The issue of largescale poverty remains at the forefront of all problems in Pakistan.
SHEIKHUPURA: The issue of largescale poverty remains at the forefront of all problems in Pakistan. Recent statistics show that poverty is at 26%, which means that more than 25 million people are living below the poverty line. Despite many efforts and promises made by various governments, no one has been able to come up with an efficient enough system to tackle the issue.
However, I would argue that we stop treating poverty as a problem but rather an effect of the selfish myopic thinking of our political leaders and economic giants. Alleviating poverty directly has never been the top priority of the elites primarily because they profit from the down-trodden. It’s as simple as that. To counter this growing class divide, the doctrine of ‘functional inequality’ was put in place and emphasis moved towards macroeconomics in the belief that it would pave the way for development and create more jobs through a ‘trickle-down’ effect, without massively affecting the affluent. But this neo-liberal idea failed because of rising inflation, corruption and illusory growth.
There is a need to radically re-evaluate the economic system altogether and introduce measures that prevent the accumulation of wealth towards a set of individuals or a specific sector. Only then can we think of solving this conundrum.
Zain Abbas
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2020.
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