Riyasat-e-Madina Vision and ICSR
July 15, 2021
One of the fundamental political manifesto and ideologies of Prime Minister Imran Khan has been the long-standing vision of transforming Pakistan into a societal model similar to Riyasat-e-Madina, i.e., the Islamic version of a welfare state. The government is working on various socially responsible initiatives, especially under the “Ehsaas Program” spanning from education, health and job opportunities for the under-privileged to various other philanthropic activities. However, what is still missing in this socially responsible model of Riyasat-e-Madina is a synergistic blend of public and private social sustainability. Both systems work on apparently disjointed socially responsible paths. Private organisations practice such reforms under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Sustainability. Research states that in the context of a developing country, the socio-economic indicators mostly depict poor performance being led by weak governmental reforms. In such situations, consumers expect various social reforms from organisations operating in developing countries, which are the responsibilities of the government in Western countries. Due to political and economic instability in developing countries, the community develops expectations of socially responsible behaviour from organisations. This also holds for Pakistan, where consumers practice high levels of philanthropy and also expect the organisations to step up whenever the country faces any social challenge or natural disaster.