Socio-economic Profile of SDGP-SAP-PK Programme District Mianwali-Punjab Submitted by: Naghma Imdad For: SOUTH ASIA PARTNERSHIP-PAKISTAN December 2006 1 CHAPTER ONE 1. Introduction and Background South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK), has initiated a national project: ‘Supporting Democratic Governance in Programme’ (SDGP; 2005-09), jointly funded by CIDA and SDC. The project plans to cover 400 union councils (Ucs) in 40 districts of Pakistan or, ten districts in each of the four provinces of the country. The SDGP aims to promote and strengthen citizens’ role, especially the role of the poor peasants and rural workers in district-level governance systems and processes, to participate in the policy formulation and actions that directly affect their lives. In this pursuit, the programme works closely with peasants and rural workers as its direct ‘target and beneficiary population’, other major actors in the local governance system i.e., the Nazims and local government bodies, other government functionaries, CCBs, CSDs, representatives of political parties, social-political activists and workers groups. The programme aims to achieve the following main objective through a number of interventions: ‘To contribute to an enabling environment for democratic governance and citizen’s participation, especially the vulnerable, in political decision-making and other processes.’ To date, the programme has focused on formation of landless and marginal peasants and workers groups (PWGs), setting up of district resource centres, formation of district focal groups (DFGs), training and orientation of PWGs and DFGs, support material production and dissemination, community mobilization (meetings/forums) and compilation of community profiles. This was the preparatory or ground work phase, aimed at laying foundations for the programme’s next phase that has now started since April 2006 and will end in March 2007. In the current period (2006-07), 20 districts have been chosen as SDC’s ‘focus districts’ out of the total 40 programme districts (5 districts in each of the four provinces). Roughly, this implies working in 200 union councils or 10 UCs in each district. The focus of interventions, during this one-year phase is upon: i. Support the organization of peasants and rural workers: Develop their capacities Help setting-up alternate institutions and support mechanisms, and Enable adequate and meaningful presence of these marginal groups in policy and decision-making processes 2 ii. Increase representation and participation of the rural poor in the Local Government systems and structures by utilizing existing spaces and opportunities in the LG Plan (2001): Help create replicable models of rural poor’s involvement in development planning Improved social service delivery Monitoring and accountability of LG structures, committees, GLAs, and other government functions. The program needs to ensure that it has developed a district-level information base to gain a deeper understanding of the overall socio-economic context of their areas and target population. In pursuance of this objective, SAP-Pk engaged a social development expert, to undertake the task of compiling ‘Socio-economic Profiles of program districts’ based upon the existing secondary data. These studies will provide socio-economic bench-mark data to yield the basis for planning and assessing the impact of SDGP project interventions. The consultant focused on preparation of profiles of the following 20 programme districts of specific interest to the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), (5 districts in each of the 4 provinces): 1) Punjab: Layyah Faisalabad Lodhran Toba Tek Singh Mianwali 2) Sindh: Sanghar Badin Dadu Nawabshah Larkana 3) NWFP: Mardan Charsada Lower Dir Bannu 3 D.I. Khan 4) Baluchistan: Turbat Mastung Naseerabad Gwadar Kalat The current report presents the socio-economic profile of the District Mianwali of the Punjab province. 1.2 Methodology and process 1.2.1 Sources of information The report is based primarily upon the existing district-level data, mainly statistical data on basic human development indicators (HDIs), from secondary sources. The major secondary sources used in preparation of socio-economic profile of Layyah district include the following: i. ‘1998 District Census Report of Mianwali’ ; June 2000; Population Census Organization-Satatistical Division, GoP, Islamabad. ii. ‘District-based Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2003-04: Punjab’; 2004; Planning and Development Department-Govt. of Punjab in collaboration with FBS and UNICEF-Islamabad. iii. ‘Food Insecurity in Rural Pakistan 2004’; 2004; The World Food Programme and SDPI-Islamabad. iv. SDGP project reports, project related staff and district-level resource-persons, SAP-Pk research and documentation related staff at the HQ in Lahore (?). v. Election Database; HRCP; 2005; Lahore. vi. Livestock National Baseline Survey; 2006; SEBCON-Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad. vii. Pakistan Economic Survey2003-04; 2004; Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad. viii. ECP-Govt. of Pakistan, official web. ix. NRB, official web. x. Pakistan Statistical Yearbook, GoP, 2005 xi. Agricultural Census of Pakistan, 2000, GoP xii. Newspaper reports, other documents, maps, etc. 4 1.2.2 Process The consultant prepared a comprehensive checklist of basic socio-economic indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, against which information was collected from different sources, processed, tabular and graphic presentations prepared. This report provides an overall understanding of the development status of the programme districts, the facilities and resources available and the development trends. The information related to the women and gender issues in this report, has not been presented in a separate section but mainstreamed in all the major aspects of the district profile. Coordination and facilitation While the entire data collection, processing and analysis for this report were a primary responsibility of the consultant, SAP-PK HO in Lahore ensured that the relevant persons liaise and coordinate with the consultant at the provincial-district levels. Analysis and report writing All data, once checked and edited, was computer inputted in 20 separate sets and analytical tables and graphic presentations of data were prepared. Twenty (20) analytical and descriptive district profiles/reports have been prepared (5 for each district). Each of the reports comprises a number of sub-sections providing information about the various aspects of the district (see Table of Contents). 5 CHAPTER TWO 2. An Overview of District Mianwali 2.1 Introduction and historical background According to the sources available, it appears that this district was a part of Bannu district and known as ‘Kachachi’ till somewhere in the 16th century (District Census-1998). The name was changed to ‘Mianwali’ during this century after the name of a local saint, Mian Ali, who lived in a hamlet on the eastern bank of the river Indus (ibid). Un-till relatively recently i.e., till 1982, district Mianwali covered a much larger area as it also included Bhakkar district. Being part of the Indus Valley, this district is one of the oldest human inhabitation i.e., the Indus Civilization (District Census-1998). All major rulers and invaders of the Sub- continent have governed this area. According to the ancient history records, this area was called Hindu Shahi when Alexander the Great invaded India in early 4th century B.C. Mahmud Ghaznavi, followed by Mohammad Ghori, annexed this area, along with a greater part of Punjab to the Ghazna empire. The large-scale conversions to Islam among the local population were initiated during this period. During the following period, the Niazi Pathans poured into the north-west of the area, pushing the Awans east-ward, beyond the Salt range. The Mughal emperor Babur mentions Esakhel when he was on his mission to conquer the Pakhtuns and the Punjab in 1520. The Mughal ruled through the Ghakkar feudatories. The latter were uprooted by Niazis at the decline of the Mughal empire and in the wake of Nadir Shah’s invasion of India. District Mianwali, is one of the programme districts of special interest for the SAP-PK. This is one of the 40 districts of the SDGP project, and one among the 20 districts within the same project, of specific interest for the SDC-support. Mianwali district has been of a particular interest for development interventions of SAP- PK due to the organizational priority focus upon the most vulnerable population groups in the district. These groups include the landless and marginal peasants and workers, including the women and some religious minorities whose basic human rights have been constantly violated due to existing socio-economic inequalities in the area. 2.2 Location and size District Mianwali is situated in the west of the Punjab province but it is located almost at the center of the country, about 200 kms and in the south-west of Islamabad. In its north is situated the district of Kohat (NWFP) and Attock (Punjab); in the south is located the Bhakkar district (Punjab). While in its east are Chalwal and Khushab districts (Punjab), in the west, are the districts of Karak, Marwat and D.I. Khan (all in the NWFP). The Indus River flows across the district, starting in the north-east and separating the district 6 into two un-equal parts till it faces the district D.I.Khan across the river, in the south-west of the Mianwali district (see Map, District Mianwali). Mianwali district lies between 32 – 10’ to 33 – 15’, north latitudes and 71 – 08 to 71d - 57 east longitudes. The district covers an area of 1,426,000 acres or 5,840 sq. kms. A little more than one-third of this area (of Isakhel Tehsil) are in the trans-Indus zone of the Salt Range and almost half of the Mianwali Tehsil excluding an area as big as almost one-fifth of the total of Piplan Tehsil are in the cis-Indus zone of the Salt Range. The area in the north is a continuation of what is known as the Potohar Plateau and Kohistan-e- Namak. 2.3 Geography and ecology The district Mianwali may be divided into two main parts: i.