November 11, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 5, 1423

In Pakistan, about 47 million people are living below the poverty line, says the Asian Development Bank report titled “Poverty in Pakistan: issues, causes and institutional responses”, excerpts from which have appeared in the press.

We should indeed be grateful to international agencies for carrying out studies and for identifying our ailments. However it has to be realized that ultimately it is for us to consider and adopt measures for resolving our problems including poverty. It is not necessary for us to swallow line, hook and sinker, all the solutions given to us by others. It is really the wearer who knows where the shoe pinches.

It is suggested that while we may pay full attention to what others tell us, we should think hard as to where things have gone wrong and then devise our own plans to manage our problems. According to the ADB report, the level of poverty increased from 26 per cent of the population falling below the poverty line in 1993 to 32 per cent in 1999. The report states that the number of people falling below the poverty line has been increasing after 1999 and is now estimated to have risen to to 35 per cent, i.e. the level of increase appears to be the same as was witnessed during the period of 1993- 1999.

One factor, which is aggravating the problem of poverty and which does not appear to have received attention in the report is that of the population explosion, which is taking place in the country. Unless some urgent measures are taken to check the population growth, it may be difficult to check poverty. As more and more people get added to the population, they need more and more water, food, clothing, housing and employment. Addition of each mouth puts strain on our resources, which are already under considerable strain.

It was really surprising to see the bank officials maintained during the press conference that poverty in Pakistan is rising, although substantial local and foreign funds are being spent to address “this very serious issue”. This calls for a hard look at the policies, which have been pursued hitherto in this regard.

According to these officials, political instability, law and order situation and the situation on the borders could continue to cause problems in addressing the issue. These are indeed very serious problems and one cannot too strongly stress the need for addressing these. The situation on borders may however need the help of the world community in order to bring India to the table for a dialogue.

The report also cites poor governance as one of the primary causes of poverty. The report states that the effects of poor governance have compounded the economic causes of rising poverty. At the same time, social factors such as the highly unequal distribution of land, low level of human development and persistent ethnic and sectarian conflict were serious impediments in the way of achieving long-term poverty alleviation.

To the list of social factors, one may also like to add unequal distribution of wealth resulting in the weakening of the middle class, lack of employment opportunities as a result of World Trade Order, redundancies in existing establishments, etc. We appear to be placing more and more reliance on large-scale private sector organizations, which appear to have failed to establish any models of enterprises worth emulating. Another curse, which is assuming more and more dimensions, is the informal economy, which is giving rise to concentration of wealth in a few hands and is thus aggravating poverty. This does not appear to have received attention in the report.

According to the report, poverty is concentrated in rural areas, where 70 per cent of our population resides, but where it is stated that feudal social structure, illiteracy and over-reliance on agriculture have been categorised as the main culprits. One can agree wholeheartedly with the ADB for taking steps to reform the feudal social structure and improving literacy, but one can not agree with the suggestion to lessen reliance on agriculture, which is the backbone of our economy. It still employs 50 per cent of the work-force, is a source of raw materials for our local industry and makes significant contribution to our foreign exchange earnings through direct exports as well as through agriculture-based products.

The bank is of the view that the fight against poverty needed to focus on creating jobs in non-agricultural sectors.It said said that agriculture is not a means to resolve poverty. It is not possible to agree with this view. The remedy lies in reforming the agricultural sector by introducing new technologies and practices for improving productivity and by setting up more dams for storage of water to mitigate the effects of drought.

For moving the wheel of agricultural production forward, urgent attention needs to be given to reform the feudal structure. In this connection it may be pointed out that of the total number of farmers, 93 per cent are small ones, who own less than 5 hectares. Out of these 47 per cent own less than 2 hectares. The small farmers cultivate 36 per cent of the cultivable area. The remaining 7 per cent are big landlords, who cultivate 64 per cent of the cultivable area. If the issue of the poverty is to be tackled properly in the rural areas, the imbalance between the big landlords and small farmers need to be corrected by carrying out land reforms in right earnest. A highly skewed pattern of distribution of land has contributed to poverty and vulnerability of a large number of rural households. The incidence of poverty in rural areas is much higher (29.3 per cent) as compared to urban areas (12.8 per cent). In order to strengthen small farmers and to improve their lot, it is necessary that co-operatives be introduced for them. It is unfortunate that over the years, co-operatives have also become a tool of repression and exploitation of the small farmers in the hands of big landlords and big commission agents.

For achieving alleviation of poverty, the role of co-operatives need to be strengthened. Small farmers will have to be inducted in the co-operatives and the role of middleman will have to be minimized. A wholly wrong system of marketing has come about, which works only for the benefit of the middleman who has the money and small farmers are left in the lurch all the time.

As regards literacy, it has been stated in the report that Pakistan’s education indicators are the worst in South Asia.It adds that Pakistan’s public sector spending on education and health is barely 2.1 per cent of GDP, which is significantly lower than other countries in the region. The report says that 70 per cent of the adult Pakistani women are illiterate and that is the highest rate in South Asia. As far as the rural areas are concerned, the less said, the better. It is understood that in the rural areas the big landlords are strongly opposed to opening of schools lest their supremacy in their areas is challenged.

Poverty is increasing in urban areas also, which is clear from the law and order situation, rising costs of fuel and utilities, inflation, lack of employment opportunities and redundancies in existing establishments. It appears that some of the unemployed have taken to arms and are indulging in anti- social activities while some are even committing suicide. The middle class is virtually shrinking and the whole society in the urban and rural areas is getting divided into two classes i.e. the very rich persons and the very poor. Revolutionary steps may be needed for employing the large bands of the roaming unemployed.

In this regard, we could consider taking leafs out of the books of Hitler, who built Autobahns with the help of the unemployed and of President Roosevelt, who undertook construction of big projects in the public sector to overcome the Great Depression.

When talking about poverty alleviation, we all conveniently tend to ignore the disabled, which is a large segment of our population. A conservative estimate places their number at 15 million. They are the poorest of the poor. They are a burden on their families and are making no contribution to the economy. The United Nations have already formulated standard rules for providing them equal opportunities along with the able bodied persons and have circulated these to member states for enacting suitable legislation for them.

It is unfortunate that no legislation has been enacted in our country for the welfare of the disabled persons so far, which is making it impossible for them to join the main stream of economic activity. It is strongly urged that this large segment of population be also brought into the mainstream of the national economy as soon as possible.