Mahbub ul Haq#Establishment of Human Development Center

Haq was born into a Punjabi Muslim family on 24 February 1934 in the city of Gurdaspur,Baru, Sanjaya (1988) Mahbub ul Haq and Human Development: A Tribute, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 35 (Aug. 29 - Sep. 4), pp. 2275-2279 (5 pages) Punjab Province, British India (now located in the Republic of India).{{cite web|last1=Sen|first1=Amartya|title=Obituary: Mahbub ul Haq|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-mahbub-ul-haq-1169323.html|work=Amartya Sen, Tam Dalyell|publisher=The Independent|access-date=10 August 2012 |author2=Tam Dalyell|date=3 August 1998}} His teenage years saw widespread intercommunal violence and forced migration following the independence of India and Pakistan from British rule in August 1947. He and his family migrated from India to the newly-created state of Pakistan following the partition of India; Haq stated that they narrowly escaped being killed in one of the refugee trains heading to Pakistan. After reaching Lahore, Haq was given government-sponsored housing and decided to continue his education.

In 1953, he graduated with a degree in economics from Lahore's Government College University. He later earned a scholarship to attend Cambridge University, where he earned another BA in the same discipline alongside Indian economist Amartya Sen,{{Cite web|title=A Hindu-Muslim friendship that helped shape the world|url=https://www.indiaabroad.com/opinion/a-hindu-muslim-friendship-that-helped-shape-the-world/article_8d7b99be-16a3-11e8-8497-1b733461d959.html|access-date=2022-01-15|website=IndiaAbroad.com|language=en}} with whom he formed a close friendship. After renewing his scholarship, Haq went to United States for his doctoral studies at Yale University and obtained a PhD. Later, Haq carried out postdoctoral work at Harvard University in 1960–61.

{{Rquote|right|An early proponent of economic liberalization who, in later years, argued that poor countries failed to prosper because they neglected the basic development of their people |New York Times|BARBARA CROSSETTE. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/17/world/mahbub-ul-haq-64-analyst-and-critic-of-global-poverty.html Mahbub ul Haq, 64, Analyst And Critic of Global Poverty]". The New York Times. July 17, 1998. }}

Upon returning to Pakistan in 1957 at the age of 23, Haq joined the Planning Commission as Assistant Chief while it prepared its first Five-Year Plan.{{cite web|last=Crossette|first=Barbara|title=Mahbub ul Haq, 64, Analyst And Critic of Global Poverty|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/17/world/mahbub-ul-haq-64-analyst-and-critic-of-global-poverty.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=10 August 2012|page=2|date=17 July 1998}}

Influenced by the dominant economic thought in American academia, Haq advocated capitalism as the economic base of the national economy and helped guide the government to apply free-market principles to boost the economy. This approach was wholeheartedly embraced by the military government of General Ayub Khan after it came to power in October 1958. By the 1960s as Chief Economist of the Planning Commission Haq was delivering speeches all over the country in support of these economic policies.

While the international community was applauding Pakistan as a model of development, Haq developed concerns that all was not well with the distribution of the benefits of growth. Rapid economic development made Haq's team doubt the long-term viability of such a pattern of growth, and he increasingly supported heavier taxation of the asset owning classes. In a widely reported speech to the Applied Economics Research Centre at the University of Karachi in April 1968, Haq alleged that "22 industrial family groups had come to dominate the economic and financial life-cycle of Pakistan and that they controlled about two-thirds of industrial assets, 80% of banking and 79% of insurance assets in the industrial domain."{{cite web|title=System is to blame for the 22 wealthy families |url=http://www.mhhdc.org/html/system_blame.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722001847/http://www.mhhdc.org/html/system_blame.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 July 2013 |work=Human Development Center, Originally published on London Times |publisher=Human Development Center |access-date=6 September 2012 |page=1 |date=22 March 1973 }} The list included Dawood family of Dawood Group, Saigols of Saigol Group, Adamjees of Adamjee Group, Colony, Fancy, Valika, Jalil, Bawany, Crescent, Wazir Ali, Gandhara, Ispahani, House of Habib, Khyber, Nishat Group, Beco, Gul Ahmed Group, Arag, Hafiz, Karim, Milwala and Dada.[http://m.paycheck.pk/main/salary/celebrity-income/richest-families-in-pakistan/the-22-families/ The 22 Families]

These revelations played a major role in mobilising millions in a massive grassroots protest movement that led to Field Marshal Ayub Khan's overthrow in March 1969. Following Ayub's fall, Haq accepted an invitation from Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank to serve as his Director of Policy Planning. During his tenure (1970–82), Haq influenced the Bank's development philosophy and lending policies, steering more attention towards poverty alleviation programmes and increased allocations for small farm production, nutrition, education, water supply and other social sectors. He wrote a studyMahbub ul Haq (1976) The Poverty Curtain: Choices for the Third World. Columbia University Press. 247 pages. {{ISBN|0-231-04062-8}} that served as a precursor to the basic needs and human development approaches of the 1980s.

While working at the World Bank, Haq was invited by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to join the Ministry of Finance, but ultimately refused as he had strong opposing views on Bhutto's program of nationalization.{{cite book|last1=Ponzio|first1=Richard|title=Pioneering the human development revolution: an intellectual biography of Mahbub Ul Haq|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press, 2008|location=United Kingdom|isbn=9780195695137|pages=256–260|author2=Khadija Haq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S83rAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 February 2014}} In 1973 Bhutto again asked Mahbub to return to Pakistan and join his administration in devising a strategy that would lift a large number of Pakistanis out of poverty and stagflation, but their major differences persuaded Haq not to return.

In 1982 Haq returned at the request of General Zia-ul-Haq's military government, where he assumed directorship of the Planning Commission. In 1983 Haq was appointed Minister of Planning and Development. According to Parvez Hasan 'under Mahbub's direction, the Planning Commission became once again a lively place and began to exert powerful influence on social sector issues, including education and family planning, much neglected in earlier Zia years.

In 1985 President Zia oversaw a partial return to democracy with so-called 'non-party' general elections, and Haq was sworn in as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs in the PML government of Mohammed Khan Junejo. Haq's is credited with significant tax reforms, deregulation of the economy, increased emphasis on human development and several initiatives for poverty alleviation.[http://www.un.org.pk/hdc/Tribute%20Page.htm A Tribute to Dr Haq] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124044503/http://www.un.org.pk/hdc/Tribute%20Page.htm |date=24 January 2008 }} at Human Development Centre website Despite this major acceleration in social spending, Haq was forced to resign in January 1986 due to protests regarding his reforms. He was reappointed as Finance Minister in the caretaker administration established by General Zia-ul-Haq after he dismissed the Junejo government in May 1988. Haq's term ended when the PPP government of Benazir Bhutto was sworn in following the general elections of November 1988.

In 1989, he was appointed as Special Advisor to the UNDP Administrator William Draper in New York City to produce the first Human Development Report.UNDP (1990) [http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_1990_en.pdf Human Development Report 1990: Concept and Measurement of Human Development]. Oxford University press. {{ISBN|0-19-506480-1}} In this capacity, Haq initiated the concept of Human Development and the Human Development Report as its Project Director. He led a team of international scholars including Amartya Sen, Paul Streeten, Inge Kaul, Frances Stewart, and Richard Jolly to prepare annual Human Development Reports.

In 1996, Haq founded the Human Development Center in Islamabad, Pakistan — a policy research institute committed to organizing professional research, policy studies and seminars in the area of human development, with a special focus on South Asia. In acknowledgement of his contributions, the Human Development Centre, Islamabad was officially renamed following his death as the Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre on 13 December 1998, with Mrs. Khadija Haq as president.

Haq died on 16 July 1998 in New York City at the age of 64, leaving behind his wife Khadija Haq, son Farhan and daughter Toneema.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

In honour of Haq, UNDP established the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development, which is presented to a leading national, regional or world figure who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to furthering human development understanding and progress.{{Cite web|title=Human Development Awards {{!}} Human Development Reports|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/hd-awards|website=hdr.undp.org|access-date=2020-05-16}} The Mahbub ul Haq Award alternates between recognizing political leaders and civil society leaders. Recipients of this Award include:[http://hdr.undp.org/en/nhdr/monitoring/awards/ The Human Development Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218055727/http://hdr.undp.org/en/nhdr/monitoring/awards/ |date=18 February 2008 }}

• 2014 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and a member of The Elders.
• 2009 – Frances Stewart, author, researcher and advocate for human development.
• 2007 – Sheila Watt-Cloutier, arctic community activist.
• 2004 – Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).
• 2002 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil, 1995–2002

• The Strategy of Economic Planning (1963)
• The Poverty Curtain: Choices for the Third World (1976). Columbia University Press. 247 pages. {{ISBN|0-231-04062-8}}
• The Myth of the Friendly Markets (1992)
• Reflections on Human Development (1996) Oxford University Press. 1st edition (1996): 288 pages, {{ISBN|0-19-510193-6}}. 2nd edition (1999): 324 pages, {{ISBN|0-19-564598-7}}
• The U.N. and the Bretton Woods Institutions: New Challenges For The Twenty-First Century / Edited By Mahbub Ul Haq ... [Et Al.] (1995)
• The Vision and the Reality (1995)
• The Third World and the international economic order (1976)
• New Imperatives of Human Security (1995)
• A New Framework for Development Cooperation (1995)
• Humanizing Global Institutions (1998)

{{reflist}}

• UNDP [http://hdr.undp.org Human Development Reports] website
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041101032123/http://www.un.org.pk/hdc/ Mahbub-ul-Haq page on United Nations in Pakistan site] – Contains a tribute, his speeches and the Human Development Review Journal
• [http://www.mhhdc.org/ The Mahbub-ul-Haq Development Center]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071019055213/http://www.mhhdc.org/html/tribute1.htm Web site of Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre. Islamabad: A Tribute to Mahbub ul Haq]

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{{succession box |title=Finance Minister of Pakistan|

years=1985–1986|

before=Ghulam Ishaq Khan|

after=Mian Yasin Khan Wattoo}}

{{succession box |title=Finance Minister of Pakistan (caretaker)|

years=1988|

before=Mian Yasin Khan Wattoo|

after=Benazir Bhutto}}

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{{Finance Minister of Pakistan}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haq, Mahbub ul}}

Category:1934 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:Ministers of finance of Pakistan

Category:Pakistani financiers

Category:Pakistani economists

Category:Pakistani inventors

Category:Development economists

Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Sciences

Category:Military government of Pakistan (1977–1988)

Category:Pakistani anti-communists

Category:Academic staff of the University of Karachi

Category:Game theorists

Category:University of the Punjab alumni

Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)