Poverty in Pakistan

SameerAbdal Malik

Section H

Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the incapability 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.

Poverty is widespread in Pakistan and is particularly predominant in rural areas as compared to the Urban districts. Nearly 80 per cent of the country’s poor people, subsist in rural parts of the country.

The causes of poverty incorporate lack of education, poor access to health services, large family size, gender discrimination and vulnerability to environmental degradation and deterioration of the natural resource base.

The recent increase in the international prices of food commodities has had a considerable impact on Pakistan’s poor people. It is estimated that about 17 million people have coupled the ranks of the 60 million people who are food insecure and many more are at risk. About half of the country’s population lives in a condition of food insecurity.

The prevalence of poverty varies between pastoral and metropolitan areas, and from one province to the next. Poverty is widely and evenly distributed in the many mountainous parts of the country where communities are small, scattered and isolated, and where there are few major urban centers.

There may be differences on the precise measurement of poverty but it is widely believed that the incidence of poverty in Pakistan has increased during the decade of 1990s.

Poverty will never end unless there are real solutions to end it; solutions based on economic justice and political changes.

According to my perceptions and illustrations by journalists; ‘Poverty can only be catered via the full equality between men and women in public as well as private areas of life, a worldwide minimum wage of $20 per day and the end of child labor under the age of 16 with the creation of a subsidy for scholarship. Secondly by the guarantee of shelter, healthcare, education, food and drinking water as basic human rights that must be provided free to all. Thirdly a total redistribution of idle lands to landless farmers and the imposition of a 50% cap on arable land devoted to products for export per country, with the creation of a worldwide subsidy for organic agriculture.’ 

Dismal Situation of Education in Pakistan

I was surrounded by young children bare foot and half naked. Their eyes were questioning about future as their infant hands were still covered with grease. This was Sialkot, an industrial city of Pakistan which exports surgical instruments and sports goods to Europe. More than seventy percent of labor employed here are children aging 7 to 15years.

Even after sanctions placed on import of Pakistani footballs by European nation due to this reason, Pakistani government had done  little to resolve the issue. Questioning why these children are employed here, a local merchant told that this abundant labor costs cheaper whereby reduce their production cost. But when asked about their future he remained silent.

Child labor is a menace in our society that drags our nation’s future into darkness. Not only in Sialkot but from the ports of Gwadar to the teams leading expeditions to virgin glaciers up north, children are used as cheap labor throughout Pakistan.

What I observed during my three day stay in Sialkot was that the society is immensely dispersed in two Socio-economic classes: The rich merchants and the poor worker. Where industrialists are so rich that they construct an airport from their private funds, workers struggle whole day long for two time meals.  Much like what London was during industrial revolution : factories are practicing little labor laws and workers work up to 12 hours a day.

The children belonging to elite families take little interest in studies but they are sent to private schools by their parents. Some are lucky enough to graduate while majority joins their family business even before completion of matric. Those belonging to working family can’t afford education. Moreover, parents (who themselves are illiterate) finds education less important and encourage their children to find work.

During my stay, I was lucky enough to visit a local school. Different advertisements were pasted on wall outside and the gate was almost non-existent. I dwindled through the gate and walked down the corridor. Children were learning by rote and teachers were paying little attention to each individual. The funds provided to this institution were barely enough to pay of staff salary, and the staff employed was without any specific quality standard.

There is a little incentive provided by government to encourage these children to come to school. Although some private NGO’s work over the case and give each coming student some monetary benefit for each hour of stay but such campaigns need to be launched on massive scale. Furthermore, the labor laws should be tightened and factories must be inspected regularly to check if they are implementing these laws. Parents must be encouraged to send their children to schools and funds provided to this education must drastically increase.

Although there were efforts done to restore worsening education situation of Pakistan during Bhutto’s regime, since then no serious effort has been made by the federal government over the issue. If the education is not standardized and child labor not curtailed, the nation would suffer enormously in future.

Pakistan my Lalaland- reels for acute oil and gas shortage

Article: Sidra Shahid

It’s eight in the morning you are getting late for the class, you have to pick up a friend, and guess what?? You car is running out of oil and gas. The first thing you wanted to do in this situation is to bang your head and the second would be probably to let it be, get gas for your car, pick your friend, hit to the university and go into the class where the teacher is ready to hit you and when you are ready to utter something, she pounces upon you n say, “don’t expect that I would allow you to get in the class, take your excuse with you and get out of the class”. And you are left with the emotion of hopelessness on your face. You feel like the most unlucky person in the world and you wanted to shout loud that, “God why me?” and the devil in you pricked you and say, “Hey! Chill out dude! Get a life… roam around and get a puff with your friends… what are you sighing for??? You are out of the class man! You are surely better than other guys. Stand out and fly... You are a free bird.” And you as usual say thanks to respectful Mr. Devil stand up, tug your shirt out, Make your hairs spikier, and call your close chum and say, “Hey dude! What’s up? I am waiting for you at the sheesha lounge, be there in five minutes.”

Most of the people among us would face the second situation, well! Perhaps every one, obviously who would actually hurt himself??? “The precious us”. But in the current situation in our country when getting oil and gas for your car is as difficult as getting food for a deprived, you have to wait for the hours in the long queues at the stations to get the gas or oil for your car, and you don’t get late for the class as you don’t even get the chance to hit at your universities or schools, and both the situations go in vain. Since few months Pakistan is going through the shortage of natural gas and petrol. And recently the government cut short the supply of oil and gas and it was recently posted on the Pakistani blog (the Pakistani spectator) that 380 CNG stations have been closed down by the authorities in NWFP and Punjab. People are so upset and they are simply dumbfounded at this and wondering what they would do?? They can’t go to schools, offices, businesses, and universities. Patients are dying due to the absence and dearth of ambulances, which has been a victim of gas shortage. And not only has this, with this news the Pakistan got the free gift of “high petrol prices”. According to the local channel news reporter, the prices of the petrol are doubled, and profiteers are cashing it on this situation.

Sui northern gas is saying that they have cut the supply short to the stations because they want to facilitate the domestic users. But according to the TV and newspaper reports this is all very false, because the domestic users are also getting very little supply of gas. In one of the show of the local radio station, “FM 95 Punjab rung”, the radio jockey reported that; in the rural areas of Punjab the Sui gas is only available for specific time every day. Thus, the life of a lay man is totally on stake. From the business man to a rickshaw driver, everyone is facing the crisis through the scarcity of gas. A Lahori rickshaw driver, who started driving rickshaw after the prime minister’s rozgar scheme, said about the present situation that, “it’s very difficult for a poor person to endure in this condition. I couldn’t pay my bills, school fees for my children, house rent, and I don’t even have money to bring something for my family to eat because I am not able to drive rickshaw due to the gas shortage. In this situation what else could we do rather than attempting suicide??? What else could we do rather than blaming the government??? The slogan “roti, kapra, makaan” is really taking our lives away.”

The actual reason behind the oil shortage was that the PSO, with the permission of government stopped the supply of oil to Total, Shell and Caltex. The other reason was the flood situation in Pakistan due to which the oil refineries in the premises of Punjab were not in the working process and that results into the shortage of supply of oil.

But there is another end towards the story, the Pakistan defense revealed that the real issue is not the gas shortage; in fact these rulers are diverting people’s attention from the American war. America is conducting drone attacks in North Waziristan on every day basis due to which thousands of people are killed and thousands of people are forced to lick the dust of misery and hopelessness. People there are forced to live in the open, in the extremely cold weather. Government is actually creating one crisis after another just to drive the attention of Pakistanis from the American interference in Pakistan. Hence its “danger to democracy”, rhetorical drama that our government trumps up at times while sometimes it plays havoc with people’s lives through different situations like load shedding of gas and electricity just to make people busy with their own problems.

Watching the two ends of the situation the only thing that would come in everyone’s minds is that, what our government actually wants from us??? They want us to pay taxes for their international holidays and then in result are severely beaten by the intense crisis situation??? The present situation shows that the Pakistan due to the crises and negligence of government is on the verge to be shut down, and then there is no need for anyone to attack us as we ourselves with the help of our beloved rulers are leaping back towards the Stone Age, living with the candles, and we will die our own without any kind of military attacks.

But this is not the time to back down, at least not right now; there is too much at stake… our country need us all. Its sounds of help are echoing everywhere that we always ignore. But this is the time to wake up, to listen to the call of our own country and to realize every Pakistani the wretched reality. It is fine to go late in the class, having no electricity and wait hours for your turn to get petrol and CNG. But it is not right to be dispersed this is the time to get united because being a nation together we can fight through the crises and can conquer.

Sidra Shahid
BBA II
Sec: H
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