Pauperising the poor to extinction

LAHORE: People usually worry about prices at the time of new budget but this time around most Pakistanis are having nightmares on daily basis as they have no idea what extra expenses lay in store for them to bear.

One day power tariff goes up, on the other the gas tariff. They squeeze some expenses to buy tomatoes but as they reach the market they find that the rates of onions and potatoes have also gone out of reach.

They worry about increase in petrol rates that has cyclic effect on prices of all items and the transport charges. Prices have increased across-the-board be it kitchen expenses, school fees, drugs, house rent etc.

Most households are at loss deciding which expense to forgo and which to go forward with. They cannot afford to let their families starve but there are other needs in life like education, health, and shelter.

In most cases they are forced to compromise on most of their needs. Food inflation shows no sign of going down. A year back the poor could not afford animal protein like beef or goat meat. This year even chicken meat has gone beyond their reach. In recent past the pulses and vegetables were alternatives available to them. Now they buy expensive pulses and then ration its distribution to the family members to reduce its use.

The wheat flour is the only commodity that helps the poor fill their stomachs but its prices have also increased by 20 percent. Rice prices are also going up.

Edible oil is going out of their reach. Increasing tea, milk, and sugar rates have limited the number of tea cups consumed in a day by the people.

The poor having no access to piped gas have to buy expensive kitchen fuels like LPG and

coal. Tenancy is growing more and more expensive without a break. Schools are so creatively inventing ways to fleece the parents in return of a schooling that is more into colourful but costly activities and less into quality education.

On the other hand things are not moving on the economic front at least for the poor. They are regularly losing jobs and those who have been able to retain them have not been compensated for the prevailing mounting inflation.

Most of them are not even getting the minimum wage. The government has lost its writ to impose the minimum wage law. Most people in the country do not have resources to take two meals a day but even those that somehow fill their stomachs daily do not eat nutritious food.

The high-cost junk foods lack essential micronutrients. The malnutrition problem thus exists in both poor and affluent segments of society. The threat of malnutrition in fact exists even in developed economies.

Most of them have addressed the issue through low-cost fortification of foods that are consumed by almost all segments of the society. We have only paid lip-service to food fortification because those that have the power to ensure it do not suffer from malnutrition.

The state has not played its role to reduce the miseries of the poor. Strategic planning made on flawed data naturally fails to give desired results. We all know there are more poor people in Pakistan than the affluent.

Around 40 percent live below poverty line and 30 percent are on the border of poverty. The poor living below poverty line spend up to 80 percent of their earnings on food. Those living on the boundary of poverty spend 60 percent of their income on food -this portion of society earns from Rs17,000-20,000 per month.

These two sections especially suffer from malnutrition. Still the weight of food in our consumer price index is 38 percent. When we devise strategies on this data we are bound to create trouble for the poor. The immediate future does not look to bring happiness for the poor. Our growth rate is going down that means more hardships for the poor and more loss of jobs.