Rising poverty

AT a recent conference organized by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, renowned economists and scholars disclosed that the latest estimates suggest that Pakistan's 39.7 percent population is living below the poverty line. Well known economist Dr Akmal Hussain, quoting United Nations Development Programme's multidimensional poverty indices (MPI), said that the deprivation poverty in terms of basic necessities of life stood at 45.6 percent. Talking about inequality, he said the richest 18,000 are using 70 times more per capita income than the rest of the population of the country. According to him, a few thousand live in fabulous luxury, while 83 million individuals are deprived and children crawl to their deaths in starvation in some regions of the country, especially in Tharparkar. Dr Kaiser Bengali, another renowned economist, in his address said that the ruling elites did not have any interest in reducing poverty and inequality in Pakistan. He pointed out that in the case of Sindh, all state-owned land has been forcibly occupied by generals, bureaucrats and other influential members of the landed aristocracy. Dr Bengali stressed the need for job-creating economic growth and social enlightenment to have the right choices to bring about change.

This is what the experts are saying about poverty in Pakistan. Let us not forget that poverty is not just a figure, a number, or a statistic. It affects the lives of millions of Pakistanis all across the land. It is a major cause of deprivation not only from material goods but also excludes the poor from education, healthcare, justice, arts and culture, in short life itself. The World Bank's Poverty Head Count Analysis 2014 comes to the same conclusion: 60.19 per cent of Pakistan's population is poor. The poverty figures show that there is something drastically wrong with our understanding of the incidence of poverty and the policy attempts to alleviate it. Given that there hasn't been an official census conducted since 1998, exact figures are not available about how many more people have slipped below the poverty line in the last 15 years.

All governments, including the present one, want to show to the people and the world that their economic policies are working and producing results. But statistical jugglery cannot hide the ugly fact of rampant poverty in our midst. The situation is graphically illustrated by the growing army of beggars at each street corner in all big as well as small cities. Even common vegetables like potato and onion, the poor man's food, have become so expensive that few can afford them. Transport charges are rising, school fees have sky-rocketed and renting a house is now beyond the reach of the common man. All this is adding to poverty pressures in Pakistan. Even the middle classes are feeling the pinch now.

All over the world, social scientists are calling for targeted action to tackle extreme inequality and for education and health for all. Experts everywhere agree that those with the most to spare should contribute the most in taxes. This calls for long overdue reforms in the taxation system in order to transfer resources from the rich to the poor classes. But our government's performance in this behalf is most disappointing. In the fight against poverty the civil society also has to play its role. There are studies to prove that active movements at the popular level have improved social justice and wealth distribution in countries like Brazil and Bolivia. An active anti-poverty social movement is also the need of the hour in Pakistan today.