Poverty in Pakistan: Impacts, Causes, and Way Forwards | Best for CSS, PMS Current Affairs, Pakistan Affairs, and Essay Papers
The answer is solved by Syed Muhammad Hamza on the given pattern, which Sir Syed Kazim Ali teaches to his students, who consistently score the maximum because of their attempting the questions.
Outline
Introduction:
Supplementing and, in some ways, overshadowing the other socio-economic malfunctions of society, poverty in Pakistan is perhaps the most dreadful fact. Inept governance, high unemployment rate, substandard education system, and other factors have grasped Pakistan ever since its creation. However, the development of economic ventures, pragmatic economic policies, and political stability may strengthen the fragile economy of Pakistan.
1- What is poverty?
2- Current situation
3- Impacts of poverty
- Increasing terrorism
- Boosting the rate of unemployment
- Declining Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
- Increasing child labour
4- Causes of poverty
- The crisis of good governance
- The political instability
- The uneducated and unskilled segment of youth
- The population explosion
5- Way forward
- To ensure a well-functioning of governance
- To build an efficient and peaceful political environment
- To draw out schemes and reliefs packages for the poor people
- To create new economic ventures
- To utilize man resources critically and effectively for the economic betterment of the state
- To revive the education system
6- Critical analysis
7- Conclusion
Answer to the Question
Introduction
Undoubtedly, poverty is the malice that destabilizes a state socially, economically, and politically. Like other underdeveloped countries, Pakistan is also suffering socio-economic declivity due to poverty. Moreover, it has led to many other social evils: corruption, unemployment, child labour, injustice, and terrorism. However, the deep study of Pakistan’s economic situation since its inception shows several factors behind the rise of poverty. The state’s political instability, a considerable chunk of the uneducated and unskilled population, the crisis of good governance, and unequal distribution of resources are a few factors contributing to poverty in Pakistan. Nevertheless, introducing pragmatic economic policies, restructuring the education system, creating working opportunities, reducing corruption, and sorting political and governance chaos may help pull the country out of the very malice. The following answer discusses the impacts and causes of poverty on the polity and the measures needed to alleviate poverty in Pakistan.
Poverty is a condition in which a person or a household cannot meet their necessities, like food, clothing, shelter, and education. Usually, poverty is defined in terms of money, called income-based poverty. According to Syed Akbar Ali Zaidi, “Traditionally, poverty is defined as some measure of monetary income considered adequate for subsistence. However, income in monetary terms may not be an adequate measurement of living conditions of the poor population”.
Compared to the days of inception, Pakistan has made notable progress in eradicating poverty in the last couple of decades. As per an estimate, by 2015, approximately 30 million people have pulled out the poverty, but covid-19 has reversed all the efforts made in the last 30 years. About ten million more people are expected to be added in nearly fifty million poor people. As per the Human Development Index 2020, Pakistan was ranked 154th among 189 countries. Despite many efforts and progress, Pakistan needs to take more measures to cure poverty. As per the statistics, about 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line and could hardly meet their necessities. Thus, poverty stands as the biggest challenge for Pakistan.
Poverty, as a matter of fact, has distorted the socio-economic fabric of the state. Poverty and a poor administrative system have given rise to injustice and corruption. People deprived of the necessities of life become easily engaged in terrorist activities; hence, poverty has acted as a catalyst in spreading terrorism. Apart from the poor law and order situation, poverty has also added fuel to the fire of unemployment. Lack of Foreign Direct Investment has brought a decline in the country’s economic growth; consequently, the youth of the country find no economic opportunity. Moreover, poverty has also given rise to child labour. According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics and National Child Labour 2018-19, about twenty million children less than 14 years of age are working to meet their family economic needs. To conclude, poverty has an adverse ripple effect on the country’s socio-economic fabric.
The number of factors explains the spike in poverty. For instance, the crisis of good governance has been the paramount reason amongst all the other factors. A huge chunk of Pakistan’s population is deprived of clean water, health, food, and education facilities. Moreover, political instability has blurred the country’s image. So that the quick shifts of powers between governments and dictators have shrugged the population’s confidence, the political stability of the polity has distant itself. In addition to political instability, the lack of skilled and educated youngsters has halted the economic progress of Pakistan. As per the report of UNESCO 2019, about 37 per cent of the youth of the country is out of school. Pakistan spends the least expenditure on the education system in its region, nearly 2.4 per cent of GDP in the fiscal year 2018-2019. Last, the explosion of population, becoming one of the prominent reasons for poverty, has immensely burdened the fragile economy of Pakistan. Pakistan ranks fifth amongst the most populated countries of the world. Thus, to combat the burgeoning poverty rate, Pakistan needs to plan critically.
In response to the challenges aroused by poverty, Pakistan needs to come up with critical, pragmatic measures:
- The state government must ensure the necessities of the population: health, food, and shelter are fulfilled. In addition, proper distribution of resources among the provinces should also be made practical.
- A peaceful political environment is the need of Pakistan’s economy. The political leaders and religious personnel must work on bringing stable and pragmatic policies in the interest of Pakistan.
- Different relief schemes may help poor people to meet their needs.
The proper function and distribution of packages, like the Ehsas Ration Programme, may help feed millions of poor people.
Moreover, new economic ventures should be introduced to indulge the state’s youth in uplifting the country out of poverty. Pakistan stands among the sixth in the top overpopulated countries, but a proper and effective opportunity can be drawn out of this challenge. Pakistan can use its human resources to flourish in agriculture, construction, and IT to unburden its fragile economy. The most overpopulated country may combat poverty critically and successfully by bringing new economic opportunities. And the most important solution to poverty lies in the revival of the education system. Unfortunately, the education system of Pakistan is obsolete and obscure. By rejuvenating the system, the youth of Pakistan would surely be able to draw new trajectories to pull the country out of the crisis. Thus, the abovementioned suggestions would surely help in plucking the malice of poverty and many other social evils.
It is high time for Pakistan to consider poverty seriously. By creating economic opportunities, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would surely get a boost. Consequently, the economic condition of the state would enhance. Similarly, Pakistan being a baby booster country, can enlighten its future by making its youth educated. As it is aptly said, “Education is indispensable for the success of a state”. To sum up, the government of Pakistan needs to appoint competently and well-qualified economists to tackle the uprising challenges. And other stakeholders must take their responsibility equitably.
Unfortunately, Pakistan has been suffering several challenges. Amongst them, poverty stands the most crucial. It has hampered the socio-economic fabric of the state and has also killed the creativity of many young and charming minds. Moreover, lacking food and other necessities have engulfed the dreams of many poor people. Thus, building economic opportunities and technical and educational institutions would surely help lift the helpless population.
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