Poverty in Pakistan

Introduction : The word poverty derived from Latin word “pauper” means “poor”. Poverty refers to the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs such as clean water, nutrition, health care, clothing and shelter. Poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages. Poverty is one of the major social problems which Pakistan is facing. It is one of the most important and sensitive issue not only for Pakistan but for the whole world. Poverty can cause other social problems like theft, bribe, corruption, adultery, lawlessness, injustice etc.

                                              Information of poverty

poverty is the lack of basic human needs such as clean watering nutrition health care education clothing and shelter because of the inability to afford them.this is also refered to as poverty destitution .relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than other with in a society or country or campared to worldwide averages.poverty in pakistan is a growing concern as it is a developing country.although the middle class has grown in pakistan to 35 million nearly one quarter of the papulation is classified poor as october of 2006. as 2008 17.2% of the total papulation lives below the poverty.
                                    
                                                             Causes of Poverty

Lack of Education:
the literacy rate of pakistan is very low. most of people do not have any concept about the modern earning sources. most people are adpot technology for their business needs thats why business do not meet international standards and result as decrease in revenue which lead the society to poor financial conditions.

Materialism
in our social society are gradually becomes thinner and thinner a race of material object has been started even no one tried to understand the problem of others people are not ready to help each other at lost every one has lose his trust on others which effect our social and economic system and it is another cause of poverty.

Large Scale Import:
the import of pakistan is great than export big revenue is consumed in importing goods every year even raw material has to import for industry

Division of Agriculture Land:
pakistan is an agriculture country.most of people are  farmer by profession one has land which is fullfiling the needs of his family but he has to divide the land is not sufficient to support a family. now the families of his children are sufferind and spending their lives below poverty line.

Moral Culture:
the main reason for poverty is the social dishonesty and irresponsible behavior of people every one is trying to get rich by using unfair means. a shop keeper is ready to get whole money from the pocket of customer people doing jobs are not perfoming their duties well. in society the man considerd brave or resspectfull who do not pay taxes or continously violate the laws

Criterion of Poor:
the criterion of poor is that if a person is not earning for EX US $ 321.00 per is year considered poor but this was repeated later on the criterion is changed and now its US $ 2.00 per day

                                                          Effects of Poverty.

• disease are more widely spread because poor people cannot afford hygienic foods and pure drinking water which is much expensive
  
  
  
  
• poor families experience much more stress than middle class families are more likely to be exposed to series of negative events and bad luck including illness, depression. eviction job loss,criminal victimization and family death.
• homeless or extreme poverty carriers with it a particularly strong set of risk for families.especially children. homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition and immunization. they experience more health problems homeless women experience higher rates of low birth weight babies misscarrriages and infant mortality probably due to not having access to adequate parental care

                                            Reponses to poverty

•  Governance Reforms

      Devolution Plan
       the devolution plan aannounced in march 2000 is a fundamental governance reforms that aims to replace the existing highly centralized and control oriented government with a three tiered local government system that institute people centered  rights and responsibility based and service oriented government structures under the agies of the plan elected local governments took power on 14 august 2001 i 96 districts in the four provinces

• Access to Justice

       the government introduce several reforms and is in the process of intialing  others.to improve the administration of  and access to justice in the country for most among them is the sepration of the judiciary following the obilishment of the office of the deputy commissioner as a part of the local government reforms
further the govt has proposed building on the strength of existing local conflict resoulation system such as the panchayat to establish new institution to called maslihat anjumans. concillation commities  for quick resolution of private disputes at the respective local levels.
                                                                   Social protection programes
Formal system of pension and security
the employe social security scheme introduced in march 1967 was the first formal intitative .intially this scheme specifically covered workers in textile industry with the objective of providing protection against contigencies of sickness maternity work related injury invalidity and death in 1969 the coverage of the scheme was expanded with the inclusion of worker for commercial and industrial establishments having ten or more employees . the scheme was re organized on provincial lines in 1970.social security institutions in each province extend medical coverage to secured worker and their dependents

• Zakat and BAIT-UL-MAAL 

          zakat a donation to charity obligatory for muslims is pakistan main social or welfare protection system
the former system of collection of zakat was intiated with the zakat and usher ordinance of 1980 an amount of 2.5 percent is deducted from bank deposit and other financial instrument annually for payment of zakat .the zakat fund is administered by an autonomous zakat council that is responsible for the disbursment of funds to institution at the national level.at the province and district level local zakat commities are responsible for determining needs and allocation of funds to the deserving .pakistan bait ul maal was established in 1992 to provide assistance to the needy not covered by zakat example minorities funds for the bait ul maal are allocated by the fedral govt in the form of non laps able grants and small grants from the central zakat fund and the provincial govt pakistan bait ul maal provided support for Rupees 327 million to the needy during  the past financial year for a number of purposes such as medical support and education stipends.

Poverty Reduction Stratgey
the govt medium term development agenda is focused on reducing poverty in pakistan and bringing about significant improvement in the level of human development.to implement this agenda the govt prepared its poverty reduction stratgey during 2001 the draft of the poverty reduction strategey programe on which the poverty reduction strategey paper (IPRSP) is based was released for discussion in feburary 2001 this formed the basis for consultation and formed the basis of the govt negotiation of the PRGF with the IMF in DECEMBER 2001 the IPRSP encapsulates the govt medium term program of structural reforms.it is to developed in to a fully poverty reduction stratgey paper after the elections of actober 2002 

NON PROFIT SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY
the non profit sector has emerged as an important player on the recoginition and acceptance then ever before among all stake holdres including govt the society at large and donors are regards the role of the non profit sector in promoting equitable and sustainable development

WELFARE ORIENTED NGOS 
welfare oriented NGOS are primarly philanthropic institutions working with vulnerable groups example of leading welfare organization in pakistan are the edhi welfare trust and the ANSAR burney welfare trust.the edhi welfare trust for example runs a network of relief services all over the country and has been recognized internationally while the ansar burney welfare trust started as human rights advocacy group working for legal reforms

SOCIAL SECTOR SERVICE DELIVERY NGOS
Ngos and other civil society orgnaization focusing on social sector development or those limited to a sectoral focus in the health or education are numerous.these includes such prominents organization as the family planing association of pakistan social marketing pakistan the agha khan universty community health programe agha khan health service agha khan education service the society for advancement of heath and education bunyad literacy council the hamdard foundation and many other

KEY INTERNATIONAL NGOS
several leading internatioanl ngos have opreation in pakistan of which some focus more on direct implementation other on capacity building of local institutions while some attain to balance the two approaches invariably however international ngos key international ngos active in pakistan include the two major enviorment and conservation ngo world consevation unit and world wide fund for nature develpoment ngos such as action aid save the children foundations and the asia foundation and those in social service provision such as the marie stropes society and medicines du MONDE.


                                                  conclusion

   
         

To conclude, Pakistan has built its poverty reduction strategy on the basis of its own historicalexperience and incorporated the lessons of global experience also. The strategy has the inputsof all stakeholders but it needs strong political commitment, real devolution of powers tograss roots level, a vibrant private public-community partnership for delivery of services,change in the bureaucratic values and norms and a focus on gender disparities. Pakistan’s poverty reduction strategy has yielded handsome result in the shape of sharp reduction in poverty. Although, poverty has declined but the fact remains that 23.9 percent people of Pakistan still live below the poverty line. Further reduction in poverty is a major challenge for the government. A clear lesson from the past four years of Pakistan and from other countries’experience is that sustained growth on a consistent basis is needed to reduce poverty.Macroeconomic stability is, of course, a prerequisite for the sustained economic growth that brings the poverty reduction and rising living standards that we all want to see. Butmacroeconomic stability is not sufficient. Rather, it is the foundation on which to build athriving economy. Successfully targeted social programs, fair and broad based fiscal regimes,labor markets that promote job creation, and high quality education opportunities for theneediest, are also key to poverty reduction. If these issues are resolved sooner than later wecan embark on a path of sustainable poverty reduction.Pakistan’s poverty reduction strategy has yielded handsome result in the shape of sharpreduction in poverty. Although, poverty has declined but the fact remains that 23.9 percent people of Pakistan still live below the poverty line. Further reduction in poverty is a major challenge for the government. A clear lesson from the past four years of Pakistan and fromother countries’ experience is that sustained growth on a consistent basis is needed to reduce poverty. Macroeconomic stability is, of course, a prerequisite for the sustained economicgrowth that brings the poverty reduction and rising living standards that we all want to see.But macroeconomic stability is not sufficient.Rather, it is the foundation on which to build a thriving economy. Successfully targeted social programs, fair and broad based fiscal regimes, labor markets that promote job creation, andhigh quality education opportunities for the neediest, are also key to poverty reduction.

these are some poverty graphs to show the pakistan poverty status