KARACHI:
Current trends indicate that the increasing rate of inflation in the country is a cause for much alarm. According to recent statistics, while the inflation rate has surged from 8.2% in August to 9% in September, displaying a significant increase within a single month, the price of wheat, a basic staple in the Pakistani diet, has risen by 42.1% in urban centres and 45.1% in rural areas. For the poor, these numbers may be extremely frightening since, being at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, they bear the brunt of corruption the most.
Unfortunately, apart from a few welfare foundations such as JDC and Edhi, there is not a single governing body that takes proper care of the poor and vulnerable. Instead, they are shunned further from society and are thought of as outcasts. Their life has been restricted to one thing and one thing only – putting food on the table; anything else is a pleasure they cannot afford. If the government is unable to bring about some semblance of equality or equity, they should provide alternative means for people to be able to feed their families.
Hani Gul
Turbat
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2020.
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