Poverty is one of the concerns of the governments of almost all countries. There is a constant research on the policy by organizations around the world to identify the means to achieve a decline in poverty. The poverty is defined as widespread scarcity, or the condition of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. That is, they have little or no material means of surviving; little or no food, security, clothes, shelter, education, healthcare facilities and other physical means of living and improving one’s life.
As per the latest estimates, 24% of Pakistan’s population live below the national poverty line; which includes 31% in rural areas and 13% in urban areas. Further, 38.8% of the national population are poor based on the multidimensional poverty index (MPI); 54.6% in rural areas and 9.4% in urban areas. The situation is pathetic in terms of food security. The global report titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” reports 20.5% of the total population of Pakistan was undernourished during the 2015-2017 period.
The Country’s National MPI constitutes three dimensions of education, health and standard of living and 15 indicators. While each dimension carries an equal weight of 1/3, the weights of the component indicator differ.
The vision of Prime Minister is very clear to reduce poverty. In this regard, many initiatives were taken like Health Card, Shelter Home, Free Food and Ehsaas Program. Ehsaas is the biggest and boldest program ever launched in Pakistan to uplift marginalized people. Ehsaas is unique because of its multidimensional application, size and funding.
Following are some ways that can help to reduce poverty. These should also be added in the scope of Ehsaas Program:
Zakat system
The system of Zakat is best to reduce the poverty and help the poor to grow an independent source of income. The Zakat is obligatory on the people who have the money and they hold it for one year, they are asked to pay 2.5% of their money to the underserved and poor people. The Quran says on many occasions to pay Zakat:
“And in their wealth there is due share for the beggar and the deprived.” [Al-Zariyat, 51:19].
“And there are those who hoard gold and silver, and spend it not in the way of Allah. Announce unto them a most grievous chastisement. On the day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs. This is the treasure that you hoarded for yourselves. Taste then the treasure you hoarded.'”[Al-Tauba 9:34-35]
The system of Zakat is not very effectively running in Pakistan. Even we are claiming ourselves as the Islamic country, but the system of Zakat is poorly managed and not helping the poor people in the way it should be to get a respectable life. In Islam the payment of Zakat is obligatory, but in our country the law is too weak to collect the Zakat. It is needed to develop the trust on the Zakat department by making Zakat collection and disbursement corruption free.
Education & poverty elimination
The situation of education and awareness is very poor in Pakistan. The literacy rate in Pakistan is very low as compared to other countries. The awareness in the people to get their rights can be increased by increasing the educational facilities. The government should realize that health, education and security are more important than constructing the big infrastructure projects. There is need to open more technical education institute. So, the graduates can start their own technical-business and many of them can go abroad to earn foreign exchange.
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Health issues
One of the major problems faced by the poor people is inaccessibility of health facilities. Due to the reason, all their savings are spent along with additional loans for the health treatment. Sustain economic growth can only be achieved through increases in capital (both human and physical) and technology. Improving human capital, in the form of health, is extremely needed for economic growth. Knowledge on the cost effectiveness of health care interventions can be intangible but educational measures to disseminate what works are available, such as the disease control priorities project. The promoting hand washing is one of the most cost-effective health interventions and can cut deaths from the major childhood diseases of diarrhea and pneumonia by half. The Health insurance facility announced by the government is one of the nice initiatives that will help in improving the living standard of the public.
Agriculture sector reforms
Country’s economy is based on agriculture. More than 40% percent of the labor force is associated with this sector and generating over 20 percent of the GDP. It is evident that the earning per capita in the agriculture sector is low as compared to other sectors. Still most of the population still lives in the rural areas. Agriculture provides raw material for the industries and food. It is need of the time to increase the earning of the people associated with agriculture sector. The landlords are exploiting the farmers and paying them very low due to availability of a large work force. The positive sign in villages is that women work side by side with men, that is not seen in the cities.
Industrialization can change the fate of the people associated with agriculture sector. If government and private sector jointly start the industrial areas and announce incentives to install new industries in the shape of tax-free zones. The installation of new industries will provide opportunity to labor to move from farms. This will also help in increasing the wages of workers associated with agriculture and push the landowners to use the latest technology to improve the yield.
It is a known fact that when an industry starts in a rural area; the wages in the surroundings increase because the people can work in that industry. In this world of high technology, it is not possible to work with ordinary method and take the competitive advantage. So, the need is to reform the agricultural sector and bring it at par with developed countries.
Following are some other measures that can help in reducing the poverty. The important thing is that the government has already started working on many of them under Ehsaas Program.
- Welfare Projects
- Small Loans
- Debt Relief
- Empower Women
- Gender Equality
- Climate Change Projects
Let’s make a commitment that we will pay Zakat regularly to help the poor people in spending a life with dignity.
[box type=”note” align=”” class=”” width=””]The authors can be reached at twitter @farhan6309902[/box]