Although, there are entire academic degrees and core courses that define the art of leadership yet, all of them agree on a single point. That is being a visionary. If a leader does not have vision of the future he simply has no vision at all.
He may be called an administrator, a manager, a representative but definitely not a leader. I do not follow Pakistan’s socio-political conditions like a media watch dog. I but I do have a good interest in governance, especially when it is directly affecting me and others around me.
We all live in an era to which, if termed as digital age is an understatement. Digitization has already taken over everything and anything that is left is in the process of being digitized. It should also be noted that our country is a developing one with huge amounts of spending on foreign debt repayment and defense. In all these unfavorable conditions the steps taken a decade ago by two time consecutive election winning government in Punjab (largest province of Pakistan) are truly commendable ones.
The leadership voted into power in the elections of 2008 and 2013 back to back and was still voted as the largest party in the province focused on digitizing the processes and systems of the government. This was exponentially difficult at every passing stage. A few notable visionary steps in the electronic domain aka e-domain are:
E-ticketing: The new transformed concept of writing traffic tickets to violate for different city traffic police and highway and motor way police was initiated. This e-ticketing system has generated about 8 billion in revenue. Having the features of digital records, no paper and complete transparency. This system has transformed the concept and working of traffic tickets.
E-stamp paper: The requirement of stamp paper is mandatory for any formal contract. The system of stamp papers issuance had many loop holes to say the least. The biggest challenge in traditional stamp paper was the one of trace-ability as the size and sparsity of stamp papers issued and their record was on a scale so mammoth to be recorded manually. According to Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) e-stamp paper has generated more than PKR2 billion in revenue while providing highly traceable and highly transparent stamp papers to the consumers.
E-Khidmat centers: In order to help the masses and common citizens of the province. Another exclusive initiative was launched by the Punjab Government E-Khidmat center is a one stop solution for every documentation a citizen requires from learners driving license to passport and other queries like National Identity Card etc.
This one stop facilitation center has disrupted the previously over burdened and choked system to government documents issuance. Previously people use to wait for hours in the open to find a single desk that only referred them to the next step. Which gave rise to the illegal ‘agent mafia’ and other social evils like bribery. All of this has ended and a new era of facilitation for the masses has begun with the creation of e-khidmat centers.
E-Fos: Nothing makes the government more inefficient than the filing and file management system of the government itself. The Government transformed its working by developing an e-File Operating System (e-Fos) that changed and transformed how government filing, approvals, rejections and audits work.
As argued above government of Punjab redefined the bars of leadership by showing an unparalleled vision. But would the current government be visionary enough to let these projects continue? This is a question that only time would answer, all we can do now is wait.