16 May 2004	Sunday	25 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE: Gulzar Ahmed, 41, works as machine supervisor at a factory near Thokar Niaz Beg on Multan Road. Each morning, six days a week, he travels about 25 kilometres to work by bus or wagon from his residence in a lower income locality in Sadar. In return, he takes home Rs7,000 at the end of each month to support his wife and five children.

His five children were delivered at home and his wife was nursed by a dai before, during and after child births as he could not afford to take her even to a public hospital. Besides, hospitalization of his wife meant taking a day or two off from work at the cost of deductions from his salary.

His routine monthly expenditures are almost fixed for quite some time. He has rented a two-room house for Rs2200 per month and spends Rs800 on his transportation to and from work. Utilities - gas, electricity, water, etc., - consume another Rs800 on an average each month, leaving the remaining Rs3200 to meet other expense on food, education, healthcare, etc. He sends his four daughters to a nearby school.

Their stationery, uniforms, and other needs cost him close to Rs600 a month on an average. His only son is growing up and the parents are thinking of withdrawing their daughters from school in next couple of years even before the eldest reaches the middle level.

"We would like our only son to get good education from a private school, go to college and get a good job," Mr Gulzar tells Dawn. It is not that they don't want to educate their girls, but their limited income does not allow them to do so. Though he is not much hopeful of augmenting his income in the next couple of years when his son reaches the school going age, he does not rule out the possibility. "We would never withdraw them from school if have enough means to bear the cost of their education along with their brother's."

Otherwise a content person, Mr Gulzar got the shock of his life a year ago or so when his 15-month old son fell ill. "He had dysentery. We took him to the general practitioner (GP) in the area who examined him and prescribed a few medicines. I had hardly reached the factory the next morning when my wife called to tell me that his condition was worsening. I rushed back home, took the child to the GP. He advised us to immediately rush the child to a hospital.

Since the nearest public hospital is around 10 kilometres from where Mr Gulzar lives, he rushed his son to a private hospital. "I knew that it would cost us a fortune but I did not take any risk."

His son's hospitalization, medicines and other services cost him Rs6,000, almost his one month's salary. "It was for the first time in my life that I had to borrow such a heavy amount from my brother as well as neighbours. I worked overtime for several months to pay off the debt," he says.

Mr Gulzar and his family virtually have no social life or entertainment. His eldest daughter, a 10-year old, has been to the zoo just once in her life. They try to avoid going to weddings in the family because it requires substantial spending on clothing and gifts.

Among other things, their daily meals lack meat which they enjoy only occasionally and milk and other essential food groups. "When my daughter fell ill last month, the GP recommended a glass of milk and an apple in her daily diet for at least two weeks. We didn't follow the advice because it meant bringing these things for all the children. I did not want my other children to feel left out," he says.

Punjab is the home of 25.9 million people and one-third of its population living below the poverty line. As many people are estimated to be living just above the threshold who keep moving into and out of poverty. A sizable portion of the population is just a "shock" - whether in the form of an illness in the family or an increase in the utility charges or flour prices - away from moving down the poverty line. Mr Gulzar's can be said to be a typical, average Punjabi family trying to fight away the risks that can possibly accelerate their movement into poverty.

Poverty in the province is directly linked to the government's inability to provide equitable, quality coverage of social services - healthcare, education, water, sanitation, population welfare, etc., - to its residents. Although the government spending on education was increased to Rs42 billion and on healthcare to Rs14 billion in the budget for the current fiscal year, it has failed to create any impact on the life of the people, especially those living in the rural areas.

Punjab's poor social indicators result not only from lower than required spending on social sector but also inefficient use of the limited financial resources. Furthermore, the government policies have intentionally or unintentionally promoted vertical distribution of these services, leading to widening of gaps between different regions of the province as well as different segments of society. Some skeptics would say the greater the government spending on social sector, the wider the social gaps.

It is usually said, and rightly so, that barring a few exceptions, quality education and healthcare is available only in the private sector. But the private schools and hospitals remain an urban and elitist phenomena and are not available to the vast majority of the population. In fact, the private sector has widened the gaps between different income groups by consolidating vertical distribution of social services.

People are left with little choice but to doubt the intentions of the rulers when they hear the country's foreign minister, whose family owns an elitist school chain, saying: "You got to pay for quality education."

The province's social sector can best be described as inadequate in quantity, deficient in quality and inequitable in structure. Officials admit this criticism but blame unavailability of sufficient resources for the current state of affairs in the social sector.

"Punjab's per capita current expenditure of Rs1,251.2 is even lower than the poorest Indian state of Bihar's Rs1,397.71. Our per capita current expenditure is even less than the three other provinces," the officials insist. "In these circumstances, it is not justified to blame the government," they say.

What the constitution of the country guarantees to the residents of this country as their basic, birth right is being denied to them on one pretext or the other. Who should the people hold responsible for their lot, if not the government?