Poverty eradication - as remote as it gets

The countrys economic pain continues to bring hunger pangs to the land. The acidic reality needs no certification. Double-digit inflation consecutively for years and escalating edible prices has brought down the purchasing power of people massively. Fortunately or unfortunately, the situation in the developing world, as highlighted by the United Nations in its recent progress on the famous Millennium Development Goals, is quite contrary to the domestic status. Where the world is in jubilation over the expectation of early attainment of poverty targets and a fall in extreme poverty by half since CY90, the not-so-pleasing remarks for Pakistans poverty and food security have raised red flags for the social development sector. As a cause of concern in the country, there has been a long history of inequalities in public policies, like land reforms, subsidies, pricing and taxes, benefiting the well-to-do people and not the peasants. Also, there have been too many chiefs and not enough Indians, for policy implementation has been unfortunate, unmistakable from scuffling rural sector development. Deteriorating law-and-order situation coupled with institutional inefficiencies has taken the obstructive role for poverty reduction. Harms done by a deluging population against a tad spending on health and education sector go without saying. However, some trends of poverty reductions in the country are an extension of the overall developing world woes. The study has also highlighted a vivid fact that post CY08, deep economic recession and high food and fuel prices boggled down the rate of poverty reduction in the developing world. The contribution of young workers among employed exceeds that of adults across the developing world. In Pakistan, the share of youth as contributing family workers in total employment stand at 39 percent compared to 15 percent of adults, as per the latest available data. What could erupt as the regions greatest threat is the soaring youth unemployment. Food deprivation, another measure of poverty, has strengthened its roots in Southern Asia and the proportion of people undernourished has remained more or less between the 20-22 percent ranges from CY90 till CY08. Fuelling the fire further, about 80 percent of the refugees are hosted by the developing countries, and by the end of CY11 Pakistan had the largest number of refugees compared to its national economy.