Introduction
Definition:-
Poverty is described as deprived of or scarcity of
the basic necessities of life. Those are food, shelter and clothing etc
Or
Poverty is described as the class of People living
under the expenditure of 1 dollar per day (a total earning of 1 dollar per day).
*Such people are
called poor or living under the poverty line.
Definition by world commission.
Poverty
is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, nutrition, health care,
education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them. This
is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty is the
condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society
or country, or compared to worldwide averages. Poverty in Pakistan is a growing
concern, as it is a developing country. Although the middle-class has grown in
Pakistan to 35 million, nearly one-quarter of the population is classified poor
as of October 2006. As of 2008, 17.2% of the total population lives below the
poverty line, which is the lowest figure in the history of Pakistan.
What does it
mean to be poor? How is poverty measured? Third World countries are
often described as “developing” while the First World, industrialized nations
are often “developed”. What does it mean to describe a nation as “developing”?
A lack of material wealth does not necessarily mean that one is deprived. A
strong economy in a developed nation doesn’t mean much when a significant
percentage (even a majority) of the population is struggling to survive.
Causes of Poverty
It is hard to point out all causes of poverty
in Pakistan but the foremost causes of poverty are given below:
Unemployment:
The unemployment in
Pakistan is the greatest cause of poverty. The resources of Pakistan are
underdeveloped and the chances for the employment are very rare than the rate
of population.
Corruption:
Another cause
of poverty is corruption. There is not morality and every one is trying to earn
more and more by using fair and unfair means. Only one relationship that exists
in society is money. Corruption often accompanies centralization of power, when
leaders are not accountable to those they serve. Most directly, corruption inhibits
development when leaders help themselves to money that would otherwise be used
for development projects. In this whole scenario some corrupt people has been
occupying the resources and common man is living in miserable conditions.
Materialism:
In our society social bonding gradually becomes thinner and
thinner. A race of material object has been started even no one tried to
understand the problems of others. Every one is gradually changing from human
to that kind of person who only knows about his needs and has no concept about
the limitations of others. People are not ready to help each other. At last
every one has lost his trust on others which affect our social and economic
system and it is another cause of poverty.
Natural Disasters:
Natural disasters
such as floods and earthquakes have devastated communities throughout the
world. Developing countries often suffer much more extensive and acute crisis
at the hands of natural disasters, because limited resources inhibit the
construction of adequate housing, infrastructure, and mechanisms for responding
to crisis.
Large Scale Import:
The import of Pakistan is greater than
export. Big revenue is consumed in importing good every year, even raw material
has to import for industry. If we decrease import and establish own supply
chains from our country natural resources the people will have better
opportunities to earn.
Rapidly growing population:
Rapidly growing
population is another cause of poverty. Population-wise Pakistan is the 6th
largest country in the world and its population growth rate is 1.8%, which is
the highest in the region. Pakistan’s GDP growth rate is less than 3%.
So, there is a
shortage of goods and services like food, clothing, housing facilities,
education and health etc all these things are inadequate to meet the
necessities of a growing population. One earning hand has to feed a large
number of family members. Due to the high level of demand and less production,
there is general poverty.
Lack of Education:
The literacy
rate of Pakistan is very low. Most of people do not have any concept about the
modern earning sources. Most people are unable to adopt technology for their
business needs, that's why business does not meet international standards and
results as decrease in revenue which leads the society to poor financial
conditions.
Rising
Inflation:
Another cause of
poverty is inflation, which is a king of regressive tax on the fixed income
class. Due to inflation, the salaried and fixed income group is more affected
than the business class. The employees’ salaries are not increased by the
government in proportion to inflation, but their expenditures are increasing,
day by day, due to dearness.
Less income and
the low level of saving are responsible for poverty. Increase in the prices of
oil at the international level is also enhancing poverty.
Impacts
Lack of income results in people not being able to pay for health and medical facilities, thus increasing health problems. Income poverty and ill health are therefore closely linked in a vicious downward cycle. People living in poor housing without access to clean water, sanitation or basic health facilities are more likely to become sick. These conditions in turn place them in a worse position when they are unable to work and incur high costs for health care and medication. Poor health further results in malnutrition and an increase in levels of mortality.
Child Labor:
Ever since the 1960s, the share of children
affected by poverty has only got bigger and bigger. Children are those who have
the least choice and ability to change what happens to them.
There isn’t much they can do to help their families, nor should they have to. Until they can stand firmly on their two legs, usually by the age of 6, then they can be enrolled willy-nilly in child labor. Nearly all possible effects of poverty have an impact on children’ lives. Poor infrastructures, unemployment, lack of basic services and income reflect on their lack of education, malnutrition, violence at home and outside, child labor, diseases of all kinds, transmitted by the family or through the environment.
There isn’t much they can do to help their families, nor should they have to. Until they can stand firmly on their two legs, usually by the age of 6, then they can be enrolled willy-nilly in child labor. Nearly all possible effects of poverty have an impact on children’ lives. Poor infrastructures, unemployment, lack of basic services and income reflect on their lack of education, malnutrition, violence at home and outside, child labor, diseases of all kinds, transmitted by the family or through the environment.
Street crime
Crime varies over time and
space; it’s high in specific areas and low in others, usually with huge
differences in wealth. This has always led experts to study why and what happens
in those places where there is a concentration of crime.
It’s unquestionable that crime ranks high among the effects of poverty, and those impoverished neighborhoods or entire cities show the same problems with uneducated adults and kids that nurture more unemployment and crime, and then leading to chronic, long-lasting poverty.
It’s unquestionable that crime ranks high among the effects of poverty, and those impoverished neighborhoods or entire cities show the same problems with uneducated adults and kids that nurture more unemployment and crime, and then leading to chronic, long-lasting poverty.
Suicide
Suicide in Pakistan has been a long-term social issue and is a common
cause of unnatural death. Incidents of suicide are often reported in the press
and newspapers throughout the country as well as by several non-governmental
organizations. Poverty is one of the major causes of suicides. Suicide is
considered a criminal offence, with punitive laws imposed in place for attempted
suicide. National suicide statistics are not compiled on a formal level nor
officially reported to the World Health Organization, thus leaving any obtained
data to be neglected and underreported. While suicide patterns have
traditionally been low, there has been a slow and steep increase in the past
few years.
Prostitution
Prostitution in Pakistan is a taboo culture of sex-trade that exists as
an open secret but illegal. Prostitution is largely based in organizational
setups like brothels or furthered by individual call girls in the Punjab and
Sind provinces of Pakistan. Poverty is also a major cause of prostitution in
Pakistan.
Illiteracy
When there is poverty in country, new infrastructures and plans for
educating people are given a hold. This set back affects the whole country and
the increases the illiteracy rate. Poor parents sent their children to work
instead of sending them to schools.
Global Poverty
statistics
As we can see
from the table above, Pakistan has a population of 24% living below the poverty
line. Whereas neighbouring countries like India, despite being four times in
population, has a 25% average below the poverty line and Iran at only 18% poor
population. China on the other hand has a population of only 2.8% below poverty
line.
United States
has 12% of its population living in poor. And Taiwan being the lowest on the
basis of poor population stands at 1.16% only.
Trends of poverty with
in Pakistan
Role of government in reducing Poverty
Initiatives
taken:-
PRSP II
With the first generation poverty
reduction strategy (PRSP-I) having completed its period of implementation, the
next generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)-II (2008 09-2010 11)
was finalised with an aim to reduce poverty by regaining macroeconomic stability.
The Strategy was built upon nine pillars, which were based on a nine point
economic agenda of the government with the main thrust on economic growth,
reduction in poverty and human development, which help to achieve this
objective. This nine point agenda includes pillars like the provision of
infrastructure particularly an integrated energy development programme, better
and improved delivery of services in the form of better governance, increasing
productivity and value addition in
agriculture, making industry internationally competitive, providing capital and
finance for development focusing on
microfinance.
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)
With a view to cushion the sharp rise in international oil and food prices and
the adverse social impact of the global financial crisis, the Government
launched the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as its flagship safety net initiative in 2008.
The BISP is to serve as a platform to provide cash transfers to the vulnerable
identified on the basis of a poverty scorecard and are to be backed by an exit
strategy. This strategy includes
imparting training to one member of
each vulnerable family to sustain himself. In
the initial stage, the programme was to provide
monthly cash transfers of rupees 1000
to poor households identified through a poverty
scorecard. The recipients of the cash transfer
are the females of the household BISP
is expected to have a direct effect on consumption
and income levels of the beneficiaries
by: 1) reducing consumption based poverty, 2) improvements in health and
nutrition, 3) income generation 4) human
development. During 2008-09, a total of Rs. 14 billion was disbursed to
1.76 million beneficiaries
across all parts of the country
in shape of the cash grant of Rs.1000
per month.
Punjab Food Support Scheme or Punjab Food Endowment
Fund
(PFSS) or (PFEF)
The Punjab Food
Support Scheme (PFSS) was initiated by the Government of Punjab in 2008. It was
originally designed to provide food stamps for the poorest households, but has
now been converted to a cash grant of Rs 1000 per household per month. In this
sense it
is exactly like the BISP, except for it is run by the Punjab province. The targeting
relies on
local government officials (district and union councils) and political appointees
to propose an initial list of beneficiaries. The subsidy is aimed at households
that do not have a bread-earner; widows, orphans, and the destitute;
chronically sick and/or disabled persons; elderly persons who have been abandoned
by their family; and the poorest of the poor segments of the society with
marginal incomes. The scheme covers both rural and urban areas, with a total
estimated subsidy of Rs 21.6 billion for 1.8 million families. The first two
phases of the scheme have covered about 1 million beneficiaries. It also took
up a program called Punjab ``Sasti Roti Scheme``, in which bread from shops
were of 2Rs only.
Punjab Yellow Cab Scheme
Punjab Yellow
Cab Scheme is a programme under the government of Punjab in which Yellow Taxis
were provided to unemployed people on interest free loans. Yellow
cabs would be given to graduates less than of 35 years of age. The method
would be transparent and through the ballot system. There is quota for them on
the population basis in all the areas of the Punjab province. One hopes that it
goes well and provides some relief to educated and jobless youth of Punjab.
President RozGaar Scheme
The president
rozgaar scheme was started by PML-Q or President Musharaf in 2007. Under which
unemployed poor people were given Rickshaws on interest free loan basis. The
main idea of the Scheme was that the bank gets a return on rickshaws we helped
finance. But the scheme failed and the scheme was suspended in January 2009. A
senior official of the bank said that the default rate on the scheme was 80
percent in Lahore and the bank suffered overall losses of Rs4 billion
.
Millennium Development Goals
Millennium
Development Goals are a type of pact signed between different developing
countries which make certain set of goals and sign to achieve them by the time
limit provided. Millennium Development Goals of Pakistan 2010 covers the four
years since 2006 in which numerous and far reaching developments
have taken place which have transformed the social, political, and economic
landscape of Pakistan, all having an impact on the outcomes, achievements and
targets of Pakistan's Millennium Development Goals. Pakistan has faced serious challenges
in the last four years towards meeting many of the MDG targets. The first
goal was ``Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger``. Pakistan lies on this table
at the first goal:-
Pakistan needs to work a lot it wants to achieve
these goals by the end of 2015.
Conclusion
In the end we
can say that we and our government should take immediate steps towards the
eradication of extreme poverty. And this can be done with the collaboration of
both national and international agencies along with the help of local people.
So the best
conclusion is Solution
References:-
Books:-
“Poverty in Pakistan”
By Dr. Akmal Hussain
“Poverty alleviation in countries”
By Dr. Chris
Ravenhill
“Pakistan- a country of peace”
By Dr. Ishrat Husain
Websites:-
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