Mahbub ul-Haq | |
|---|---|
محبوب الحق | |
| 14thFinance Minister of Pakistan | |
| In office 9 June 1988 – 1 December 1988 | |
| President | Ghulam Ishaq Khan |
| Preceded by | Yasin Wattoo |
| Succeeded by | Ehsan-ul-Haq Piracha |
| In office 10 April 1985 – 28 January 1986 | |
| President | Zia ul-Haq |
| Prime Minister | Muhammad Khan Junejo |
| Preceded by | Ghulam Ishaq Khan |
| Succeeded by | Yasin Wattoo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1934-02-24)24 February 1934 Gurdaspur,Punjab Province,British India (present-dayPunjab, India) |
| Died | 16 July 1998(1998-07-16) (aged 64) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Spouse | Khadija Khanum |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
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| Profession | Economist Politician |
Mahbub ul-Haq (Urdu:محبوب الحق;(1934-02-24)24 February 1934 – (1998-07-16)16 July 1998) was a Pakistani economist,international development theorist, and politician who served as the minister of Finance from 10 April 1985 to 28 January 1986, and again from June to December 1988 as acaretaker. Regarded as one of the greatest economists of his time, Haq devised theHuman Development Index, widely used to gauge the development of nations.[1]
After graduating with a degree ineconomics from theGovernment College University inLahore, he won a scholarship to theUniversity of Cambridge inEngland, where he obtained a second higher degree in the same field. He later received hisPhD fromYale University in theUnited States and conductedpostdoctoral research at theHarvard Kennedy School. Haq returned to Pakistan to serve as thechief economist of thePlanning Commission throughout the 1960s. In 1970, after the fall ofAyub Khan, Haq moved toWashington, D.C. to serve at theWorld Bank as Director of Policy Planning until 1982, where he played a major role in reorienting its approach to assisting development inlow-income countries.[2][3]
He returned to Pakistan in 1982, and in 1985 assumed the position of Finance Minister with theGovernment of Pakistan, and oversaw a period ofeconomic liberalization in the country. In 1989, he moved back to the United States, where he served as the special adviser to theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under its head,William Henry Draper III. At the UNDP, Haq led the establishment of theHuman Development Report and the widely-respectedHuman Development Index (HDI), which measures development by well-being, rather than by financial income alone. He returned to Pakistan in 1996 to establish the Human Development Centre in the capital city ofIslamabad.[4]
Haq is considered to have had a profound effect on global development. His 1995 book,Reflections on Human Development, is said to have opened new avenues to policy proposals forhuman development paradigms, such as theUnited Nations Global Compact that was formed in 2000.[5]Amartya Sen andTam Dalyell judged Haq's work to have "brought about a major change in the understanding and statistical accounting of the process of development".[6]The Economist called him "one of the visionaries of international development".[7] He was widely regarded as "the most articulate and persuasive spokesman for the developing world".[8][9]
Haq was born into aPunjabi Muslim family on 24 February 1934 in the city ofGurdaspur,[10]Punjab Province, British India (now located in theRepublic of India).[11] His teenage years saw widespread intercommunal violence and forced migration following the independence of India and Pakistan from British rule in August 1947.[11] He and his family migrated from India to the newly-created state of Pakistan following thepartition of India; Haq stated that they narrowly escaped being killed in one of the refugee trains heading to Pakistan.[11] After reachingLahore, Haq was given government-sponsored housing and decided to continue his education.
In 1953, he graduated with a degree in economics from Lahore'sGovernment College University.[11] He later earned a scholarship to attendCambridge University, where he earned anotherBA in the same discipline alongside Indian economistAmartya Sen,[12] with whom he formed a close friendship.[11] After renewing his scholarship, Haq went toUnited States for his doctoral studies at Yale University and obtained a PhD. Later, Haq carried out postdoctoral work atHarvard University in 1960–61.[11]
An early proponent of economic liberalization who, in later years, argued that poor countries failed to prosper because they neglected the basic development of their people
Upon returning to Pakistan in 1957 at the age of 23, Haq joined thePlanning Commission as Assistant Chief while it prepared its firstFive-Year Plan.[14]Influenced by the dominant economic thought in American academia, Haq advocated capitalism as the economic base of the national economy and helped guide the government to apply free-market principles to boost the economy. This approach was wholeheartedly embraced by the military government of GeneralAyub Khan after it came to power in October 1958. By the 1960s as Chief Economist of the Planning Commission Haq was delivering speeches all over the country in support of these economic policies.
While the international community was applauding Pakistan as a model of development, Haq developed concerns that all was not well with the distribution of the benefits of growth. Rapid economic development made Haq's team doubt the long-term viability of such a pattern of growth, and he increasingly supported heavier taxation of the asset owning classes. In a widely reported speech to theApplied Economics Research Centre at theUniversity of Karachi in April 1968, Haq alleged that "22 industrial family groups had come to dominate the economic and financial life-cycle of Pakistan and that they controlled about two-thirds of industrial assets, 80% of banking and 79% of insurance assets in the industrial domain."[15] The list included Dawood family ofDawood Group, Saigols ofSaigol Group, Adamjees ofAdamjee Group, Colony, Fancy, Valika, Jalil, Bawany, Crescent, Wazir Ali, Gandhara, Ispahani,House of Habib, Khyber, Nishat Group, Beco,Gul Ahmed Group, Arag, Hafiz, Karim, Milwala and Dada.[16][15]
These revelations played a major role in mobilising millions in amassive grassroots protest movement that led to Field Marshal Ayub Khan's overthrow in March 1969. Following Ayub's fall, Haq accepted an invitation fromRobert McNamara, president of theWorld Bank to serve as his Director of Policy Planning. During his tenure (1970–82), Haq influenced the Bank'sdevelopmentphilosophy andlending policies, steering more attention towardspoverty alleviation programmes and increased allocations for small farm production,nutrition,education,water supply and othersocial sectors. He wrote a study[17] that served as a precursor to thebasic needs andhuman development approaches of the 1980s.
While working at the World Bank, Haq was invited by Prime MinisterZulfiqar Ali Bhutto to join the Ministry of Finance, but ultimately refused as he had strong opposing views on Bhutto'sprogram of nationalization.[18] In 1973 Bhutto again asked Mahbub to return to Pakistan and join his administration in devising a strategy that would lift a large number of Pakistanis out of poverty andstagflation, but their major differences persuaded Haq not to return.[18]
In 1982 Haq returned at the request of GeneralZia-ul-Haq's military government, where he assumed directorship of the Planning Commission. In 1983 Haq was appointed Minister of Planning and Development. According to Parvez Hasan 'under Mahbub's direction, the Planning Commission became once again a lively place and began to exert powerful influence on social sector issues, including education andfamily planning, much neglected in earlier Zia years.
In 1985 President Zia oversaw a partial return to democracy with so-called'non-party' general elections, and Haq was sworn in asMinister of Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs in thePML government ofMohammed Khan Junejo. Haq's is credited with significanttax reforms,deregulation of theeconomy, increased emphasis on human development and several initiatives for poverty alleviation.[19] Despite this major acceleration insocial spending, Haq was forced to resign in January 1986 due to protests regarding his reforms. He was reappointed as Finance Minister in the caretaker administration established by General Zia-ul-Haq after he dismissed the Junejo government in May 1988. Haq's term ended when the PPP government ofBenazir Bhutto was sworn in following thegeneral elections of November 1988.
In 1989, he was appointed as Special Advisor to theUNDP AdministratorWilliam Draper in New York City to produce the firstHuman Development Report.[20] In this capacity, Haq initiated the concept ofHuman Development and theHuman Development Report as its Project Director. He led a team of international scholars includingAmartya Sen,Paul Streeten,Inge Kaul, Frances Stewart, andRichard Jolly to prepare annual Human Development Reports.
In 1996, Haq founded the Human Development Center inIslamabad, Pakistan — a policy research institute committed to organizing professionalresearch,policy studies and seminars in the area of human development, with a special focus onSouth Asia. In acknowledgement of his contributions, the Human Development Centre, Islamabad was officially renamed following his death as the Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre on 13 December 1998, with Mrs. Khadija Haq as president.
Haq died on 16 July 1998 inNew York City at the age of 64, leaving behind his wife Khadija Haq, son Farhan and daughter Toneema.[citation needed]
In honour of Haq, UNDP established the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development, which is presented to a leading national, regional or world figure who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to furthering human development understanding and progress.[21] The Mahbub ul Haq Award alternates between recognizing political leaders and civil society leaders. Recipients of this Award include:[22]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Finance Minister of Pakistan 1985–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Finance Minister of Pakistan (caretaker) 1988 | Succeeded by |
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