Poverty plagues rural Sindh

Despite the Sindh government spending billions of rupees on social protection programs, poverty remains deeply entrenched in the province's rural areas.

According to official statistics obtained by the Express Tribune, the Sindh government has spent nearly Rs20 billion in five years on a single poverty alleviation project, yet at least 70 per cent of the population across ten districts is still living below the poverty line.

The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index compiled by the Planning and Development Department's Research and Training Wing has shown that across five districts, more than 80 per cent of people are stuck in poverty. Surprisingly, poverty levels in these five districts exceed those in Tharparkar. The worst-affected districts are Thatta, Sajawal, Kashmore, Badin, and Jacobabad.

The survey also revealed alarming rates of malnutrition among women in these districts. While 50 per cent of women in Tharparkar suffered from nutritional deficiencies, the rate was even higher in the five poorest districts. In fact, 66 per cent of women in Thatta and Jacobabad, 59 per cent in Kashmore, 56 per cent in Badin, and 51 per cent in Sajawal were living with malnutrition.

Similarly, child mortality rates under the age of five were also highest in these five districts. According to the survey, 15.6 per cent of children under five died in Thatta, while the rates in Badin, Kashmore, and Sajawal were 11 per cent, 12.2 per cent, and 5.2 per cent respectively.

When contacted by the Express Tribune, Dr Sono Khanghrani, a board member of the Social Protection Authority, explained that a key reason behind persistently high poverty levels was the government's monopoly over service delivery in areas such as education, health, water, electricity, and employment.

"Improvement is unlikely as long as these sectors remain under direct government control hence there is a need to involve non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in service provision. Furthermore, poor law and order conditions in certain districts, namely Jacobabad, Kandhkot, and Kashmore are also contributing factors to the failure of poverty reduction programs," assessed Dr Khanghrani.

On a similar note, Dr Kaiser Bengali, a renowned economist, attributed the failure of poverty alleviation projects largely to the absence of effective monitoring systems. "For instance, Sajawal, one of the districts with persistently high poverty levels, had a government-backed poverty eradication initiative funded by international donors with an investment of Rs4 billion. This ultimately yielded no results," noted Dr Bengali, while talking about the district from where influential minister, Haji Ali Hassan Zardari was elected and holds the important portfolio of Works and Services.

Data from the Sindh Finance Department has indicated that with the support of the World Bank and United Nations, the government had launched an Accelerated Action Plan in 23 districts of Sindh to address malnutrition. Between the fiscal years 2012-13 and 2016-17, over Rs20 billion were spent, with a further Rs10 billion allocated to various social protection programs afterwards. Despite this, neither malnutrition nor poverty levels have improved.

The Planning and Development Department's poverty index report noted that during the 2018-19 fiscal year, the budget for nutrition was increased by 112 per cent, from Rs2.4 billion to Rs5.1 billion. However, nutritional outcomes only deteriorated further, with the proportion of stunted children rising from 48 per cent in 2014-15 to 50.2 per cent in 2018-19.

Later in 2022, the Sindh government also established the Department of Social Protection and the Social Protection Authority to oversee social welfare, which was previously managed by the Social Protection Unit within the Chief Minister's Secretariat. This department was allocated a budget of Rs15.43 billion in its first year, 2022-23, which was increased to Rs16.9 billion by 2023-24.