Fighting Poverty in Pakistan

I forgot to mention in my earlier interact #24.......excellent article, and more so intelligent interacts, except mine!!!..Yes , there is a reason why i`m trying to bring up india as an example in the south asian region.If we(indians) can do it and get the world to respect us, pakistan can too.If pakistan can do it independantly, all power to them, but i believe that if pakistan were to join india in creating a free market for south asia, all the peoples of the region will benefit.India by itself is a big market.You have to give the devil its` due.pakistan should be more accomodating towards india for its` own advantage!!!.

I was actually kinda proud to be indian today morning.Getting ready almost all the news channels i clicked on, BBC, CNN. NDTV, DD,Headline news , STAR all had blurbs of Condoleeza Rice and Natwar Singh`s press conference where she used the two terms ``global factor`` and ``global influence`` when alluding to India.They showed photos of Natwar meeting Bush and said Bush described india as a ``global power``.The chinese have now officially mentioned that they welcome india for a permanent seat at the UNSC.Meanwhile the stock market has been crashing in Mumbai.Too much of a good thing i guess!!.Anyways, we all know that the stock market is just a legal scam anywhere in the world.The indian economy is real now, its` strength is real and more so its` potential.That the world is acknowledging us is what makes me happy.

I raise a toast to the average indian, exemplified by the middle classes, not sophisticated or intellectual, but doggone intelligent and hardworking, now reaping the fruits of their labor.They drive the same cars as their counterparts in the west, enjoy the same lifestyle ,and what with airlines competing to enter india and indian carriers allowed unfettered access the world over , vacationing abroad is becoming as common as a vacation in india.Air India`s low cost arm, Air India Express is offering an inaugral airfare of Rs.2750.00 from new delhi to dubai this month!!!.Hey, even an autorickshaw driver can take a trip outta the country for the weekend.The india of today is exemplified by young people like Shahzad kalim, 24 years old and winner of Lakme Fashion House, a reality show on STARONE!!.His parents wanted him to be a doctor someday, but instead he chose fashion, went on this show and caught the attention of Donatella Versace, who was in Mumbai and was one of the judges in the finals!!!!.Good luck to him and all the other young indians who are breaking out of the stereotype of doctor, engineer, accountant treadmill.Also, the kid from the lower middle class suburb of Mumbai who went on to become the first ``indian idol`` is all set to release his first album.Good luck to him too!!!.

Also, saw a blurb of Musharaf describing the LoC as a ``soft border`` to two white tv interviewers!!!.Reality my friends.I like Mush.He knows when to fold and does it in style.Good man.`

Excellent article. Any mention of SPDC means the writing is a must-read anyway. Kudos to the SPDC team for consistently bringing excellent social development literature to the table.

Interesting how we sit up and listen when the IMF or the WB tell us we are doing poorly. The situation as some of the readers mentioned is not as simple as who to lay the blame on. The money that you desperately need for your grandiose (sometimes redundant projects, like the Kalabagh Dam) can only come from these multilaterals. Being a third world country is no fun, you have to listen to the dictates of the hand that feeds, even when you know the cons outweigh the pros. The structural adjustment facilities the social action programs...all of them added to the numbers below the poverty line not just in Pakistan but in several other nations as well. According to one study, 12 out of 15 African nations that were included in WB economic programs did more poorly in poverty statistics than non-participant nations.

But then that is only part of the story. Each country has the right to take its own actions. If we take the example of India`s fiercely independent inward-looking economic policies of a couple of decades ago we can see one reason why it is dictating the global market right now. I am not saying that is necessarily the way to go for Pakistan, but searching for indigenous solutions to our growing income inequality certainly is. The Pakistani leadership is in a position to take some bold steps right now, it has done so on many levels already so why not now abolish a meance like feudalism? If India did it years ago, so can we. The poorest of the poor is the landless peasant who sells his labor to the landowner for a non-existent fee, his future generations are mortgaged by the landowner, who is also the village moneylender. This is the worst form of economic abuse.

If combating poverty has to be a priority it has to be many-pronged approach. Literacy and employment growth are certainly two of the most important factors, but then so is improving rural economic sustainability, since that is where the bulk of our population lives. If there are improvements in rural infrastructure, there will be sustainable rural economic growth which will also help decrease rural migrants to the cities, in turn easing pressure from the limited employment and housing opportunities in the cities.

Ghazal

Romair..romair

Before you post the next one on 10 billion in reserves for pakistan, cut the following out and paste on your bedroom wall...it is from jang of today. Note the details..8.30 in the morning...the killers cooly walked away. That has the hall mark of a jihadic killing, the cold blooded dont care for a damn and wantom killing. The man must have been from another sect, religion, ahmadia. Like so many of the doctors ho were killed.

That is collapse of civic society and no amoount of $, not even a trillion dollar housing project can change. To change that you have to sink deep into your hearts, the history, the pak.org history, the vaues that made ghori to be honoured with name of a missile while abdus salam will not even get a promary school named after him. That is the ore social value of pakistan which impressed so much the stuka the dost mitters of india


Open letter to the President

Sher Khan

Dear General:

For most people of this country, April 1 this year was just another day in the daily grind for survival, 11 billion dollars or so in our foreign exchange reserves and mega projects notwithstanding. For my extended family and me, it will always remain etched indelibly in our memories as the day when Saleem Azeem, my younger brother ten years my junior, was held up, shot twice in the head at point blank range no more than one hundred metres from his home in Karachi DHA Phase 8, as he was being driven to work along with his 22 year old daughter at about 8:30 am.

He died instantly, slumped on his daughter`s shoulder. The murderers casually walked to their getaway car and drove away. On hearing the shots Saleem`s 20 year old son came out to see what was happening, to find his father shot dead in cold-blooded murder. This episode, lasting not more than a minute or so, turned our whole world topsy-turvy forever.

Saleem was no terrorist, gangster, mafia don, smuggler, sectarian leader, fundamentalist rabble-rouser. He was not a politician, had no feud or even a quarrel with any body, and had never harmed any one in his entire life. He was just a 55-year-old business executive working with a multinational, who chose to return to Pakistan after a four year stint in Sri Lanka to be in his own country, just going off to work for a living. A more lovable and caring person would be har

Suicides and income

At the macro levels suicides especially teenage suicides increase with income and educational levels, japan and kerala are good examples where suicide rates are comparable.
Pakistans case is different similar to what happens during draught in most parts of india. The crop failures results in unpayable debt burden and many mature age men take this option. In pakistan the crop failure sympton is ever present, where the failure of the civil society leaves no hope for any reasonable person.
The violence of the jihadic criminals, the arbitary actions of the police, ever present exploitation by the military can only compound the travails of poverty. A country where army has farming rights, where it makes corn flakes to cement, which has the highest number of armoured cars, where it has siezed the fishing rights to a lake...wel any one who is alive in pakistan lives in a dark hole.

What comes through (to me, anyway) from this article is that the growth rate (which would fluctuate over years) is insufficient to help the poor, even if it is “high” for a certain time period. The other key ingredient, which must be supplied over the long run in a sustained manner, is the education of the masses, which in turn will provide all other kinds of secondary benefits leading to a better “trickling down” of the benefits of such growth to them. I am sure Mr. Aziz is aware of this fact, but keeping a positive outlook is perhaps a requirement of his job, and he can only work with the tools that ARE available to him, and act only according to his own training!

I do disagree with the author regarding the linkage he draws between an increasing suicide rate and the state of the economy. The vast majority of individuals living under the same conditions of hardship do not automatically turn to suicide as the “ultimate answer”. In most cases, the depression that leads to such decisions is a REAL disease of the mind which needs to be recognized and treated. There are times when specific events may trigger an act of suicide (if a depressed condition already exists). Examples would include instances such as when numerous individuals committed suicide in India upon death of certain popular movie stars or politicians. However, poverty (being a chronic condition), is unlikely to provide such a trigger. (It just IS.)

Re : romair # 8
The rise in property prices in Pakistan is most probably due to the adverse investment climate for Pakistani’s in the post 9/11 scenario. Pakistanis are apprehensive of investing in the west and are moving their money to Pakistan. Real estate is looked upon as a safe bet. If the economic fundamentals do not support the rise there will be a correction.
There was phenomenal rise in property prices in Mumbai in the early nineties. Property prices were the highest in the world. There was a correction and they have not risen for 10 years while property prices have been rising steadily everywhere else in the country.

Regards,

Faruk

A really well written article.

Regards,

Faruk

An excellent article!

As a side note, if I had 75 lakh rupees, I would not waste it on a cricket bat; I would invest it in an educational facility.

Ciao

It is a pretty accurate picture you present, Mr. Kamal Siddiqi. IMF and the World Bank prescribe “Structural Adjustment” while the local dictatorship regimes talk about uppating the growth rate if that will show results (yeah sure!). (It is a boring and chotiya argument to blame the world financial institutions for the genetic stupidity of poor coutries that will remain poor and marginal even without the Fund or the Bank). Your correlation of suicides to unemployment is totally wrong and very non-scholarly. Japan and the Nordic nations have the highest suicide rates despite being fairly progressive and developed nations. The real reasons for poverty in the developing countries are mainly the uneven distribution of resources across gender and ethnic lines (in many cases religious and sectarian lines as well), and self appointed dickheads who seem to have answer to every problem. How in the world can a soldier possibly know anything about backward bending supply curve or a banker about the dependency and modernization theories. Pakistan’s future is that of Yugoslavia’s recent past.

FROM BRITISH COLONIAL OCCUPATION OF PAK TO AMERICAN ONE