Let me attempt a synopsis of the situation of the poor in our country. The Human Development Report, 2007-2008, just released by UNDP country director Alfaro Rodriguez, has the following:
1. Pakistan is placed 136th on a list of 177 countries, behind India. Bhutan and Ghana.
2. 76.6 percent of the population has daily income of less than $2 while 17 percent earn less then one dollar a day. In other words, over 90 percent are on or below the poverty line.
3. The national poverty line stood at 32.6 percent in 2004. In 2007 it stands at around 30 percent according to independent economists, though the government puts the percentage at around 35.
A UNDP report published in an English newspaper here a few years ago revealed the following facts about Pakistan:
1. 56 million people didn`t have clean drinking water.
2. 70 percent of the population had one-room houses.
3. 80 percent lived in unhygienic conditions.
But appearing on television talk shows, icons of the finance ministry give you a rosy picture of Pakistan. They give you certain facts and figures, especially of GDP growth and foreign exchange reserves, but cleverly avoid the factors of poverty, high prices, unemployment and the appalling conditions in which our people live. They ignore the fact that the benefits of their macro-economic achievements have not passed on to the poor of the country.
It makes no difference to ordinary people if GDP is high and foreign exchange reserves have gone up. They don`t even understand them. After January 2008, the finance ministry should be infused with a new spirit and formulate and implement radical economic policies that alter the lives of the poor people of Pakistan.