Poverty alleviation is a goal
unachieved in Pakistan, though fluctuations have been witnessed every now and
then. Poverty was borne by birth of Pakistan because we inherited the portion of
South Asia with least number of industrial units and did not get the duo share
of military and financial assets. But this cannot be the satisfying to get
portrayed as miserable. Bill Gates has rightly arguments: “If you’re born poor
it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it’s your mistake.”
Remembering another quote by Nelson Mandela that poverty is not an accident.
Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of
human beings. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy
their basic needs.
The poverty is characterized by the;
i. Lack of income,
ii. Non-fulfillment of basic needs,
iii. And lacking access to social infrastructure.
According to the business dictionary: “Poverty is a condition where people’s
basic needs for food clothing and shelter are not being met.”
Poverty is said to be Absolute when one cannot obtain adequate resources to
afford the basic necessities of life. The Relative Poverty occurs when people
don’t get the certain minimum level of living standards as determined by
government or constitution. In relative poverty people’s income is less than the
average income for society.
The World Bank report says that poverty eradication is an uphill task for
Pakistan and India.
The World Bank report: “Poverty and shared prosperity” – places Pakistan among
the countries where the income of the poorest are growing faster than average.
India has been placed among the countries where the income of the poorest are
growing slower than average, although India is one of the fastest growing
economies of the world.
The data shows that 21.25pc Indians live at or below the World Bank’s poverty
line compared to only 8.3pc in Pakistan. However, India got an edge in WB report
when it come to life expectancy, adult female literacy rate and dealing with the
under nourishment.
The grim poverty give birth to so many discomforts in the society and in the
life of people. A very few of them are:
i. Opting illegal means of earning,
ii. Organ trafficking,
iii. Smuggling,
iv. threaten the self-esteem of people,
v. suicides,
vi. diseases physical as well as psychological,
vii. and many others.
People becomes sick by the noose of poverty getting tightened around their neck
and opt to the illegal ways of earning. Despite knowing the awe-full
consequences they get ready for timely benefit and become a cause of headache to
the other people. For example, if one opt for robbery in order to get relief
will directly become a discomfort for those who will fall a prey to it. The
poverty stricken people may opt for smuggling of goods and human being as well.
The poverty threatens the self esteem of people when they become sub-ordinate to
others from a financial standpoint. For instance, Feudal lords continue to
exploit the poor and can engage them in heinous activities just because of their
poverty.
The feudal lords treats the laymen like animals or even lower than this.
The serfs is to work hard all day long but still to a low-waged income and is
restricted to live hand to mouth.
The organ trafficking is another way to fall a prey to get in kind if you are
bearing the financial hardships. The organ trafficking which almost all the time
is kidney trafficking. The organ trafficking was promulgated earlier in 2007 but
the matter got the global outcry before it could be transformed into a law. All
because of kindled approach of NGOs . In 2010, the National Assembly and the
upper house passed the Transplantation of the Human Organ and Tissue Act
followed by the promulgation of the transplantation ordinance.
The poverty stricken people often vended their kidneys to get some cash in
return. They risk their lives to get the gruesome amounts to meet their daily
life expenses or to return their longstanding debts. These people develops
lethal diseases either due to the poor performance of the remaining kidney or in
the form of infections. It is poverty which compels them to put their own lives
at risk.
Some people end their life just because of confronting poverty and the resultant
strains in their life. The poor have to suffer the physical illness due to
malnourishment and their mental disturbances are a result of strained life from
the financial standpoint.
The alleviate poverty one needs to assess the causes of poverty so as to reach
the effective conclusions and suggestions.
The main causes of poverty in Pakistan are;
Energy crisis,
Least industrialization,
Lack of agricultural research and its implementation,
Scarcity of education,
Feudalism,
Lack of skilled workers,
Heavy taxes,
Lack of public awareness, and last but not the least is the poor public
representation at political level.
The Pakistan is facing energy crisis since decades and energy is to decide the
fate of an industry especially in the country with the little use of
conventional energy sources for getting a constant supply of electricity. The
industries are not going to get an increase in number until our energy problem
settle down. The economy of Pakistan is mostly agricultural based so we need to
opt for agriculture based research programs and the implementation of viable
developments. This can help to increase our exports of cotton, wheat, rice etc.
The Pakistan’s education spending is lowest in South Asia dawn reported in the
April this year. The report also said that there are about 24 million out of
school children in Pakistan, the second highest figure in the world after
Nigeria. Though the educational allocation of budget has been increased but
still there exists vast disparities among the provinces.
The heavy taxes when charged to the people belonging to low waged income groups
results in a dismay. The poor awareness on the part of public also brings
disappointment. The lack of public representation at political level is also
worth-mentioning. Until and unless true representation of public grievances
don’t take the form of reality no considerable improvement will occur.
In our country, the poverty is often defined as pauperism. This means that
providing relief is considered as poverty alleviation. The central objective is
to pay-off in cash or in kind at a fixed rate to the specific number of
households for a fixed duration of time. But actually it has nothing to do with
poverty alleviation. It just provides a timely relief from the financial
shortages only partially. One such program is the Benazir Income Support
Programme(BISP) – started in 2008, provided relief of Rs.1000per month to the
poor and needy. The cash relief was later increased to fifteen hundred per month
and now reached to 18,800 per annum in April this year.
The experts are of view that BISP can never alleviate poverty. It can’t even
cater the basic needs of its subscribers as the amount being granted under BISP
is insufficient to meet the basic necessities of life.
The scope of Zakat programme has always been very limited in number and coverage
as the number of beneficiaries hovers around 1 million in the poor population of
61pc.
The poverty alleviation can be achieved by undertaking the numerous steps. Some
of these are:
Micro-financing,
Sustained economic growth,
Promoting economic growth,
Creating more jobs and income,
Reducing unemployment,
Increasing national minimum wage,
Providing benefits in kind,
Diversification of economy,
Reducing energy crisis,
Skilled-workers,
Progressive tax imposition,
Proper management of Zakat system,
Providing education,
Public awareness,
And lastly the golden words of Confucius:
“If your plan is for a year, plant rice. If your plan is for a decade, plant
trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.”
The public sector poverty alleviation programme include micro-financing. It
covers about 3m burrowers. The criteria for micro-financing is the ability to
payback due to which the most-in-need don’t get the opportunity and remain
deprived. There is a need to review and improve the criterion for
micro-financing.
Sustainable Development Goals put special emphasis on ending all forms of
poverty.
The creation of more jobs can also contribute poverty alleviation. The low
income jobs is not an answer to alleviate the grim poverty. Due to low income
people are forced to live strained economically and unable to meet the expenses.
The government can increase the minimum national wages. This is an effective way
to increase the income of low paid labors. The increase in national wages can
also reduce the prevalent wage inequality.
The public and private sector can contribute equally well in reducing
unemployment ratio. They can offer entrepreneurship to the unemployed persons
after training them in concerned fields.
The skilled-labor is also a viable option to alleviate the poverty. The govt.
can initiate different programs to enhance the trend of skilled labor among the
population. One such example is the TEVTA(Technical Education an Vocational
Training Programme). The institutions working under the label of tevta provide
different skills to people and increases the work-force.
The provision of benefits in kind can also sort out the grievances of people.
The government can provide the free health and educational facilities to the
people. In this way, they will be able to get medication and education. Pakistan
can follow the Chinese model for health provision in which a portion of health
expenses is being paid by the public sector. This amount decreases in case when
patients belong to the urban areas and reaches to the considerable potions if
patient come from the rural areas.
The most recent programme to get in kind is the health provision under the
umbrella of Prime Minister’s Health Care Policy. According to this policy,
50,000 relief is being given for common treatment and this amount reaches to 3
Lacs for major health issues. If a person gets short of funds during his
treatment then this 3 Lcs can go upto 6,00000. This programme was initially
installed in Balochistan. It’s serious drawback is the fixed number of
subscribers.
Diversification of economy means going away from agriculture towards the
manufacturing.
This can contribute well to the economic development. Proper arrangements of
Zakat system can also satisfy the needs of the poor and the needy.
“Don’t kill your children in the basis of grim poverty”
(Al-Quran)
“Extreme Poverty can lead to kufr.”
(Muhammad PBUH)
The energy crisis needs a resolve in order to run the tyres of economy. Pakistan
should opt for the alternative-energy means i.e., solar energy, wing energy,
energy from biogas meet the demands of energy.
Imposition of progressive taxes can also alleviate the income inequality. The
term implies imposing taxes on high-waged income groups so that tax return can
be increased without stressing the already aggravated. The Education is most
widely excepted and sustainable solution if we want poverty alleviation from the
society. In order to build a peaceful society and internal harmony we need to
kick-off poverty from our lives once and for all and this is undoubtedly nothing
beyond human efforts. We cannot get away the truth behind the famous maxim that
God help those who help themselves.
Poverty alleviation is a goal unachieved
Poverty- lack of food, shelter and infrastructure
World Bank Report on Poverty and shared prosperity
Discomforts due to confronting poverty
Causes of poverty
Ways to Alleviate Poverty
Micro-financing,
Sustained economic growth,
Promoting economic growth,
Creating more jobs and income,
Reducing unemployment,
Increasing national minimum wage,
Providing benefits in kind,
Diversification of economy,
Reducing energy crisis,
Skilled-workers,
Progressive tax imposition,
Proper management of Zakat system,
Providing education,
Public awareness,
And lastly the golden words of Confucius
Poverty alleviation is a goal unachieved in Pakistan, though fluctuations have
been witnessed every now and then. Poverty was borne by birth of Pakistan
because we inherited the portion of South Asia with least number of industrial
units and did not get the duo share of military and financial assets. But this
cannot be the satisfying to get portrayed as miserable. Bill Gates has rightly
arguments: “If you’re born poor it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it’s
your mistake.”
Remembering another quote by Nelson Mandela that poverty is not an accident.
Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of
human beings. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy
their basic needs.
The poverty is characterized by the;
i. Lack of income,
ii. Non-fulfillment of basic needs,
iii. And lacking access to social infrastructure.
According to the business dictionary: “Poverty is a condition where people’s
basic needs for food clothing and shelter are not being met.”
Poverty is said to be Absolute when one cannot obtain adequate resources to
afford the basic necessities of life. The Relative Poverty occurs when people
don’t get the certain minimum level of living standards as determined by
government or constitution. In relative poverty people’s income is less than the
average income for society.
The World Bank report says that poverty eradication is an uphill task for
Pakistan and India.
The World Bank report: “Poverty and shared prosperity” – places Pakistan among
the countries where the income of the poorest are growing faster than average.
India has been placed among the countries where the income of the poorest are
growing slower than average, although India is one of the fastest growing
economies of the world.
The data shows that 21.25pc Indians live at or below the World Bank’s poverty
line compared to only 8.3pc in Pakistan. However, India got an edge in WB report
when it come to life expectancy, adult female literacy rate and dealing with the
under nourishment.
The grim poverty give birth to so many discomforts in the society and in the
life of people. A very few of them are:
i. Opting illegal means of earning,
ii. Organ trafficking,
iii. Smuggling,
iv. threaten the self-esteem of people,
v. suicides,
vi. diseases physical as well as psychological,
vii. and many others.
People becomes sick by the noose of poverty getting tightened around their neck
and opt to the illegal ways of earning. Despite knowing the awe-full
consequences they get ready for timely benefit and become a cause of headache to
the other people. For example, if one opt for robbery in order to get relief
will directly become a discomfort for those who will fall a prey to it. The
poverty stricken people may opt for smuggling of goods and human being as well.
The poverty threatens the self esteem of people when they become sub-ordinate to
others from a financial standpoint. For instance, Feudal lords continue to
exploit the poor and can engage them in heinous activities just because of their
poverty.
The feudal lords treats the laymen like animals or even lower than this.
The serfs is to work hard all day long but still to a low-waged income and is
restricted to live hand to mouth.
The organ trafficking is another way to fall a prey to get in kind if you are
bearing the financial hardships. The organ trafficking which almost all the time
is kidney trafficking. The organ trafficking was promulgated earlier in 2007 but
the matter got the global outcry before it could be transformed into a law. All
because of kindled approach of NGOs . In 2010, the National Assembly and the
upper house passed the Transplantation of the Human Organ and Tissue Act
followed by the promulgation of the transplantation ordinance.
The poverty stricken people often vended their kidneys to get some cash in
return. They risk their lives to get the gruesome amounts to meet their daily
life expenses or to return their longstanding debts. These people develops
lethal diseases either due to the poor performance of the remaining kidney or in
the form of infections. It is poverty which compels them to put their own lives
at risk.
Some people end their life just because of confronting poverty and the resultant
strains in their life. The poor have to suffer the physical illness due to
malnourishment and their mental disturbances are a result of strained life from
the financial standpoint.
The alleviate poverty one needs to assess the causes of poverty so as to reach
the effective conclusions and suggestions.
The main causes of poverty in Pakistan are;
Energy crisis,
Least industrialization,
Lack of agricultural research and its implementation,
Scarcity of education,
Feudalism,
Lack of skilled workers,
Heavy taxes,
Lack of public awareness, and last but not the least is the poor public
representation at political level.
The Pakistan is facing energy crisis since decades and energy is to decide the
fate of an industry especially in the country with the little use of
conventional energy sources for getting a constant supply of electricity. The
industries are not going to get an increase in number until our energy problem
settle down. The economy of Pakistan is mostly agricultural based so we need to
opt for agriculture based research programs and the implementation of viable
developments. This can help to increase our exports of cotton, wheat, rice etc.
The Pakistan’s education spending is lowest in South Asia dawn reported in the
April this year. The report also said that there are about 24 million out of
school children in Pakistan, the second highest figure in the world after
Nigeria. Though the educational allocation of budget has been increased but
still there exists vast disparities among the provinces.
The heavy taxes when charged to the people belonging to low waged income groups
results in a dismay. The poor awareness on the part of public also brings
disappointment. The lack of public representation at political level is also
worth-mentioning. Until and unless true representation of public grievances
don’t take the form of reality no considerable improvement will occur.
In our country, the poverty is often defined as pauperism. This means that
providing relief is considered as poverty alleviation. The central objective is
to pay-off in cash or in kind at a fixed rate to the specific number of
households for a fixed duration of time. But actually it has nothing to do with
poverty alleviation. It just provides a timely relief from the financial
shortages only partially. One such program is the Benazir Income Support
Programme(BISP) – started in 2008, provided relief of Rs.1000per month to the
poor and needy. The cash relief was later increased to fifteen hundred per month
and now reached to 18,800 per annum in April this year.
The experts are of view that BISP can never alleviate poverty. It can’t even
cater the basic needs of its subscribers as the amount being granted under BISP
is insufficient to meet the basic necessities of life.
The scope of Zakat programme has always been very limited in number and coverage
as the number of beneficiaries hovers around 1 million in the poor population of
61pc.
The poverty alleviation can be achieved by undertaking the numerous steps. Some
of these are:
Micro-financing,
Sustained economic growth,
Promoting economic growth,
Creating more jobs and income,
Reducing unemployment,
Increasing national minimum wage,
Providing benefits in kind,
Diversification of economy,
Reducing energy crisis,
Skilled-workers,
Progressive tax imposition,
Proper management of Zakat system,
Providing education,
Public awareness,
And lastly the golden words of Confucius:
“If your plan is for a year, plant rice. If your plan is for a decade, plant
trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.”
The public sector poverty alleviation programme include micro-financing. It
covers about 3m burrowers. The criteria for micro-financing is the ability to
payback due to which the most-in-need don’t get the opportunity and remain
deprived. There is a need to review and improve the criterion for
micro-financing.
Sustainable Development Goals put special emphasis on ending all forms of
poverty.
The creation of more jobs can also contribute poverty alleviation. The low
income jobs is not an answer to alleviate the grim poverty. Due to low income
people are forced to live strained economically and unable to meet the expenses.
The government can increase the minimum national wages. This is an effective way
to increase the income of low paid labors. The increase in national wages can
also reduce the prevalent wage inequality.
The public and private sector can contribute equally well in reducing
unemployment ratio. They can offer entrepreneurship to the unemployed persons
after training them in concerned fields.
The skilled-labor is also a viable option to alleviate the poverty. The govt.
can initiate different programs to enhance the trend of skilled labor among the
population. One such example is the TEVTA(Technical Education an Vocational
Training Programme). The institutions working under the label of tevta provide
different skills to people and increases the work-force.
The provision of benefits in kind can also sort out the grievances of people.
The government can provide the free health and educational facilities to the
people. In this way, they will be able to get medication and education. Pakistan
can follow the Chinese model for health provision in which a portion of health
expenses is being paid by the public sector. This amount decreases in case when
patients belong to the urban areas and reaches to the considerable potions if
patient come from the rural areas.
The most recent programme to get in kind is the health provision under the
umbrella of Prime Minister’s Health Care Policy. According to this policy,
50,000 relief is being given for common treatment and this amount reaches to 3
Lacs for major health issues. If a person gets short of funds during his
treatment then this 3 Lcs can go upto 6,00000. This programme was initially
installed in Balochistan. It’s serious drawback is the fixed number of
subscribers.
Diversification of economy means going away from agriculture towards the
manufacturing.
This can contribute well to the economic development. Proper arrangements of
Zakat system can also satisfy the needs of the poor and the needy.
“Don’t kill your children in the basis of grim poverty”
(Al-Quran)
“Extreme Poverty can lead to kufr.”
(Muhammad PBUH)
The energy crisis needs a resolve in order to run the tyres of economy. Pakistan
should opt for the alternative-energy means i.e., solar energy, wing energy,
energy from biogas meet the demands of energy.
Imposition of progressive taxes can also alleviate the income inequality. The
term implies imposing taxes on high-waged income groups so that tax return can
be increased without stressing the already aggravated. The Education is most
widely excepted and sustainable solution if we want poverty alleviation from the
society. In order to build a peaceful society and internal harmony we need to
kick-off poverty from our lives once and for all and this is undoubtedly nothing
beyond human efforts. We cannot get away the truth behind the famous maxim that
God help those who help themselves.