangement may continue until the wife dies or an adult son takes over father’s business.
c) If an ill person requires specialized treatment not available in Deh or Zail, he will be shifted to a city hospital. After-care also will be provided.
No stipend It is often suggested that the Government should give stipends to the needy persons. The concept is attractive but not practical. Getting payment without doing any work makes people indolent and lethargic. Many people would like to do that. However, it is not possible to feed unlimited number of people for unlimited time. Therefore, the Company will not do it. Instead, it will enable the needy to earn their living as soon as possible.
Islamic society Under our system, Islamic teachings will be in practice. The society will not face problems like class discrimination, caste system, economic exploitation, immoral behavior, sectarianism and crime. Common business malpractices will not be there, such as adulteration, short measuring, profiteering, and substandard and counterfeit products. The Bank will not charge interest for its loans.
As there will be no political and economic hurdles in its way, the Company will continue to take all possible measures for the betterment of the society, to make it ultimately a model for others.




The last word


NOW THAT YOU HAVE read the book once, do it all over again. You have to read this type of book more than once to comprehend the concepts and become familiar with their details. Do not skip any portions because the gaps will make it difficult for you to understand the entire plan.
The plan is not of familiar type. Therefore, you will have to suspend disbelief and prepare yourself to enter a brave new world. Read slowly because the components of the plan are inter-related and you will lose significant details in your rush to the conclusion. You may even end up believing that it is not practical!
There is another reason for the second reading. I am a strict editor of my own writing because I do not want to waste words. During revisions, I delete words, sentences, paragraphs, even pages of my own writings. Reading a serious book is a chore and you may want to get over it. So, I reduced your burden as much as I could. If I was too brief in my effort to be concise, you may go back to read for better comprehension. If something is still not clear, do write to me on mahameed40@gmail.com so that I may clarify it for you and also amend the text in the next edition. A plan for economic, political and social transformation is never the last word.


Annex A

Rural and urban reconstruction and redistribution of agricultural land Act
Act No. __ of 20__
An Act to provide for reconstruction of all urban and rural areas and redistribution of agricultural land

Whereas the Preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan provides for “social and economic justice,” and “an egalitarian society through a new order;”
Whereas Article 24(2) of the Constitution provides that property can be compulsorily acquired or taken possession of for a public purpose, under a law “which provides for compensation therefor and either fixes the amount of compensation or specifies the principles on and the manner in which compensation is to be determined and given;” and
Whereas Article 24(3)(e) of the Constitution provides “for the acquisition of any class of property for the purpose of…providing housing and public facilities and services;”
Whereas it is expedient to provide for modern housing, business and employment opportunities in various settlements, to be built in the country;
Whereas it is expedient that every agricultural landholding should be of an economic size;
Whereas the objectives of this Act will be achieved through a non-profit public limited company in the private sector.
Therefore, it is hereby enacted as follows:
Short title, extent and commencement
01 This Act may be called Rural and urban reconstruction and redistribution of agricultural land Act, 20__.
02 It extends to the whole of Pakistan.
03 It shall come into force at once.
Definitions
04 In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
a) “Agricultural land” means land that is or can be cultivated for growing crops, vegetables, fruits and other produce or may be used for related purposes, such as cattle farming, dairy farming, poultry farming, fish farming, etc.
b) “Agricultural unit” means an area of agricultural land equal to an economic size and allotted to an individual for life, subject to the law and the rules.
c) “Allottee” means a person or organization that takes on rent a flat, a business unit, an industrial unit or an agricultural unit, under an agreement with the Company, subject to the law and the rules.
d) “Bank” means “Ta’meer Nau Bank,” hereinafter called “the Bank,” a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, to handle all financial transactions of the allottees and the Company.
e) “Bazaar” (بازار) means the commercial area of a settlement, with shops, offices, small manufacturing units, public services and other non-residential units.
f) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company, consisting of the President, all Vice Presidents and all Khadims of the Company.
g) “Business unit” means a unit of space for commercial or other non-residential use in a Bazaar of a settlement.
h) “Company” means “Ta’meer Nau Company Ltd,” hereinafter called “the Company,” a non-profit public limited company, registered in Pakistan under the law, with all of its shares owned only by its allottees, to
i. build settlements under this Act and then maintain, repair and rebuild them in perpetuity,
ii. create agricultural lands and allot them to qualified agriculturalist,
iii. carry out projects related to its objectives.
i) “Compensation” means
i. allotment on rent of a flat and a business unit for life to a family in a settlement in lieu of the house, building, plot, land or other immoveable property owned by it in an area that is to come under a settlement in an urban area,
ii. the amount of money paid to an owner for his agricultural land, acquired by the Government for allotment on lease to the Company for redistribution of agricultural land to make every landholding of an economic size, or set up new settlements.
j) “Deh” (دیہ) means a planned settlement of the Company in a demarcated and notified area with flats, business units, industrial units for small industries and other infrastructure in a rural area, with not more than 3000 flats.
k) “Demarcated area” means the area demarcated by the Government for a settlement of the Company.
l) “District Government” means the District Government of a common district or a city district, formed under the Local Government Ordinance 2001.
m) “Fair price” means the price of agricultural land per hectare for a district, calculated in accordance with a formula approved by the Government for payment of compensation to owners of agricultural land, acquired by the Government for lease to the Company.
n) “Family” means
i. husband, wife, their minor and dependent children (if any) and parents of the husband, or
ii. a person, whose spouse has died or divorced, with dependent children (if any).
o) “Flat” means a residential unit in a settlement, built by the Company and allotted by it on rent, subject to law and the rules.
p) “Government” means Federal Government, a Provincial Government or a Local Government or all three of them, as the case may be.
q) “Industrial city” means a planned settlement of the Company, with buildings for setting up factories that are not suitable for a Deh or a Qasbah, and 150,000 flats for all employees of industrial units and offices in the settlement.
r) “Industrial” means a unit of space available on rent in a Deh, Qasba, Muhalla or an industrial or present city for setting up an industry or service.
s) Khadim” (خادم) means an administrator appointed by the Company on contract to manage the affairs of a settlement on its behalf, under the law and Company rules and will continue in service as long as he
i. gets a vote of confidence every financial year by more than 75 percent of the total allottees in his jurisdiction, or
ii. is not impeached at any time by the said allottees.
t) “Landholding” means agricultural land owned by an individual, according to the official government records on the commencement date of this Act.
u) “Luxury flats” means a settlement in which the Company builds not more than 3000 luxury flats, Bazaar and other infrastructure at special rent and terms, subject to the law and Company rules.
v) “Muhalla” (محلہ) means a settlement of the Company in a present city, divided into five Zails, with not more than 15,000 flats and required number of business units and industrial units for small industries for allotment on rent.
w) “Muhalla Zail” (محلہ ذیل) means a unit of a Muhalla, with 3000 flats and required number of business units and units for small industries for allotment on rent, similar in design to a Deh.
x) “Notification” means a formal written announcement by the Government about the demarcation of an area for a settlement, to be built by the Company.
y) “Organization” means a government ministry, department, office, autonomous or semi-autonomous body of a Government or a private or public limited Company.
z) “Permanent resident” means a resident in a demarcated and notified area for a settlement for more than five years continuously.
aa) “Qasba” (قصبہ) means a planned industrial town, divided into five Zails, with buildings on rent for setting up factories that primarily meet daily needs of the nearby rural and urban areas and are not suitable for a Deh or an industrial city, with Bazaar and not more than 15,000 flats for employees of industries in it, away from any city or Deh, built by the Company for allotting on rent, subject to the law and rules.
bb) “Qasba Zail” (قصبہ ذیل) means a unit of a Qasba, with not more than 3000 flats, business units and units for small industries for allotment on rent, similar in design to a Deh.
cc) “Rules” means the rules formulated by the Government or the Company, as the case may be.
dd) “Settlement” means a Deh, Qasba, Qasba Zail, Muhalla, Muhalla Zail, industrial city, or any other planned community of the Company, with flats, commercial, industrial and other units, utilities and public services, in a specified rural or urban area, built by the Company for giving on rent under the law and rules.
ee) “Slum” means an area with housing of lowest standard in urban areas, including kachi abadi, where ownership rights were given before the commencement of this Act.
ff) “Subsistence size” means the size of an agricultural unit that gives adequate income to an agriculturist in various parts of the country, as determined by the Board.
gg) “Urban area” means a contiguous area in a district, which has, according to the latest census, more than a minimum population, as specified by the Federal Government.
Ta’meer Nau Company
05 Ta’meer Nau Company, hereinafter called “the Company,” will be registered as a non-profit public limited company under the Companies Ordinance to operate all over the country.
06 The Company will not change its objective, file for bankruptcy or wind up its operations under any circumstances whatsoever.
07 The Company will never spend, or plan to spend, more than its actual income.
Board of Directors
08 The Board of Directors of the Company will consist of its President, Vice Presidents and all Khadims of District, City, Qasba, Qasba Zail, Muhalla, Muhalla Zail and Deh.
09 The members of the Board will constitute the management of the Company.
10 There will be a Vice President to head each of these Departments: Administration, Planning, Construction, Agriculture, Industry, Education, Health, Banking, Accounts and Media.
11 The Board may abolish a Department or create a new one with the approval of the two-thirds majority of the Board.
12 Every Vice President will have to get a vote of confidence every year from at least 75 per cent of the total Board members.
13 All Khadims will participate in Board meetings through Internet, phone or video conference, with every one of them having received the agenda for the meeting at least seven working days in advance.
14 Any Khadim may ask the President to place an item on the agenda for a meeting of the Board and the President will not deny his request for any reason whatsoever.
15 The Board will take every decision with the approval of at least 51 per cent of the total members of the Board, unless specified otherwise.
16 The Board will determine, specify and modify the powers and authority of the President, Vice Presidents, Khadims and all other officials and employees of the Company, with the approval of two-thirds of its total members.
17 The Board will approve payments beyond a specified amount and authorize Vice President, Finance, to disburse them as the principal accounting officer of the Company.
18 The Board will authorize all Khadims to authorize and make payments up to a specified amount, as the principal accounting officers of their settlements, subject to the law and the Company rules.
19 The Board will appoint internal auditors for all settlements and offices, who will submit their comprehensive audit reports directly to it within the first ten days of every month on all accounts of the preceding month.
20 The Board will also appoint external auditors, who will report directly to it, and submit their comprehensive quarterly and annual audit reports within 30 days of closing.
21 The Board may revise at any time any of its decisions if at least 20 per cent of its total members make a written request to place it on the agenda and two-thirds of the total members approve the revision.
22 The complete video recording of every Board meeting, along with its complete transcript, will be placed on the web site of the Company within 10 days of a meeting so that any allottee may access it freely at any time.
23 The accumulative video recordings of Board meetings, along with their transcripts, will be always available on the Company web site.
24 All Khadims will meet at the head office or some other convenient place once every six months to discuss the affairs of the Company and become familiar with one another in informal meetings.
25 The Board may seek outside advice, as and when necessary, on town planning, construction, energy, management and other matters relevant to the affairs of the Company.
26 The Board will meet at least once every month.
President
27 The Board of Directors of the Company will appoint, with the approval of more than two-thirds of its members, a person as President of the Company, who
a) is a Muslim and does not belong to any sect,
b) is a national of Pakistan,
c) is at least 50 years of age,
d) is married,
e) has served in management posts for 20 or more years,
f) has never been convicted in the final court judgment of any crime of any kind or a violation of any law, and no case is pending, against him in any court,
g) has an outstanding record of service, with no negative report on his performance from any of his former employers,
h) has a good reputation and has been observing high standards of moral values,
i) does not suffer from any disease, handicap or impairment that may affect adversely his performance of duties, and
j) meets any other conditions prescribed by the Board in the interest of the Company and its allottees.
28 The President will serve as the chief operating officer as well as the chief executive officer of the Company.
29 The President will serve under the initial contract for a term of three years.
30 The Board may renew the contract of a President for further three-year terms, provided he be physically and mentally fit, and 75 per cent or more of the total members of the Board approve the renewal three months before the expiry of the current term.
31 The President will, to the best of his ability,
a) prepare, in collaboration with the Vice Presidents, the annual budget of the Company for the approval of the Board,
b) keep to the minimum the operational, maintenance and repair expenses of Company without compromising high standards,
c) keep the construction, repair and maintenance costs of settlements and other projects to the minimum, without reducing standard and optional facilities and specifications,
d) maintain and improve the services and living conditions of all allottees with minimal expenditure,
e) meet genuine needs of the Company employees even if they do not ask for it,
f) supervise the operations of all departments, offices and settlements to ensure efficiency and performance at highest standards,
g) not take any action that may not be in conformity with the primary objective and policies of the Company, even if there are prospects of additional revenue.
32 The Board will prefer a Khadim for appointment as the President, if he meets the prescribed qualifications and has served as a Khadim for at least 20 years.
33 The President will reside always in a settlement nearest to the Company head office, along with his wife and dependent children (if any), and will avail of facilities and services available to allottees in the settlement.
34 The Board may impeach and remove the President for misconduct, gross violation of any law, or any act that, in view of the Board, makes him unsuitable to continue in his job.
Khadim
35 The Board of Directors will appoint a person as a Khadim for a term of two years if he
a) is a Muslim, and does not belong to any sect,
b) is a national of Pakistan,
c) is at least 40 years of age,
d) is married,
e) has served in management posts for 10 or more years,
f) has never been convicted in the final court judgment of any crime of any kind or a violation of any law, and no case is pending, against him in any court,
g) has an outstanding record of service, with no negative report on his performance from any of his former employers,
h) has a good reputation and has been observing high standards of moral values,
i) does not suffer from any disease, handicap or impairment that may affect adversely his performance of duties, and
j) meets any other conditions prescribed by the Board in the interest of the Company and its allottees.
36 A Khadim will serve on a contract that will continue indefinitely in two-year terms, provided he remains physically and mentally fit and gets the approval of more than 75 per cent of the total allottees of his settlement in a referendum 90 days before the end of his current term.
37 The Board will remove a Khadim if 25 per cent of the total allottees in his settlement pass a motion of impeachment against a Khadim for misconduct or any act that, in view of the allottees, makes him unsuitable to continue in his job.
38 Every Khadim will reside always in his settlement, along with his wife and dependent children (if any), and will avail of facilities and services available to allottees in the settlement.
39 A Khadim will not allow a public meeting, gathering, procession or demonstration of any undesirable kind within the premises of his settlement. On his written instructions, the police will arrest any person violating the ban and prosecute him under Pakistan Penal Code for disturbance of peace.
40 A Khadim may allow informative and educational lectures on the television network, if he is satisfied that their content is non-controversial, non-political, and non-sectarian.
41 Every Khadim will have two Assistants to assist him in the performance of his duties.
Construction Department
42 The Construction Department will undertake all construction work for and on behalf of the Company.
43 The Construction Department will have part-time and full-time employees for its operations, and also train personnel for possible recruitment.
44 The Department will prepare the complete plan for the construction of a settlement or a project and get the approval of the Board before starting work.
45 The Department will submit to the Board a progress report on its operations every month, provide information it seeks and follow its instructions to improve performance. It will also place its progress reports on the Company website.
Ta’meer Nau Bank
46 The Company will set up a bank, to be called “Ta’meer Nau Bank,” as a wholly owned subsidiary.
47 Vice President, Finance, will be the ex officio head of the Bank.
48 The Bank will have a branch in every Deh or Zail of the Company.
49 Every allottee and employee of the Company will have his account with the Bank.
50 The Bank will deal exclusively with financial transactions
a) between the Company and its allottees and clients,
b) between any two or more allottees,
c) between allottees and their clients outside a settlement.
51 The Bank will not pay any interest on the amounts deposited with it in any account.
52 The Bank will collect service charge at the annual rate of two percent on loans and overdrafts to meet its operational expenses.
53 The Bank will deposit in the account of the Company any amount collected as service charge on loans and overdrafts but not spent during the financial year to meet its own expenses.
54 The Bank will not buy or sell any commodity, make any investment or involve itself in any deal, trade or any other commercial operation other than its own primary business of serving the Company and its allottees.
55 The Bank will issue a debit card to every allottee and employee of the Company without any charge or annual fee for making payments to other allottees and the Company.
56 The Bank will charge, as its fee, not more than 0.5 percent of all payments received by a client through a debit card.
57 The Bank will deduct the entire outstanding amount against a debit card from the account of the cardholder during the first seven days of the month following the month in which payments were made.
58 The Bank will collect as service charge two percent per month of the amount outstanding against a debit card for more than a month.
59 An allottee of an agricultural unit will have all of his financial dealings through the bank, including purchase of agricultural inputs, implements and machinery and sale of harvested crops, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, etc.
60 An allottee of an agricultural unit may borrow from the Bank against his produce, products and harvested crops, provided their storage is under the control of the Bank.
61 The Bank will pay directly to the suppliers of an allottee of an agricultural unit, in the same way as in case of other allottees.
General
62 The validity of this Act and any of its provisions will not be challenged in any court on any ground.
63 No court, while hearing a case under this Act, will issue an order to stay any action being taken by the Company, even if it is prima facie in violation of this Act, though it may issue an appropriate order on any violation of the law while giving its final judgment on the case.
64 No court will hear any case against the Company relating to its rules and decisions, which were approved by two-thirds majority of its Board.
65 The Local, Provincial and Federal Governments and any of the authorities or bodies under them will exempt the Company, its allottees and others working in a settlement or for the Company, in perpetuity from paying any taxes and charges, including income tax, property tax, cess, fee, levy, etc.
66 District Government, Tehsil Municipal Administration and Union Administration will act under the authority of and on behalf of the Federal Government, whenever required under this Act.
67 Local Governments will provide municipal and others services during the early period of a settlement, under an agreement between the Company and the relevant Local Government.
68 The Company will have a right to get from a Government any of its services or products for its operations on standard or subsidized rates.
69 The Company will not allot more than one business or industrial unit to a person in any settlement in the country.
70 The Company will charge for its municipal and other services in its settlements at the rates, as approved by two-thirds of the Board members.
71
72 Urdu will be the official language of the Company and it alone will be used for all purposes.
73 Saturday will be the weekly holiday in the Company offices, with half day on Friday. However, all offices of the Company dealing with the allottees will have required staff on normal duty on Saturdays, Fridays and all other holidays.
Payment of rent
74 The Company will collect rent and charges for utilities and services for various units in its settlements at the rates, as determined or revised by two-thirds majority of the Board.
75 The Company will start collecting rent and other charges at the revised rates with effect from the month following the month in which it is approved.
76 Every allottee will authorize the Bank to deduct from his account his rent and all other charges and dues payable to the Company and deposit the amount in the account of the Company within the first seven days of every month.
77 The Company will not accept from any allottee an amount less than the total amount payable to it on account of rent and other due charges.
78 If an allottee does not pay the rent and all other due charges for the preceding month by the end of the seventh day of the following month, he will pay two per cent of the total payable amount as late fee, provided he pays due rent and all other charges before the last day of the month.
79 If an allottee does not pay the rent and all other charges for the previous two consecutive months by the end of the following month, he will pay five per cent of the total payable amount for both months as late fee, provided he pays due rent and all other charges before the last day of the third month.
80 If an allottee does not pay the rent and all other charges for the previous three consecutive months by the end of the fourth month, he will pay 10 per cent of the total payable amount for the previous three months as late fee, provided he pays the total due amount before the last day of the fourth month.
81 If an allottee, for any reason whatsoever, fails to pay his rent and other charges for three consecutive months before the last day of the fourth month, the Company will consider him a defaulter.
82 The Company will give a defaulter a notice in writing to vacate the premises within 30 days. On the expiry of the notice period, the Company will approach a court to get an order to cancel the allotment and remove the belongings of the defaulter allottee at its own expense.
83 The Company will not be subject to any legal action with regard to the cancellation of an allotment and the ejectment of an allottee, if it has met its obligations under this Act as well as Company rules.
84 No law relating to rent control in urban areas or tenancy of agricultural land will apply to the allottees of the Company or supersede the provisions of this Act.
Succession of an allottee
85 If an allottee registers with the Company an affidavit, given in the prescribed manner and sworn before the court of the relevant settlement, to nominate his successor, the Company will accept his nominee as his successor for life within 30 days after the allottee’s death, unless a court orders otherwise.
86 In case of the death of an allottee, who had not nominated a successor in the prescribed manner, a court of law will appoint his successor, after hearing all claimants to succession.
87 If the court does not appoint a successor to the deceased allottee of an agricultural unit, the Company will allot the said unit to any qualified person, who has been involved actively in agriculture for at least 60 months, is over 21 years and commits himself to cultivate the land himself for the rest of his life.
88 In case a court does not declare any claimant to be the successor to a deceased allottee, the Company may allot the flat, business unit, industrial unit, or agricultural unit, as the case may be, to any other eligible person or organization, subject to the law and Company rules.
Acquisition and lease
89 The Government will acquire land in a rural area, wherever necessary, demarcate it with precise and easily verifiable boundaries and notify the demarcation for the construction of a settlement by the Company.
90 The Company will pay the owners compensation for the land acquired in a rural area for a settlement at fair price, as determined by the Federal Government, as the first charge on its rent revenue to be received from its allottees.
91 The Government will allot the said acquired land to the Company on lease for 99 years for setting up a settlement, and will renew the lease in perpetuity for similar periods of 99 years, and on the same terms.
92 The Company will pay to the Government the lease amount at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year.
93 The Company will deposit in a bank account of the Government in the State Bank of Pakistan the total amount payable for the lease of land, at any time after signing the original lease deed or its renewal deed.
94 The Government will have no authority to terminate for any reason whatsoever the lease of land, after it is given to the Company or renewed afterwards on due dates.
95 The Government will demarcate an urban area with precise and easily verifiable boundaries, notify the demarcated area as a slum or sub-standard housing area and declare it suitable for reconstruction by the Company as a settlement.
Creation of a settlement
96 The Company will prepare its plan for construction of a settlement, giving in detail the following information:
a) landscape of the settlement and layout of planned buildings, etc., keeping in view local geographical conditions, weather, etc.,
b) internal and external specifications of flats, business units, industrial units, etc., and
c) services and facilities that the Company will provide to its allottees.
97 The Company will adopt uniform standards for specifications, facilities and services for settlements, giving details of the differences, if any, in case of any specified areas or districts.
98 The Company will hold public hearings on the plan for a new settlement in its demarcated area. An authorized representative of the Company will attend the proceedings, note suggestions and comments of the participants, and also arrange for its complete video recording.
99 The Company will make available on its website the complete plan of every new settlement and consider all suggestions and comments on it, sent directly or given on the web site.
Shifting to urban housing
100 The Government, in its public notification of the demarcation of an area for construction of a Muhalla in an urban area, will require every present owner of any immovable property and living in the demarcated area to
a) surrender to the Company the original documents of his ownership,
b) provide his name, full address, date of birth and a copy of national identity card, along with the name, date of birth and national identity card number (or registration number in case of a minor) of every other member of his family and his/her relationship with him, and
c) obtain from the Company a certified copy of the computer printout of the data provided by him under sub-clause (b) above.
101 If the owner of an immovable property in a demarcated and notified area fails to surrender the documents of his ownership of his immovable property within 60 days of the public notification, the Company will assume that he does not have any claim as the owner of the said immovable property. Therefore, at the end of the said 60 days, it will take over without any compensation the immovable property owned by him.
102 The Company will allot every married couple residing permanently in the notified area on the commencement date, a flat and a business or industrial unit in the settlement to be built there, for occupancy for life on payment of rent, irrespective of number of married couples in a family.
103 The Company will provide suitable temporary shelter nearby to permanent residents of a demarcated and notified area, who have to evacuate their houses to provide land for the construction of the first block of the settlement. The said residents will be the first to get allotments in the first block as soon as flats, business units and industrial units are available.
104 The Company, after allotting flats to all legitimate owners of the notified area covered by the first block, will give first priority in allotment of remaining flats and business units to the owners, whose houses and other immovable properties it will demolish to clear land for the construction of the next block. After that, the next allottees will be the owners occupying the adjacent land where subsequent blocks of flats and business units will be built.
105 The Company, to give an equal opportunity to all in the allotment of flats, will draw lots through a foolproof method, in the presence of prospective allottees. The lots will be drawn for every block of flats, beginning with the first (ground) floor, and in order of serial numbers of flats.
106 The procedure for allotment of flats will also apply to the allotment of business and industrial units in the settlement.
107 A flat will be allotted to the wife while a business or industrial unit will be allotted to her husband.
108 If the husband dies, his widow will become automatically the successor allottee of his business unit for life, in disregard of any successor he might have nominated before his death.
109 If the husband divorces his wife, he will have to leave the flat allotted to her. If the wife gets  خلعkhula’ (divorce), she will have to leave the flat and her former husband will get the flat allotted to him. If he remarries, the flat occupied by him will be allotted to his new wife.
110 The Company, in order to avoid any fraud, will refuse allotment to a claimant if official ownership documents of his house or other immovable property do not match fully its own satellite map of the notified area and on-ground verification.
111 An owner of a house or other immovable property in a notified area may go to a court for redress in case a flat or a business or industrial unit in a settlement is allotted in violation of the law and rules.
112 The Company will cancel an allotment and eject the allottee, if he sets up, operates or undertakes any business, service or activity in a flat, a business unit, an industrial unit or any other unit that is in violation of the law and Company rules, after he fails to explain satisfactorily in writing his position within 10 days of getting a written notice from the Company.
113 The Company will cancel his allotment if an allottee allows any person to occupy in his place his flat, business unit, industrial unit or any other unit or sublets the whole or a portion of it to any person in violation of the law and Company rules. The Company will also take legal action under the law against the said allottee.
Settlements for Government employees
114 The Company will build settlements for Government employees wherever the Government provides land for them on lease and loan to meet full cost of construction.
115 The Federal Government will provide to the Company state land, whether under its own control or that of a Provincial or a District Government, free of any encroachments and encumbrances, for building settlements for government employees, on 99-year lease, at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year.
116 The Federal Government will arrange for loans, free of interest and other charges and on its own guarantee, for the Company to cover full cost of building settlements for Government employees.
117 The Federal Government will pay to the Company in advance in the first month of every financial year the full amount of rent and other charges for the flats and other units in settlements for Government employees equal to 10 percent of the total loan amount (including interest and other charges, if any) given to the Company.
118 The Federal Government will continue to pay in perpetuity the rent and other charges for all settlements built for it by the Company, whether the flats or other units in the settlements are allotted to its employees or the employees of a Provincial Government or a Local Government.
119 The Federal Government will pay to the Company due charges in lump sum in the first month of every financial year for providing to its employees
a) municipal services (water, sewerage, electricity, gas, etc.) and
b) all other services, including staff salaries, medicine, textbooks, furniture, equipment, stationery, etc.
120 The Federal Government will continue to pay rent and other charges in full for all flats, business units, etc. allotted to it for the use of government employees, irrespective of whether any or some of the flats, business units, etc. were not occupied at any time.
121 The Company will operate, repair and maintain in perpetuity the settlements for the Government employees.
122 The Company will start receiving rent from the Government for a flat or business unit from the Federal Government from the date it is ready for occupation, it will start adjusting the rent against the total loan of the Government after 20 years.
123 The Federal Government will continue to provide required funds as loan to the Company every year for building settlements for its employees until settlements have been built for all of its employees and also employees of all Provincial and Local Governments.
124 The Company will have full ownership rights on the settlement or some units in a settlement that it will build for the Government.
Allotment to employers
125 The Federal Government will provide on lease on normal terms state land, free of all encroachments, encumbrances and disputes, to the Company for the construction of settlements for the employees of public and private limited companies or other employers, provided they arrange for loans for the Company, on their own guarantees, to meet the total cost of construction.
126 The said companies or employers will continue to pay in advance in the first month of every financial year an amount, as determined by the Company, as rent and, in addition, charges for municipal and other services.
127 The Company may allot business units and flats in a settlement to a public or private limited company or any other employer for its full-time permanent employees, provided it arranges, on its own guarantee, a loan for the Company equal to the total construction cost of the required business units and flats. The organization will also agree to pay in advance in the first month of every financial year the rent and other charges, as determined by the Company, from the date of allotment.
128 The Company will make an allotment under the preceding Section only after it has met its obligations to owners of houses and other immovable property in the notified area of a settlement in an urban area.
129 The Company will adjust the loan provided to it by a company or other employer against the rent and other charges payable to it from the date of allotment.
130 A company or employer may allow a full-time employee to continue to live in his flat for the rest of his life after his retirement, as long as it continues to pay to the Company on his behalf the rent and other charges.
131 The Company will build settlements with luxury flats, wherever necessary in urban areas, with not more than 3000 luxury flats in each, ordinary flats for servants of tenants, Bazaar and other necessary infrastructure, with special rent and terms, as approved by the Board.
Deh
132 The Company will construct settlements in rural areas, with flats, Bazaars, and industrial units, to be called Dehs, in phases if necessary.
133 Industrial units, suitable for small industries, with buildings of standard design and infrastructure, will be built on the periphery of every Deh.
134 The Company will prepare a database of permanent residents, both landowners and non-landowners, in the same way as in a demarcated and notified urban area.
135 The Company will allot industrial units in a Deh to permanent residents, whether owning land or not, giving first priority to the farmers, who own holdings of less than economic size, and their married sons of 21 years or more.
136 A permanent resident will be entitled to allotment of either a business unit in a Bazaar block of Deh or a unit in its industrial zone but not both.
137 The permanent residents will provide documentary proof to the Company of their ownership of a house or any other immoveable property, other than agricultural land, and surrender its ownership to the Company without charge before getting a certified copy of their data in the Company database.
138 The Company, in order to avoid any fraud, will refuse allotment in a Deh to a permanent resident, if the Government record of his house or other immovable property does not match completely with its own satellite map of the notified area and on-ground verification.
139 The Company, after completing enough business and industrial units for all married male permanent residents of over 21 years in the demarcated area of the Deh, will inform the Government in writing. It will also inform the residents that business and industrial units in the demarcated area of the Deh are ready for allotment.
140 An organization may take flats in a Deh on rent for its full-time employees after arranging, on its own guarantee, a loan for the Company to meet the full construction cost of the required flats, provided there is no qualified person on the waiting list for allotment.
141 An organization may allow a full-time employee to continue to occupy his flat for the rest of his life after his retirement, if it continues to pay every year in advance rent and other charges on his behalf to the Company.
142 After the Company allots flats in a Deh to qualified owners, it will demolish their present houses or other immovable properties in the demarcated and notified area. It will take over the land under the immovable properties and merge it with the surrounding agricultural land.
Agricultural units
143 The Government, after receiving information from the Company about the completion of necessary business and industrial units, will notify that a landowner in the demarcated and notified area of a Deh that does not already have a landholding of an economic size will increase his size within 180 days through purchase of partial or whole of landholding(s) of others.
144 The owner of a land holding that is twice the economic size or more, may divide it into land holdings of economic size and transfer them to others without a land holding, with or without payment. He may retain one land holding of economic size for himself.
145 The Federal Government, within 30 days after receiving the said information from the Company, will notify a fair price for sale and purchase of agricultural land in the demarcated and notified area, and also for payment of compensation to landowners in the said area of the Deh.
146 If a landowner fails to increase his land holding to an economic size within the specified period, he will have to sell his entire holding to some other landowner(s) in the demarcated and notified area.
147 The buyer of a land holding of less than an economic size with two or more joint owners will pay every joint owner his proportionate share in the purchase price before finalizing the deal.
148 A landowner, owning a land holding of less than economic size in a rural demarcated and notified area, will not get the allotment of a business unit or industrial unit in a Deh unless he surrenders to the Company authenticated official record, in original, of his having transferred his entire land holding to another landowner(s) in the same notified area.
149 If some land remains unsold after the specified date for raising land holdings to the economic size, the Government will acquire the said unsold land and allot it to the Company on lease for inclusion in its settlement after consolidation of all land holdings.
150 The Company will pay compensation at the fair price to the landowners of unsold land in the same way, as it will to the landowners, whose land was acquired for a settlement.
151 The Government will complete the consolidation of land holdings in the demarcated area of a settlement within 90 days after the expiry of the final date specified for raising the area of every land holding to economic size.
152 Within 30 days after the consolidation of agricultural land holdings in a demarcated area is completed, the Government will acquire the entire land in the demarcated area and allot to the Company on lease.
153 The Government will allot to the Company on lease for its settlement any land that becomes surplus after the completion of the consolidation process.
154 The Company will divide the total agricultural land into units of economic size and allot them in the same way as business units in a Deh.
155 The Company will allot an agricultural unit to a landowner, who owned a land holding of economic size before the consolidation of land holdings.
156 The allottee of an agricultural unit will have the right to occupy and use it for the rest of his life, as long as he pays the rent regularly and abides by the law and the Company rules.
157 Every agricultural unit will have around it a road at least three meters wide.
158 If an allottee does not pay rent on the due date, the Company will take action against him as provided in the Sections relating to non-payment of rent for units in the Company settlements.
159 Every allottee will use his agricultural unit only for agricultural purposes, such as growing crops, vegetables, fruits, other produce that grows on agricultural land, cattle farming, dairy farming, poultry farming, fish farming, etc.
160 An allottee will not undertake any commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural operations on his allotted unit of land, if not permitted by the Company rules.
161 An allottee will not allow any person to cultivate or look after on his behalf a part or whole of his allotted agricultural unit as a tenant, contractor or in any other capacity. However, he may hire employees to help him under a written agreement, and deposit their salaries in their accounts with the Bank every month, as in case of other employees, besides giving other benefits available to employees in a settlement.
162 The Company may cancel an allotment and eject an allottee from his allotted agriculture unit after proving in a court of law that
i. the allottee had violated any provisions of this Act and the Company rules, or
ii. the allottee was given a notice in writing to make good within 90 days any violation that he was deemed to have committed but he did not comply with.
163 The Company may lease from the Government and develop barren and unutilized lands anywhere in the country, divide it into units of economic size and allot to agriculturists, if none of them has allotment of an agricultural unit in his name anywhere in the country.
164 The Company may make suitable arrangement for utilization of mountains, deserts, forests, rivers and other land surfaces anywhere in the country after getting lease from the Government, under a policy approved by two-thirds majority of the Board.
Qasbas and industrial cities
165 The Company will set up
a) Qasbas (industrial towns) at least 15 kilometers away from present cities for industries that meet their daily requirements, and
b) industrial cities in uninhibited areas, at least 50 to 100 kilometers away from each other, and the nearest city, for factories at present located in various parts of the country and also the new ones.
166 The Government will acquire land and lease it to the Company for setting up industrial towns and industrial cities, at one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year, for a period of 99 years and will continue to renew the lease for perpetuity for similar periods and on same terms.
167 The Company will deposit in the bank account of the Government with the State Bank of Pakistan the total amount payable for the lease of land by the Company, at the rate of one rupee per 10,000 sq. meters per year, any time after signing the original lease deed or the renewal deed.
168 The Company, while allotting industrial units in a Qasba, will give top priority to industrialists, who will vacate their present premises in the nearby city, surrender documents of ownership and occupation of the premises to the Company without charge, and remove machinery, equipment, etc. of their factories.
169 The Company will allot industrial units in an industrial city on priority basis to industrialists, who will vacate their present premises in various parts of the country, surrender ownership and occupation of the premises to the Company without charge, and remove the machinery, equipment, etc. of their factories.
170 Every allottee of an industrial unit in a Qasba or industrial city will arrange, on his own guarantee, a loan for the Company to meet the total cost of building, flats for his employees and related infrastructure for his factory. He will pay 10 percent of the total construction cost as rent, in advance in the first month of every financial year. The loan will be adjusted against due rent and charges.
171 The Company will own the factory building, flats for employees, and other infrastructure that it builds for an allottee in a Qasba or an industrial city.
172 The Company may build a factory for an allottee according to his design and specifications, as far as possible.
173 If the number of available industrial units in a Qasba or industrial city is less than that of applicants, the Company will draw lots for allotment in the open and in the presence of interested industrialists.
174 The Company will charge the allottee of an industrial unit in the Qasba or industrial city for its services, at the rates approved by the Board with two-thirds majority.
175 An allottee of an industrial unit will allot flats built for his factory only to full-time permanent employees working in his factory.
176 The allottee may allow an employee to continue to live in his flat even after retirement, provided he continues to pay the rent and other charges in advance every year.
177 The Company will own the flats, factory building and infrastructure that it will build for an allottee of an industrial unit in a Qasba or industrial city.
Employees
178 The employees of the Company will have three broad categories, though salaries within each category may vary and some posts may remain outside any category, as approved by the Board.
a) First category
Assistants to Khadims, Heads of schools and colleges, heads of clinics and hospitals, Khateebs of mosques, Managers of the Bank branches, Managers of Delivery Service, heads of various plants in a service area of s settlement
b) Second category
Teachers, doctors, Bank officials
c) Third category
All other employees
179 The maximum age for an employee joining the Company will be not more than 50 years.
180 The Board may move employees in category (c) to category (b) and vice versa.
181 The ratio of salaries for categories (a), (b) and (c) of employees will be 4:2:1. However, the Board may change the ratio with the approval of two-thirds majority.
182 The Board may transfer an employee to an equivalent post or promote him to a higher post, in the same or some other settlement, provided he gives his consent in writing.
183 The Board may approve every five years an increase in the basic salary for a category of employees by not more than five percent of the starting basic salary (not the present salary of an employee), if the prevailing economic and social conditions justify it.
184 Every employee of the Company will get every year in the month of July an increment, as approved by the Board, as a percentage of the initial basic salary of his category at the time of his appointment, not his present salary.
185 The contracts of an employee in category (a) will continue only as long as he is physically and mentally fir and continues to get a vote of confidence from 75 per cent of the total members of the Board on due date once in every financial year.
186 An employee, on joining the Company in category (b) or (c), will have a 36-month contract initially.
187 The contract of an employee of the category (b) or (c) will continue indefinitely for 36-month periods if he is physically and mentally fit and gets an excellent report from his immediate boss in January and July of every year on his efficiency, initiative, honesty and service to the allottees. The contract of an employee will be terminated if an employee gets unsatisfactory performance report for three consecutive six-month periods.
188 The Khadim of a settlement will hold an open inquiry, live on television of the settlement, and give an employee of category (b) or (c) an opportunity to defend himself if charged with misconduct, inefficiency or dishonesty.
189 The Khadim will send his comprehensive report on inquiry, with documentary evidence, to the Board for final decision.
190 If at least 20 per cent of the total Company employees in a settlement, or settlements, submit a petition to the President, specifying clearly enunciated common demands of the employees, he will call within 10 days a meeting of the Board to discuss the demand.
191 The Company will accept the said demand of the employees if more than 50 percent of the total allottees in a settlement, or settlements, as the case may be, give their approval in a referendum.
192 If the allottees reject the said demand, there will not be another referendum on the same demands for 24 months.
193 The employees of the Company will not form a union or association of any type, go on slow-down or strike, demonstrate publicly or agitate in any other way for the acceptance of any of their demands.
194 The Company will provide a rent-free flat to every employee while he is in service but he will pay for utilities and services at the same rates as allottees.
195 The Company will allow an employee to continue to occupy for life the flat allotted to him, even after his retirement, without paying rent. After the death of an employee, the spouse may occupy the flat for life without paying rent.
196 An employee may resign, provided the Company is not holding an inquiry against him or is about to take any action against him at the time of resignation. He may resign after the inquiry or action is complete and his contract is not terminated.
197 An employee, who resigned for personal reasons, may rejoin later under a new contract, provided there is nothing against him in the Company records. On rejoining, he will start with the basic monthly salary current at the time of rejoining, not the salary he was getting when he resigned.
Complaints
198 An allottee may submit to the Khadim of his settlement a written complaint against any employee or other person working under him, accusing him of misappropriation of funds, misuse of authority, misconduct, violation of any law, failure to carry out his responsibilities under the law, a violation of the Company rules, or any other offence.
199 The Khadim will hold an inquiry and inform the complainant within seven days about the action taken.
200 If the complainant is not satisfied with the action of the Khadim, he may submit to the court in his settlement a written complaint against the accused.
201 The court shall take the statement on oath of the complainant and examine the documentary and other evidence submitted by him. and ask the police to.
202 If the court finds that there is a prima facie case against the accused, it shall ask the police to register a case against him, investigate the complaint and submit its report within 15 days, with a copy to the relevant Khadim.
203 On receiving the police report against the accused, the Khadim will suspend the accused immediately and will not allow him to resume his duty until the case is decided finally in his favor.
204 In case of the final conviction by a court, the Company will remove the accused from service and will not allow him to serve in any capacity in the Company for the rest of his life. The Company will ask the police to take legal action against the accused under the Pakistan Penal Code and any other relevant law.
205 If an accused is acquitted finally, the court will order the complainant to apologize to the accused in writing, in words approved by it, as well as on the television of the settlement, and also get his apology published prominently in the Company’s newspaper. The court will also order him to pay damages to the accused as determined by it.
Voting
206 Voting machines, based on IP (Internet protocol), will be used for all voting, whenever required. Paper ballots may be used in the interim period.
207 Several terminals will be placed in the office of the Khadim for voting on referendum, votes of confidence and on other matters, under the supervision of the Khadim, or in case of his absence, his authorized representative, and in the presence of interested allottees. The Khadim of the settlement will sign the results of voting and inform the President.
208 A proposal will be considered to have been approved or rejected if the required percentage, as provided, of the total (not cast) votes are in favor or against it.
209 Every allottee will have a single vote.
210 Voting will be compulsory for allottees. An allottee failing to vote without any valid reason will pay a fine of Rs 1000 to the account of the Company.
Referendum
211 The President will arrange for a referendum of the allottees in a settlement, or settlements, as the case may be, if at least 15 per cent of them propose in writing a measure that they consider necessary for the common benefit of all allottees, or oppose a measure that the Board submits to them for their approval.
212 The President will arrange for a debate on the Company television network and in its daily newspaper from the date the referendum is announced to the day before voting, allowing both sides to give their arguments.
Purchases
213 The Company will not give any work on contract to any firm or person if it can do on its own at the same or lower cost.
214 The Company will prepare a database of interested suppliers for all categories of purchases to meet the requirements of the Company, after background checks and verifications through all possible means. It may remove suppliers for unsatisfactory performance and add new suppliers.
215 The head office of the Company and the Khadims will not make any purchase without asking all relevant suppliers in the Company database to send their quotations within reasonable time.
Sale and purchase of shares
216 The face value of a share of the Company will be Rs 100.
217 The Company will sell its shares through the Bank only to its allottees, and not more than one share in each case.
218 The Company will cancel an allottee’s share when he ceases to be an allottee.
219 Every allottee-shareholder will have a single vote.
Accounts and annual report
220 The Company and every settlement will prepare its accounts at the end of every quarter and get them audited by external auditors within 30 days of the closing of the quarter, and publish it on its web site within seven days of receiving approval of the audited accounts by the Board.
221 The external auditors will audit the annual accounts of the Company and every settlement within 45 days of the closing of the financial year. The Company will publish the audited accounts on its web site within 10 days of receiving approval of the Board.
222 The Company will prepare its annual report on all aspects of its operations, and publish it on its web site within seven days after receiving the approval of the Board.
223 Every Khadim will prepare the annual report of his settlement on all aspects of operations, and publish it on the web site within seven days after receiving the approval of the Board.
224 The complete quarterly and audited accounts and the annual reports of the Company and its settlements, once published on its web site, will never be deleted.
225 If the Company fails to publish on its web site its audited accounts and annual reports within the prescribed period, every relevant staff member will be fined Rs 1000 per day for every day of delay.


Annex B
A more elaborate list of
small industries

The following list indicates potential industries that may be set up in settlements. Entrepreneurs may come up with ideas for many more products and services, depending on their ingenuity and resources.


Food, allied industries
Beverages
Ice cream
Milling (dal, rice, etc.)
Pickles and chutneys
Poultry feed
Spices
Sweets, toffees
Synthetic syrups
Tobacco, its products
Vegetable oil extraction
Vinegar

Wood and its products
Crates
Furniture
Handles, wooden
Sawn timber
Seasoned wood
Sewing machine covers
Storage cupboards, shelves
Teak, fabricated round block
Tent poles
Wooden plugs
Wool slabs




Paper products
Bituminized waterproof
Composite paper containers
Corrugated fiberboard containers
Corrugated paper and boards
Decorative papers
Drinking straws
Exercise books and registers
File covers and file board
Gummed paper, tape
Letter pads
Paperboard cartons
Paper cones
Paper cups and plates
Paper envelopes, bags
Paper napkins
Paper straps
Paper tubes
Paper twines, strings, ropes
Sanitary towels
Slitting paper into rolls and sheets
Stencil paper
Stickers, labels
Toilet paper rolls
Transfer labels
Treated tracing paper
Waxed Paper

Plastic products
Acrylic sheets
Hessian, paper and cloth
Spectacle frames
Polypropylene box strapping
Polypropylene tubular films
PVC flexible hoses
Shoes, chappals

Chemicals and products
Agarbattis
Artists’ colors
Barium carbonate
Blueprint papers
Calcium silicate
Camphor tablets
Copper sulphate
Dry distempers
Fireworks
Floor polish
Formulated perfumery compounds
Graphite paints
Hair oils
Industrial adhesives
Laundry soap
Magnesium sulphate
Metal polish
Optical whitening agents
Paste paints
Potassium nitrate
Safety matches
Shoe polish
Sodium silicate
Synthetic adhesives-rubber
Tooth powder
Toothpaste
Water-soluble wood preservative
Wax candles
Wood polish
Zinc sulphate

Natural essential oils
Cashew shell oil
Eucalyptus oils
Lemon grass oil
Palm rosa oil
Pine oil
Sandalwood oil

Glass and ceramics

Asbestos pipes and fittings
Block glass
Cement, wooden
Chalk crayons
Chemical porcelain
Cups and sauces
Dinner sets
Fire clay, bricks and blocks
Flooring tiles,-clay, marble
Glass bangles
Glass hollowware
Glass marbles, beads
Glass mirrors
Hydrated lime
Jars and other containers
Lime for construction and wash
Low-tension insulators
Plasterboards
Plaster of Paris
Reinforced concrete pipes
Roofing tiles, clay, concrete,
Salt glazed sewer pipes
Scientific laboratory glassware
Stoneware jars and bowls
Tea sets
Graphite crucibles
Silicon carbide crucibles

Mechanical engineering

Absolute filters
Air compressors
Aluminum furniture
Band saw blades
Barbed wire
Bench vices
Blacksmith heat
Bolts and nuts
Brass dampers
Bright bars
Builder’s hardware
Chains lashing
Circlips
Conduit pipes
Crow bars
Crown corks
Cultivators
Cupboards, iron and steel
Diesel engines
Disc harrows
Domestic utensils
Door locks
Doors, windows and ventilators
Drawer locks and suitcase locks
Duplicating machines
Expanded metal
G. I. bathtubs
Gas appliances
Gas lighters
Gate-hooks
Grain dries
Hairpins
Hammers
Hand presses
Hand threading tap holders
Iron and steel cots
Knives and shearing blades
Lantern post and bodies
Levelers
Locks for bicycles
Low-speed gear
M. S. pipes fittings
Machine screws
Machine vices
Manhole covers
Metal cabinets
Mowers
Oil crushers and parts
Padlocks
Panel pins
Persian wheels
Pilfer-proof caps
Pliers
Plough shears/iron ploughs
Postal weighing scales
Poultry equipment
Pressure stove
Racks-all types
Razors
Reapers
Rice and dal milling machinery
Rivets
Rolling shutters
Room cooler, desert type
Safe/cabinet locks
Sanitary fixtures
Screwdrivers
Screw presses
Seed bins
Seed cleaners
Seed drills
Seed treaters
Sewing machine
Shell huskers
Shoe nails
Spanners
Stainless steel utensils
Steel almirahs
Steel chairs
Steel furniture
Steel tables
Steel wool
Three-knife trimmers, cutters
Umbrella ribs and fittings
Vitreous enamel hollowware
Water lifters
Weights
Welded wire mesh
Wheat and rice threshers
Wheel chairs for invalids
Winnowers
Wire gauge and netting
Wire nails
Wood screws
Wood working saws
Wrenches

Electrical machines, appliances
Black adhesive insulating tape
Bread toasters
Carbon brushes
Coffee percolators
Egg boilers
Electric bells and buzzers
Electric irons
Electric kettles
Electric motors
Light fitting chokes, starters
Electrical wiring accessories
Exhaust fans
Expresso coffee makers
Hot air blowers/heat convector
Metal clad switches
Mixers/grinders
PVC wires
Voltage stabilizers
Water heaters/Geysers

Auto parts
Ashtrays car fittings
Auto leaf springs
Automobile radiators
Brake and pedals pads
Bulb horns
Exhaust muffler
Hubcaps
Luggage carrier
Ornamental fittings
Seats for buses and trucks
Stop lamp assembly
Tail lamp assembly
Wiring harness

Bicycle parts
Axles, cups, shells
Bells for bicycles
Bolts, studs, screws
Carrier for bicycles
Chain covers
Chain wheels and adjusters
Cones-hub cones
Cotter pins
Crankshafts
Cranks
Crown outer cover
Cycle frames
D-nuts
Eyebolt cups
Fork-blade crown cover
Fork handles
Frame collars
Guide pins
Handle bar grips
Handles
Hub axle nuts
Hub oil clips
Hubs and cups
Lamp brackets
Lamps
Lock nuts
Mudguards
Pedal assembly
Perambulators parts
Saddle
Shackle rivets
Spokes and nipples
Stands
Tricycles, parts
Tube valves

Transport equipment
Animal-drawn vehicles
Hand carriage
Hand-drawn carts
Tonga parts and wheel rings
Wheelbarrows

Mathematical and survey
instruments
Alidades
Calipers
Chain line measuring apparatus
Compass prismatic
Cross staff
Diagonal scales
Dividers
Drawing boards
Drawing instruments
Dumpy levels
Engineering scales
Engineer’s level
Flat rule
Measuring chain
Optical square
Plane meters
Plane table equipment
Protractors
Ranging rod
Set square
Sextant
Slide rule
Tee
Triangular scales
T-squares

Clocks & watches
Cast brass watch cases
Clocks, wall clocks
Watch dials

Leather products
Cases and covers, all types
Chrome-tanned hides and skins
Fancy and novelty items
Garments
Harness leather
Industrial gloves
Kattai and bunwar leather
Leather pickers
Leather accessories for textile
Picking band leather
Purses and handbags
Sandals and chappals
Shoes
Shoes upper
Sole leather
Suitcases and travel goods
Vegetable tanned hides and skins
Washers and laces
Watch straps

Textile products
Hosiery, jute, hemp
Khaddar weaving
Readymade garments
Silk
Synthetic fiber
Synthetic knitted gas mantle fabric
Wool products

Plastic products
Compression molded products
Contact lenses
Plastic collapsible tubes
Plastic toys
Polyurethane shoe soles
Pull-up spout pourer

Sports goods
Cricket and hockey balls
Dumb-bells and chest expanders
Football, volleyball and basketball
Hockey sticks
Protective equipment, pads, gloves
Shuttlecocks
Sports nets

Stationery items
Ballpoint pens, components
Hand numbering machines
Paper pins
Pen nibs
Pencil sharpeners
Pencils
Penholders
Stapling machine
Writing inks

Others
Absorbent cotton
Bone meal
Brushes-natural bristles
Cigarette lighters
Crushed bones
Cufflinks, tiepins
Dress buttons and bucklets
Fiber brushes
Flexible polyurethane foam
Hairbrushes
Hair driers
Liquid level controller
Microscope
Paintbrushes
Photographic enlargers
Revolution counters
Shoe eyelets
Shoe tacks
Spectacle hinges
Sterilizers
Thermometers
Toothbrushes
Toys

Umbrellas
Water meters
Wire brushes

THE END