Poverty, Pakistan and Future

Poverty erodes moral values.  It causes the morality of poor people to shatter. Poverty cripples down the strength of society and gives them a hard surface to live on. Nonetheless moral values of the society turn out to as a great peril for the poor people. These social values push poor people to the line of selfishness which eventually makes unethical and illegal means acceptable for them. Consequently it takes them to the heights of problems where there is no alternative pavement and they tend to erode away from their morality and end up committing crimes and violating acts. If there is poverty then moral values will degrade because poor people cannot buy food, cannot educate their children and cannot buy things that they desire.

Some people think that poverty causes people to divert from their moral values. This change may result from the inefficiency of organized policies by the government. The irregularity of institutions influences the proper flow of funds as well as the purchasing power of every class of the society. However, it is difficult for poor people to buy commodities to feed their families, since the commodity prices are too high. In consequent the situation leads the poor people to do unethical things. Then again the unethical acts erode the morality away. As in the case of Pakistan, a quarter of Pakistan’s population in living under the poverty line unable to live under average living conditions.

According to planning commission of Pakistan, poverty rate has risen to 37.5% from 23.9% during last three years. It is estimated that in 2005, 35.5million people were below poverty line and in 2008 the number increased to 64million with ever highest rate of inflation and unemployment.

Seemingly, the government and NGOs work hard for the public especially the poor class. They launch different welfare programs to provide the basic necessities to the poor people. Although, the efforts to bring a change within the society they think to have their own gains first. Corruption as it is named it gulps the majority of the funds that is collected as taxes from the people for the people. The elite class, being right hand of ruling class, exploits the poor through both organized and unorganized means i-e: government policies, regulations and monopoly in business. Inequality in society has increased crime rate, individuality, racial hatred etc and has made the environment conducive for terrorism and illegal acts.  Thus leaving the entire economy bankrupted and hollowed. Therefore poor people cannot afford to pay the fees for the education of their children because of the rising academic fee caused by the inflation and also by the inadequacy of cheaper and well-standard educational institutions. Since the children of poor families do not get admission in the schools they acquire the means of bribery. Though bribery is unethical and crippling down the moral values but there are no tracks for their easy survival.

Doubtlessly the government should lower the prices of the goods and services so that the people can buy things that they desire. Unfortunately, inflation plays a vital role in influencing the prices of the commodities. Hence it compels the poor people to do injustice within the society. They either buy from illegal markets or turn into beggars and thieves that deceive innocent people. Yet their moral values turn into a game of selfish spins. In my documentary by Geo, I have seen a lady beggar who lives in a full of every equipment that a middle class person would have. She used to beg for the purpose of earning extra money for the family. However Poverty eroding away morality includes, in the case of Pakistan, high crime levels (bribery to higher government officials and theft), disputes and killings within family for the sake of property, smuggling, human trafficking, slavery, gambling et cetera. And so this moves the poor people having fewer resources and means adopting unethical ways.

In Pakistan’s case, more curses of poverty are rising crime rates, rising corruption in government and private sector, social inequality and injustice, nepotism, radicalism, human trafficking, slavery, feudalism and gambling. Though the lesser privileged class thus chooses the path that drives away from ethics.

According to HDI (Human Development Index) of Pakistan, it shows that Pakistan’s HDI is 0.504 which gives the country a rank of 145 out of 187 countries. Comparing to the regional HDI data Pakistan stands below the regional average. HDI represents the quality of basic needs within a country in a statistical data method which helps to judge the gaps in the well being and life expectancy of the local people and connected to the outside world.

Pakistan government has started numerous projects for poverty elevation from country. But the ruling class shapes all the moral values as per elite’s aspiration which results in a spiral downward hierarchy. Moreover, Pakistan government has a project through the World Bank which is called the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) that empowers the rural and urban poor providing them access to resources and services. There are several projects that were sponsored by Government of Sindh (Sindh Rural Support Program), Government of Pakistan, Action Aid, Oxfam, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Program, Swiss Development Corporation, Department for International Development (UK) (DFID), Food and Agriculture Organizations(FAO), Norwegian Agency for Development Co-Operation (NORAD), NOVIB and other national and international organizations to attain sustainable development, women empowerment, poverty alleviation, food security, agriculture, land and water resources management, institutional development, social change and economic development.

The government is supposed to work for welfare of people and give rights to the excluded, less privileged and exploited ones. It should work for equality between the less-privileged and privileged ones and enforce code of conduct as per international standards for punishing those who go against the rules, deteriorates the stability, which eventually results in global unrest. Government should be transparent and accountable for duties &responsibilities. It should also be able to deal with all types of disasters in addition to political, cultural, social, natural, and economy related.  NGOs also carry out the similar responsibilities.

Poverty does change the behavior of individuals in attaining the rights that are constituted for them. When they don’t get the access through defined means they opt for unethical means, because the higher class doesn’t struggle for the common interest rather for individual interest. Apart from the efforts of the Government, NGOs also help in alleviating poverty, maintaining sustainable development, peace, equality and stability within the country by making the basic needs accessible to everyone regardless of social class, gender, minority or ethnic groups. Creating welfare programs and by maintaining the codes of conduct. Media also plays a vital role in normalizing the behavior as well as promoting the moral values within the society, which currently is being also under-utilized, causing a cultural change that creates conflicts within the society and country. Therefore the unfavorable financial conditions of an individual may lead to deviate from his moral values just to achieve motives by unfair means.a