57m people living below poverty line in Pakistan

from The Post

Muhammad Kabir

Islamabad. Pakistan is facing high growth rate of poverty, putting a pressure on the low income group of the country and majority of the masses is living below the poverty line.

Poverty line has been stipulated at the international level. Two-dollar income of a person per day is considered the poverty line. All the persons who earn less than two dollars per day live below the poverty line.

According to a UNDP report, 65.5 per cent population of Pakistan earns less than two dollars per day. According to the Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC), 88 per cent of Balochistan population, 51 per cent of NWFP, 21 per cent of Sindh and 25 per cent of the Punjab's population is prey to poverty and deprivation.

According to the report of SPDC in Sindh, rural poverty is 49 per cent while the urban poverty ratio is 23 per cent, in Punjab, the poverty ratio of rural areas is 30 per cent while the urban areas' poverty ratio is 26 per cent. According to the recent report of Asian Development Bank (ADB), 57 million people in Pakistan are living below the poverty line.

According to the ADB report, poverty is spreading in Pakistan due to the rising population, Pakistan's internal situation, agriculture backwardness, unequal income distribution, defence expenditure, increase in utility charges and rise in unproductive activities.

Due to rapid growth of population, the number of dependents is increasing; earners have to carry the burden of the increasing number of dependents. This situation is leading to decrease in the per capita income of the people of the country.

The law and order situation in Pakistan is not satisfactory and hampering the local and foreign investment; suicide bombing and law and order problems are damaging the Pakistan economy.

The poor governance is also increasing poverty in the country. The largest sector of the economy, the agri sector, is heading towards backwardness as 93 per cent of the farmers are concerned with small farms whose per capita land is less then 10 acres.

On the other side, the unequal income distribution in the country is increasing day by day. A few number of people have captured business and industry; they are charging abnormally higher prices for their products which are inferior in quality.

The rising defence expenditure, resource shortage, debt burden and tax revenue shortfalls are some other reasons for poverty.

The prices of utilities like electricity, gas and water etc often go on rising.