Chasing the dream of better and prosperous Pakistan an attempt to achieve 10x growth for Sialkot

Everybody in this world is prone to dreaming which they need their future to be, hence I have a dream for a Pakistan, which is much different than the one we see today. I dream for a Pakistan to be a developed welfare state where industrial revolution will transform our agrarian economy into the new diversified economy as extraordinary pace of technological change in the so called fourth industrial revolution promised tremendous growth by highlighting new opportunities to achieve inclusive agriculture and rural growth at an accelerated speed and transition towards high productivity manufacturing and other economic sectors in developing nations like Pakistan, accompanied with new challenges. Advancement in computing power, connectivity, AI, biotechnology, 3-D & 4-D printings, geographic information system and other technologies enabling developing countries to leapfrog over many older technologies but such impactful changes need proactive public policy making to build on the positive aspects of new industrial revolution while preventing the widening gap between skilled and unskilled labor. Pakistan being an agricultural country where most of the population lived in rural areas continue to be the mainstay of economy. Agriculture is one of the largest sector of the economy contributing 25% in GDP and providing 70% of the total value of exports and rural population mostly run their bread and butter with the same sector either directly from agriculture or through other small-scale rural enterprises, which directly or indirectly depend on agriculture.

Many of the deprived rural population lived in areas where arable land is scarce and agriculture potential is low along with the drought and environmental degradation as a common features. Moreover access to basic human needs i.e. basic human rights such as potable water and sanitation, education and healthcare are far less available in rural areas. The problems of malnutrition, low life expectancy and high infant mortality are more prevalent in these areas as it is always assumed that sustainable agriculture is the main vehicle for rural development so there is a strong need to value them as contributor to the employment, manager of rural landscape and environmental steward in protecting and upgrading the ecosystem and setting social and cultural order and above all supplier of safe high quality products to consumers but successful rural community development calls for an integrated and comprehensive approach and we need to make logically efforts to identify economic opportunities, ecological constraints and social expectations as sustainable rural development demands a balanced and a holistic approach in devising an actionable rural sector strategy. This technology revolution has increased the speed of growth many times causing noticeable rise in inequality and development of rural and urban population that results alarming distribution of wealth and concentration of resources. Around the middle of the 21^st century, we will be facing the fourth industrial revolution that not only opening up huge growth prospects for the world economy but at the same time appearing new or worsening existing issues so, there is a strong need to address the challenges of emerging inequality as an outcome of industrial 4.0 revolution to target Governance of Rural Areas in the High-Tech Age, Reducing Rural Urban Gap, Development Priorities for the Rural, Role of Technology for Poverty Alleviation, Achieving SDGs in Rural, Healthcare for Rural Areas, Education and Skill Development for the Ruralareas, as the amalgamation of technologies in blurring the lines between physical, digital and biological spheres.

Bitcoins and crypto currency can change the face of future banking, new business models are adopted, new materials are designed for manufacturing, new energy options are explored, digital forms of capital transactions are introduces having minimum utilization of labor along with the new modes of health care and equipment’s and new modes of entertainment including dense market for sports etc. All these factors reflect the Governments role. If we focus our concentration on Sialkot than we realize that it is the existing export city of Pakistan the wealth

Of this city relative to the rest of Pakistan and South Asia with a per capita income in 2014 estimated at $2800. The city has been noted for its entrepreneurial spirit, and productive business climate that have made Sialkot an example of a small Pakistani city that has emerged as a ‘world-class manufacturing hub’. The relatively small city exported approximately $2 billion worth of goods in 2015, or about 10% of Pakistan’s total exports with strong export industries in the fields of leather, sporting goods, and surgical instruments industry. The Sialkot Dry Port offers local producers quick access to Pakistani Customs, as well as to logistics and transportation and manage its position as one of Pakistan’s most prosperous cities. Its sporting goods firms have been particularly successful, and have produced items for global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Puma. And produce footballs for 2014 FIFA World Cup. Like other sectors we wish and dream for 10X growth in these industries by shifting from factor & efficiency driven economy to innovation-driven economy so it is important to join the new era of technology and e-commerce. E-commerce environment is perceived to be the most uncertain stemming from increased information visibility and dynamic market structures. A stronger emphasis on relation management as a part of business strategy enable managers to manage uncertainty better and as logistics is the function often involved with both information and relationship management within the supply chain. In this world of technological transformation where people prefer e-commerce modes of trading not only to save their time cost but to have ease in transactions and if it is accompanied with efficient supply chains than it will accelerates their businesses so it is required to explore new and improved modes of e-commerce that improve the efficiency of Sialkot’s supply specifically that will make the city more competitive in international market with a vision to accelerate the exports of Sialkot that in turn accelerates the growth of Pakistan economy by improving BoP and trade. There is no doubt in the fact that the challenges of future are very staring our face but it is us who have to make a choice of either becoming the part of inevitability as passive recipients or embracing these advancements as active participant so, always dream and struggle for a better tomorrow where we wish to spent our futures.