ISLAMABAD, May 9: Budget planners have urged the government to offer increased wages and distribute land among deserving people from the next financial year to alleviate poverty. Sources said that planners also called for promoting small-scale enterprises and human development to effectively tackle poverty.

The Planning Commission outlined a number of new measures to ensure better income distribution and improved employment generation.

During various meetings recently chaired by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, poverty had been one of the major topics of discussion, with both the leaders conceding that the issue had not been effectively tackled over the past six years.

They termed poverty and growing price hike a “serious challenges” and said it warranted a comprehensive strategy to achieve the desired results.

According to the Planning Commission, poverty was fast becoming an urban phenomena and needed to be checked to avoid pressure on national economy.

“With increasing urbanisation expected in the coming decades, the number of poor in urban areas, mainly the unemployed and those engaged in the informal sector, will grow faster and thus turn poverty into an urban (phenomenon),” says its new study.

Generally, it said, poverty was a result of many factors, including lack of productive resources to generate material wealth, illiteracy, prevalence of diseases, natural calamities such as floods, drought and man-made calamities.

The commission was of the view that poverty alleviation should be one of the major goals in the next 25 years. Experiences of various countries showed that poverty below 10 per cent “becomes a challenge and pockets of poverty remain because of social and cultural rigidities which can be reduced through integrated programmes”.

“The trend of worsening income distribution ought to be reversed and the Vision 2030 should, therefore, aim to further improve (the situation).”

The share in the national income of poorest 20 per cent of the population ranged from six to 8.5 per cent in the past 50 years which needed to be increased to around eight to 10 per cent.

At the international level, an unequal economic and political partnership, as reflected in unfavourable terms of trade and other transactions for developing countries is also a major cause of poverty in developing countries.

Some cases of poverty are not direct, for example, traditions and norms which hinder effective utilisation and participation in income generating activities.

The study said that various poverty related targets need to be debated and made consistent with overall growth and investment, including social sector spending) targets to be finalised.

Alleviation of poverty by 2030 was the major gaol and experiences of various countries showed that poverty should be reduced through targeted programmes, it added.

The commission has termed it an “imperative” to manage more productive employment for nearly 30 million illiterate youth and bring them into the economic loop.