Austerity measures vs. achieving efficiency

Austerity measures vs. achieving efficiency

November 11, 2016
Shabbir Thingna
Shabbir Thingna

Shabbir ThingnaCHANGES are inherent in life and one must adapt to change in order to survive and to live up to the standards of present times. One of the changes in the lives of individuals, societies and countries is the reduction in income, and when economies change, we must find new ways to adapt, without disturbing or upending our lives.

Usually governments announce austerity measures for the country in order to overcome a shortage of money and to keep the lives of the people going in spite of the shortage. Individuals also plan their lives accordingly and stop spending as much as possible so that they have money essentials, namely food, shelter, transport and medicines. What happens during a shortage of money is that people and governments spend less, thereby simply curtailing most of their activities, ostensibly for cutting down wasteful expenditure.

Even though saving money and curtailing extravagant activities is a sensible way of overcoming a financial shortage, it also entails the suppression of the life process itself, which will halt all progress and the quality of life in the country. Suppressing the activities of our daily lives may be an emergency step to tide us over in an economic crisis, but it cannot be a long-term solution for any economy, because it basically suppresses and kills all of the life within us and a better way to overcome it has to be found.

Words like “austerity”, “economizing” and “saving” sound very repressive and are actually so if they are not applied carefully. Simply not spending on necessities and letting a part of the population suffer is harmful to all of society and defeats the very purpose of doing so. It is a passive way of dealing or rather “not-dealing” with the economic crisis that an individual, society or country is going through. “Efficiency” on the other hand is an active process of revving up the standard of living by exercising our abilities and faculties through a better system, in order to increase incomes, which will automatically reduce wastage.

Surprisingly, money is not the only cause of our problems and many times even amidst plenty, our problems cease to disappear, mainly because they lie elsewhere. What should be a lifelong quest and a passion among all peoples and nations is achieving efficiency in all fields, which will lead to an all-round development of our lives, besides saving our resources by preventing wastage.

The need to develop efficiency is even more important during a financial shortage because a lot has to be achieved in spite of the shortage. Money has to be well utilized because it is in short supply and it should also result in the satisfaction of the needs of the people and lead to their all-round development, which can be done by improving efficiency.

First of all, we have to identify our needs and prioritize them according to their importance. Food, water, clothing, housing, transport, education, security, etc. will take precedence, but their amount should be determined rather than simply frittering away meager resources on them and then declaring bankruptcy when the money is gone. Sometimes a shortage of money is a blessing in disguise if this forces us to examine our real needs, assess them, prioritize them and spend our resources to cover as many of them as possible.

Some people boast about their financial position and say that they have so much money that they simply do not know what to do with it. I would find it rather pitiable to be in their place because either they have wasted their lives earning money not knowing how to find happiness or if they happened to have inherited the money, they cannot become happy, in spite of having it.

One should increase efficiency in earning money so that more money could be earned in an intelligent manner, and simultaneously there should be an intense assessment of our needs so that there is development in all aspects of individual lives as well as those of the general population. People should value hard work and put in more hours instead of treating work as a punishment or a necessary evil just in order to earn a few banknotes for a few crumbs of bread.

By thinking of innovative ways of earning, providing new services to people, exploring new avenues of incomes, one can increase one’s income along with one’s abilities, which will go a long way in developing society and the country. One of the most boring activities of human life is to collect money somehow and identifying with it and also there is a big difference between just earning money doing odd jobs and pursuing a profession, while developing oneself in the process.

Individuals should develop themselves in basic fields, such as nutrition, health, housing, sanitation, medical care, education, physical fitness, jobs and recreation. The country should develop efficiency in providing the above to its citizens, along with security, law and order, justice, etc. It is very important to have qualified persons in every field to lead activities because it is only if power is invested in them that improvement and progress can take place and only they can liaise with other professionals from other countries to improve efficiency in their field.

Putting qualified people under unqualified or less qualified people is akin to “putting the cart before the horse” which will halt progress and hence efficiency. Individual efforts should be rewarded in every field rather than the final results. Appointments for jobs should be based on merit alone in order to increase efficiency but what is more important, is for people to learn under a learned teacher which will increase efficiency manifold because a qualified person with authority at the top can raise the whole organization or institution to great heights.

It is very important to have all-round development in the lives of individuals, such as education in technical subjects, the arts and fine arts, commercial literacy, computer literacy and knowledge of the law of the land. Hobbies such as public speaking, debating, singing, music, dancing, dramatics, etc. should be developed to enable individuals and people to lead a wholesome life. This does not require large sums of money but with proper guidance and by working under the right teachers, we can achieve it relatively cheaply. With a richly developed life, even a small amount of money can be well utilized and people can enjoy and enrich themselves with fewer resources. Even in cases of high income, if the culture and personality of the people have not developed, money just flows, like the proverbial water off a duck’s back.

Wastage of food will automatically stop if we create awareness about it among people, but better still if we encourage restaurants, supermarkets and individual households to cook in small quantities and dispense in small packages and servings, this will increase the efficiency of distributing food and thus result in saving.

There has to be a good legal system in place, not only in courts of law but in daily life as well, and the written word has to be respected by individuals as well as companies and even the state should be bound by it. If the common man has trust in the written word, then he can rest assured that his interests will not be jeopardized and he will put his labor, money, heart and soul where he thinks it is best without any fear or favor. A reliable banking and investment service with good guidance will give impetus to personal savings, which will encourage people to plan well, resulting in a better future for them.

Whenever we think of augmenting our incomes, we should develop a mindset to make our abilities the source of our incomes rather than our innate or basic attributes. John D. Rockefeller once said: “A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship”. Doing business with a friend or appointments for jobs based on family connections is fine but this leads to greed and there is a clash of expectations where both parties are expecting the earth. We must exercise our ability and enterprise in order to earn money and in this manner apart from increasing our income, we will also develop our industry and capabilities, not to mention the good which will result for society as well as for the country.

Being employed productively is a major buffer against the hijacking of the minds of youth for terrorist or related activities, since an “idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. If people are employed then crime rates are known to drop since people do not take the risk of being arrested or killed when a stable, productive and satisfying life is at stake. However, employing people by the state just to keep them busy or forcing youth into professions which they do not like is not a viable proposition especially when state incomes are dropping.

In conclusion, efficiency should be pursued by everyone which will result in an increase in the incomes of individuals, society and the country besides developing individual industry and capability resulting in more production and development for the individual as well as of society as opposed to austerity measures where spending is simply curtailed, resulting in the suffering of people even in vital areas like nutrition, education, housing, healthcare, etc., which will halt progress due to the lack of a well-developed and happy population.

Shabbir Thingna,
Madinah


November 11, 2016
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