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Poverty
Poverty indeed is the most challenging problem faced by the developing and
under developed countries in the modern world. It is not wrong to say
widespread poverty in the developing and undeveloped countries
distinguishes them from the developed countries, where the absence of
poverty is most conspicuous.
What is poverty?
We may define it as socio-economic phenomenon due to which the
persons affected by it may not be able to provide themselves, even the basic
needs of their lives i.e.:-food, clothing and shelter.
In short, when a man has lower income or is not able to meet both the ends,
he is called poor and the state is called poverty.
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and
between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the
percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the
human body (approximately 2000-2500 kilocalories per day). Absolute
poverty is a condition that applies to people with the lowest incomes, the
least education, the lowest social status, the fewest opportunities, etc.
1. Personal factors
Among the personal factors may include the physical weakness,
habits, defects or diseases which may be hereditary or accidental. All
these factors affect the efficiencies of the worker to complete in the world
and adequate earnings. Hunter says “poverty and sickness form a vicious
partnership, each helping the other to the miseries of the most unfortunate
section of mankind”.
2. Illiteracy
An illiterate person either has no capacity or low capacity to earn.
Hence the illiteracy and poverty is said to be correlated. Many people
remain illiterate even after 55 years of independence the rate of illiteracy
is as low as 45 % according to 1998 census report. This has a direct
bearing on the destiny of the common man.
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
3. Idleness
This is also one of the causes of poverty in Pakistan. There are many
persons who do not work and prefer begging for their live hood though
they get sufficient opportunity of working. As a result of beggar’s are
found everywhere in the country. In many cases they are turned out of
job because of ill- health and are forced to beg. Hence there are in large
numbers in Sindh and Balochistan due to hot climate and weather.
4. Extravagance
There is no denying the fact that extravagant, persons are always poor,
no matter, how much money they earn because they spend the money in
no time and so they always remain under debt. In our country the
expenditure made on marriages and festivals result of in extravagance in
horrible. There is no money left for good living, education, sanitation,
medicine and other necessities of life. As compared to other countries
national income per capital in Pakistan IS VERY LOW Rs 22939. Hence
there is no margin for savings.
5. Geographical actors
The population of Pakistan rose rapidly during the last three years
decades while our industrial and agricultural production. A country can
develop only when there are natural resources. That is why the resident
of desert or hilly areas, who has lack of natural resources like minerals
and materials are generally poor. As a result of there factors poor is more
in undeveloped areas of Pakistan due to hilly and desert areas poverty is
more in Sindh and Balochistan. Natural climates such as droughts,
floods, earthquakes etc. according to the state bank of Pakistan report
(2001), “in the agriculture sector, the estimates shows the major crops are
likely to grow only by 1.2 %, and overall growth of the sector may be
around 2.3%.
6. Social Factors
Among social factors may be include the joint family system, the caste
and biradari, system and supervision which have been an impediment in
the economic development in the country. The joint family system
discourages young persons to go out and strive for new ventures. Due to
the minimum security provided by the family, people become lethargic
and homesick and do not like to leave their homes even if chances of
extra earnings are fair.
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
7. Economic Factors
c) No voice:
Ironically, poverty also means large segments of the population
having no choices in influencing economic decisions that affect their
lives. This is true even in countries which have no democratic system. In
Pakistan, it is well known that poverty has stratified the society by
leaving the poor marginalized in the structure, with the rich enjoying the
power, privileges and influence which they can buy with their wealth.
family was allowed to retain 932 acres in irrigated areas of the Punjab
and 1120 acres in Sindh.
This evaluation of our land reforms would indicate that feudalism is quite
an ugly reality. Consequently, the need of introducing effective land
reforms cannot be over emphasized. This, in turn, would ensure security
of tenure to tenant farmers and encouragement to peasants farming
leading to rural prosperity. In this way cooperative farming could also be
encouraged for better yield.
Like every other country, Pakistan is also facing serious poverty problems.
Let us see the major effects on the population and economy of the country
caused by poverty.
2. Poverty often leads to poor health in the people. Poor health in its turn,
leads to lower working capability, thus resulting in poverty again.
3. Since a very large portion of the earnings of poor people is used for fool
and clothing, they have little or nothing left to save. Thus, in case of the
poor, the struggle for survival becomes the most important issue from
which they have no hope to escape.
4. Poverty often leads not only to poor education or no education but also
sometimes develops a belief that education will not serve any purpose to
solve their problems. The first belief is easier to understand because it is
often seen that the children of poor parents are forced to discontinuous
their studies in order to take up some poorly paid job to supplement the
family’s earnings. The second belief develops when people see even
educated people around themselves unemployed. Consequently, they feel
that sending children for education is a waste of time and money. The
result in both cases is that the poor people are forced to remain illiterates
owing to which they are unable to get out of this vicious circle and
poverty continues unchecked.
6. The constant degrading life due to poverty often forces these people to
adopt anti-social behavior in an attempt to become rich quickly. Thus
poverty becomes an important factor in increasing crime, delinquency,
vice and prostitution, all of which hamper social development by creating
disorder on society.
7. Gross inequalities in society between the rich and the poor lead to the
development of frustration and tensions which tend to hostility between
the “haves” and “have-nots”. Such feelings of bitterness can often be
seen in the form of strikes, lock-outs, labor disputes and riots. All of
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
which slow down from the rate of economic growth and keeping the
country economically backward.
Eliminating poverty
In politics, the fight against poverty is usually regarded as a social goal and
many governments have — secondarily at least — some dedicated
institutions or departments.
• Establish rule of law that protects trade and investments from banditry
and from risk of state seizure and excessive regulation.
• Reduce bureaucracy so that entrepreneurship does not require a
Byzantine authorization process and reduce or eliminate fees for
licensing new businesses.
• Keep business taxes and regulations low to encourage entrepreneurship.
Economic growth
• The anti-poverty strategy of the World Bank depends heavily on reducing
poverty through the promotion of economic growth. However, some
consider this approach does not actively or directly work to reduce or
eliminate poverty. The World Bank argues that an overview of many
studies how that:
o Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction, and in principle growth
as such does not seem to affect inequality.
o Growth accompanied by progressive distributional change is better
than growth alone.
o High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty reduction.
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
Direct aid
• The government can directly help those in need. This has been applied in
most Western societies during the 20th century in what became known as
the welfare state. Especially for those most at risk, such as the elderly and
people with disabilities. The help can be for example monetary or food
aid.
• Private charity. This is often formally encouraged within the legal
system. For example, charitable trusts and tax deductions for charity.
The Borgen Project points out that while the U.S. government spends over
$230 billion dollars a year on military contracts, $40-$60 billion a year is
needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of ending severe
poverty by 2015.
Other approaches
Most developed nations send some aid to developing nations. Polls have
shown that, on average, Americans believe that 24% of the federal budget
goes to development assistance. In reality, less than 1% of the budget goes
to this.
Some argue for a radical change of the economic system. There are several
proposals for a fundamental restructuring of existing economic relations, and
many of their supporters argue that their ideas would reduce or even
eliminate poverty entirely if they were implemented. Such proposals have
been put forward by both left-wing and right-wing groups: socialism,
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
In his book "The End of Poverty", world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs
laid out a lucid plan to eradicate global poverty by the year 2025. Following
his doctrine, international organizations such as the Global Solidarity
Network are helping end poverty working with governments and partners to
help eradicate poverty worldwide with known, proven, reliable, and
appropriate interventions in the areas of housing, food, education, basic
health, agricultural inputs, safe drinking water, transportation and
communications.
The development challenges for Pakistan include achieving high and sustained
broad-based economic growth particularly in rural areas; reducing poverty;
providing essential social and economic services and infrastructure to the poor;
creating job opportunities, and improving governance. Noticeable progress has
been achieved over the last five years. However, poverty reduction is still a
major challenge. The core elements of the strategy in the PRSP (Poverty
Reduction Strategy in Pakistan) are:
a) Accelerating economic growth while maintaining
macroeconomic stability
b) Improving governance
c) Investing in human capital
d) Targeting the poor and the vulnerable
Both the process and content of the PRSP are viewed as dynamic in nature.
The Ministry of Finance took the lead in the formulation of PRSP in
collaboration with the line ministries, provincial and local governments.
This process included wide ranging consultations with stakeholders,
Parliamentarians, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and donors
at various workshops and community dialogues. This brought about greater
awareness of the PRSP, which will facilitate its implementation. Looking
ahead, PRSP will need strengthening the mechanism and corresponding
capacity building for periodical updating to reconcile it with emerging socio-
economic realities, impact analysis of policy choices, evaluation of poverty
reduction strategies, macro- economic targets, linkages between policies and
poverty outcomes, and improvements in the service delivery, as new data
from various surveys ands sources become available.
Towards these goals, the PRSP is being supported with a strong
participatory monitoring program as well as capacity building at each level
of government. The Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ)
survey will provide data for intermediate indicators in social sectors at the
district level to determine the baselines. Subsequently, annual updates will
be used for evaluation and impact assessment of poverty reduction
expenditures. The surveys will also evaluate the efficiency of public service
delivery systems, which will contribute towards the adjustment of policy
interventions to achieve target outcomes. The CWIQ or any other survey
except PIHS/HIES will not be used or recognized for poverty measurement
in the country. Social sector targets have been explicitly indicated in the
PRSP. Investment programs will be more specifically formulated as soon as
the costing of education, health and population programs becomes available.
The Government clearly recognizes that there are some risks and challenges
in implementing the PRSP. First, the effective implementation of the reform
agenda will require political commitment and pro-active collaboration
among many ministries and departments. To monitor and evaluate the
performance when there are gaps in available information, will require
developing a reliable and comprehensive database that is periodically
updated, for monitoring and evaluation of PRSP process is a multi year
undertaking. Second, capacity building will need to be addressed quickly at
the provincial and local government levels since both levels of government
are new to the PRSP approach and suffer from capacity constraints in certain
areas. Third, there is need to ensure consistency between the priorities of
three tiers of governments: Federal, provincial, and district. The mechanism
needs to be strengthened to transmit the priorities of the higher level of
governments to district governments. Fourth, the risk of waning interest of
Pakistan's international development partners in the country's development
process could jeopardize the significant progress made over the last three
and half years. The daunting challenge is to translate structural reforms and
stable macroeconomic framework into broad based economic growth. On
the whole, the success of the PRSP will depend critically on the effective
implementation, continuous evaluation of the impact and regular feedback to
policy makers for appropriate adjustment in the policies and institutional
Strategy for poverty Alleviation
regime, enhanced market access in the global markets, debt relief, and
concession lending to achieve the output objectives of the program.
Conclusion
Also serious effort should be made to improve overall economy. This will
provide not only economic opportunity to people but also help keep the
inflation rate in check, thereby providing relief to the small income people.
All this can happen if there is a sustained commitment and sincerity of
purpose on the part of the Govt. to see that projects relating to the poverty
reduction are properly implemented. Only and only then Pakistan can hope
finally to start winning its war against poverty.