Eradication Of Poverty An Obligation

Last year the finance minister of Pakistan officially set the minimum wage of an unskilled worker at 10,000 rupees per month. However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has recently noted that the standard in existence is even lower: there are people who are on a salary of 7 to 9 thousand rupees monthly. But when the scribe of this piece of writing interviewed a worker at a hotel in Model Town, he revealed that other salaried employees are paid 5 to 12 thousand per month. Not to talk of rural and domestic workers, even urban are not protected by the minimum wage standard.

The vast swathes of the population are living in near or abject poverty. More and more people are quietly slipping below the poverty line. The greatest challenge such people are facing is making both ends meet. Their lives center on managing food, schooling, electricity and fuel. Most of them fight against hunger and malnutrition in their lifespan. For them sparing thoughts for an enviable future is allowable in just wild dreams.

Due to a total indifference to the needs of the impoverished by those at the helm, the ranks of the poor are swelling with every passing year. The posturing politicians and policy making elites display disregard for the welfare of the majority of the population. That is why they come up with the legislation which can benefit them and their ilk to the exclusion of all others. Reducing general poverty has never been high on the agenda of any political party in the corridors of power. The construction of new roads, putting more buses on the roads, initiating youth business loan scheme are all useful steps, but none of them is meant to bring advantage to the armies of workers who survive on the minimum wage.

Even the so-called middle class is just a relatively better-off section of the society. They feel excruciatingly uncomfortable when the prices of everyday essentials skyrocket. Even they struggle to pay their bills. Their annual pay rise fails to match a high rate of inflation. Therefore, their living standards too have plummeted.

Our state is unconcerned. The issue of economic failure concerns the elected representatives only peripherally. They are not bestirring themselves to give each citizen his or her due rights – the rights which are enshrined in law. Article 38 of the Constitution terms the fulfilling of basic needs of each individual the obligation of the state.

The government’s interest lies in pillorying the army and the implementation of Article 6; the common people have no concern whether the generalissimo is let off or penalized. All they crave is a financial status of sorts in society.

 BY
Muhammad Hanif
Assistant Professor At Lahore Garrison University