The recent devastating flood, affecting the lives of over 20 million in Pakistan, has once again uncovered the severe poverty that peoples of Pakistan are facing. The whole property of many hundreds of thousands fleeing from their mud homes in a hurry was just a trunk, few clothes and pottery and may be a donkey, cow or a buffalo.

The much-touted claims of economic growth and progress by successive civilian and military governments exclude millions of people languishing in hopeless poverty. This is the situation persistent in all South Asian Countries without exception. Under the influence of Neo liberal formulations, no longer the governments talk of “abolition” or “elimination” of poverty but only of its “alleviation”. The increase in numbers of poor is common in all countries.

According to Human Development Report 2009, Afghanistan is ranked on 132 out of 182 countries; Bangladesh is on 112, Pakistan on 101 and Nepal on 99^th position. This number only indicates the “absolute poor”-those who are unable to meet their daily nutritional requirements calculated in terms of calories. The number of poor would be far higher if other aspects of a dignified quality of life are considered. Large sections of the population –easily the majority- are deprived of basic necessities of life such as adequate shelter and housing, clothing, education and health services etc. They have almost no access to resources. Studies now indicate that the problem of poverty, even in countries like India that boasts of substantial economic growth, is persistent.

According to Pakistan, Planning Commission (2009), poverty rate has jumped from 23.9 to 37.5 percent from 2005 to 2008. The commission has estimated that in 2005 there were 35.5 million people living below the poverty line but in 2008 their number increased to over 64 million. It is stated that over 64 million people, out of 160 million populations has plunged into the poverty pool. Consequently, unemployment has also increased. Moreover, 40 percent of the urban population lives in slum areas. Reduction in social sector spending is increasing poverty and has reduced the standard of living in the country. Anyhow, the government of Pakistan propogattion of decreasing of poverty has got a big blow by the recent floods. It is estimated that at least 43 Billion Dollars will be needed to rebuild the economic and infrastructural loss because of flood. The United Nation appeal to raise 2 Billion Dollars for flood affectees, if successful, will make only a diminutive difference.

However, there is a race among the governments of South Asia to prove statistically a decline in poverty. States, Governments and some time even non governmental agencies particularly associated with privileged groups rush to tell us that poverty is on decline. Under General Musharaf dictatorship, we heard many times how things are changing in favor of the poor and that the per capita income is on ever increasing trends. This is problematic proposition, because the basis on which imaginary income “poverty line” is calculated is done arbitrarily and can be conveniently manipulated.

Poverty was defined by official sources in terms of ability /capacity of a person to purchase the minimum food stuff necessary to provide the minimum numbers of calories required to stay alive. The numbers of calories was scaled down from the international standards of 2400 per day to suit condition of climate and of body build in South Asia to 2100 per day. Calories count and enumeration of numbers can only be useful for statistical purpose and not for the real lives of the millions. Unfortunately the “growth and progress” debate in several South Asian countries tend to hide the poor and vulnerable people.

The South Asian countries economies are structurally adjusted by neo liberal orthodoxy, directing towards a closer integration with the world market and economy. One sees increased operations of global capital within these countries with minimum or no restriction and free flow of finance capital with the intervention World Bank, IMF and WTO. This has not resulted in reduction of eradication poverty, on the contrary, it has increased the numbers of poor and accompanied by disparity. The disparity is very glaring in recent years in all the South Asian countries especially in Pakistan. A section of society, somewhat wider than the traditional elite, enjoys unprecedented level of incomes in these countries.

Neo liberalism has deprived people of their basic rights to food, education, jobs: aggravated hunger and death on account of starvation and plunder of the earth of all its natural resources. The policies persuaded by the rulers of the South Asian countries have created conditions of exclusion, marginalization and denial of rights, justice and democratic freedom to the majority of the people.

The current economic trends have plunged the agriculture, which is the source of the income for the majority in these countries, into a crisis and particularly the cultivating peasantry in deep crisis. The feudal system remains intact in some major countries of South Asia, thus paving the way for more bonded labour and slavery. All the tasks of modernizing the society remain unsolved and the ruling elite have failed miserably in developing the countries on more just and democratic basis. The achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in South Asia are minimal, hence there is strong doubt that the majority of these goals will be achieved by the set date line of 2015.

Looking at the gender dimension of poverty, the women of South Asia have a disproportionately lower level of participation in the world female labour force, that lower education and skills level s of women lead to lower earning, that gender discriminations starts even before birth through female infanticide and continue throughout life and that South Asia still contains the highest numbers of female illiterate in the world.

Displacement is a major problem that the vulnerable sections and in specific cases, other sections, face. Displacement from the traditional habitat is caused by many factors. Armed conflicts of various kinds and types, from internecine warfare to civil war to war on terror to counter insurgency, forms one set of reasons. It is also the development programmes that displace millions from their habitat. Natural disasters are yet another major cause of internal displacement of people in large numbers. The recent flood has forced at one time over 10 million people to leave their homes. Earlier in 2009, a military operation against religious fanatics in Swat valley resulted in 3.5 million people leaving their homes to safe lives for over three months. Same was the case of the catastrophic earthquake of October 2005. All the claims of the government to provide timely relief and rehabilitation did not materialize and many asked question again and again, “where is the government”.

All South Asian countries have altered their economic policies, political arrangements and foreign policy stances to suit the interests of dominant industrialized nations, often under the direction of the multilateral financial institutions such as World Bank, IMF and WTO. Instead of taking responsibility for these failures, World Bank and IMF are now blaming the victim countries for having poor institutions, bad governess and corrupt practices. Jobless growth in particular is being blamed on rigid labour market institutions and resistance to globalization. The majority of the workforce, both men and women, are employed in the rapidly swelling unorganized informal sector, characterized by uncertain wages and job insecurity. With virtual no legal protection or unionization, workers in these sector are vulnerable to exploitation.

According to Human Development Report 2009, the share of expenditure of the poorest 10 percent in Pakistan is only 3.9 percent as compared to 26.5 percent by the richest 10 percent. The situation is far worst in Nepal where the ratio is 2.7 percent to 40.4 percent by the 10 percent richest of the country.

The neo liberal agenda leaves the question of poverty eradication at the mercy of the free market and competitions. This is a false supposition. We had enough of the thirty years of neo liberalism. All the recipe and advices by IMF, World Bank and WTO to tackle the poverty resulted in opposite side. We have to do away with these institutions.

The principle issues before all the people of the region are survival with dignity, democracy, sovereign independence, anti people trends of neo liberalism, corporate globalization, unfair trade practices, debts, militarization, fundamentalism, gender injustice, armed conflicts, erosion of democracy, labour exploitation, unjust access to natural resources, and feminization of poverty. The solution to these problems- at least on conceptual level- can also not be narrow national, let alone local or sectoral. The lasting solution can only be regional, to be sought, forged and implemented through struggle at a regional-South Asian- level in cooperation with the thought and struggle of the toiling masses the world over.

The reemergence of new politics requires the construction of new kinds of social and political institutions. The new politics are not an “end state” but the affirmation of the state as an instrument of the people’s power, people’s democracy and people’s empowerment. It also means reaffirmation of the state’s obligation of justice for the people from where it, according to democratic traditions, drives its legitimacy and power. The alternative politics need to challenge and later the development paradigm that argues for the market as the only appropriate answer to the problem of economic development.

However, focusing on the state is not enough. Global capitalism is no longer identified with one country. It cannot be resisted with isolated actions that are confined to individual countries. Therefore the countries of South Asia are in a need today of anew radical imagination. The immediate struggle will have to focus on the question of survival and sustenance and on economic and social rights. The goal of a new universal culture and a new internationalism will be necessary component of this new vision.

Farooq Tariq

Note: information mainly taken from:

Poverty & Vulnerability Report of South Asia

Poverty & Vulnerability Cycles in South Asia: Narratives of survival and struggles
http://www.saape.org