Afridis Dastarkhwan programme
an attempt at cheap publicity
Sunday, August 03, 2008
KARACHI: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. This Chinese proverb needs no further explanation and is one that the management of the Karachi Stock Exchange needs to adopt, say observers.
The short-sighted but well intentioned Dastarkhwan programme, at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), aims to feed the citys poor free of cost. In June, 500 people were being fed under the programme. That figure has now gone up to 3,000 and is expected to rise further.
Whilst a commendable programme in terms of its intention to help the poor, it is one that is short-sighted and amply reflects the thinking of many who command authority in the KSE. This is a policy of short-term gains at the expense of long-term benefits.
In a letter to the editor, Dr Kazi Khadim Hussain from Hyderabad wrote that the KSE charity programme was a noble cause, but would not alleviate poverty, nor was it an answer to the serious economic crisis the country was passing through. According to Hussain, the programme would create a permanent class of beggars and hangers-on.
He also wrote if the stockbrokers have genuine sympathy for the downtrodden and the underdog, they should forgo exemption in their fabulous amounts of capital gains they earn on trading of shares, and offer the same for taxation. In this way, they will not only feed 2,000 souls but will also be sharing the betterment of the nation.
What is surprising about the create a beggar Dastarkhwan programme is that it was not launched by some semi-literate brokers on the KSE but the highly qualified Managing Director, Adnan Afridi.
This was done, says the KSE management, to make shares more profitable.
It was at a time when brokers were trying their hard to convince officials in Islamabad to extend exemption in Capital Gains Tax. They eventually succeeded, although when the programme was expedited, it is said that the shares took a turn for the worse.
The Karachi bourse has plunged by over 35 per cent or 5,505 points from the all-time high of 15,676 on April 18 to date. During this period, a sum of Rs1,612.5 billion was also pulled out of overall market capitalisation.
Despite launching the Dastarkhwan programme, the KSE has yet to recognise its corporate social responsibilities, namely, make its own building and the areas by Tower in its vicinity more environment-friendly. Rather than a charity programme such as Dastarkhwan, a better way of alleviating hunger and poverty would be to invest in human resource development, say observers.
Pakistan, a developing country, is passing through a great economic depression parallel to a so-called boom in the banking industry. There is a vacuum of skilled labour in industries like textile, IT, telecom, software development, etc. If vocational training programmes or educational institutes with scholarships to train people in such fields are introduced, it may prove to be more beneficial in the long run, they add.
Recently, the KSE conducted a training course for the investors community, but it was a paid programme. Moreover, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has also recently launched an optional training (paid) programme for the market analysts and investment advisers in collaboration with ACCA. In the programme, there were no minimum criteria or qualifications to be met for stock brokers and for professionals running local bourses and the Commission.
While the KSE is not willing to train its own poor human resources, it is out to gain cheap publicity in the form of free food programmes for the poor, which is a sad commentary on the professional management of the exchange.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=127823
