Ignorance of the law
There is a saying that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but lawyers are the only exception. Experience, however, shows that even governments and lawmakers seem to be ignorant of laws that they themselves have enacted. The Sindh Senior Citizens Welfare Act came into being in 2014 but, like so many other laws, it largely remains unimplemented.
Most senior citizens in the province have not been benefited by it in the past six years, not even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Quite a sizable number of male and female workers have either lost their proper jobs or their incomes have been drastically reduced, yet the Act has allegedly not been invoked to help the sufferers. Among such sufferers are women who worked either full time or part time at low-paid jobs to support their families. Many low-paid female workers, including those above 60 years of age, have lost their proper jobs during the prolonged pandemic and are now working at even lower-paid jobs to somehow support themselves and their families in these times of ever-increasing erosion in the value of money.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast, so they are still hopeful that soon the relevant law would benefit them. So far their hopes have not translated into reality. A report carried in this newspaper says a group of women from the low-income group in Karachi periodically assemble at each other’s place to discuss the welfare law. Unfortunately, the muted cries of these suffering women have not caused even little ripples in the corridors of power. These meetings have, however, strengthened their spirit of sharing and caring for one another. They share food items, give monetary and other help to one another, and their collective strength has made hospital staff to take care of all those who are in need of medical care. The public is interested more in caring governments than in politics. Let us shrug off all such maxims.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2021.
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