Alack! What poverty thy soul brings forth!
(by Madiha Ishtiaque)
Stop evaluating the countrys economic state by inanimate objects of convenience like GDP and GNP! A fairer and veritable case study is not possible inside crisp, painted walls of a tall, financial estate, but can be well manifested through the musty scripts of poverty, our people, with lines carved on their foreheads, eyes robbed of life by hopelessness and hunger, zombie-walking on streets in some sort of a pseudo-psychological fix, with just one aim, to be able to earn the victuals of life for their families.
On April 1, as the petrol prices ramped up, frenzied people angered the streets with anti-government graffiti. They say, misery comes in big packages. The hike in petroleum prices has further jacked up food prices in a society where wheat and corn are kings. With employment laggard and spigots of money offered in the name of salary has only convinced people to opt for the cheapest means of suicide.
Whos really behind the seizer? Government? What could government have done to insulate us from the global price shocks? Theres not much to say about how the whole world is ensnared in the poverty tangle. But its quite a hard lash on people of this part of the world, whose spending tops more than double their income. However, one thing is to be acknowledged as a benefit here, people dont have to labour too hard thinking what to buy daal or murghi, after all daal worth only pennies less than murghi. Seems funny but Murghi is daal barabar outside the idiom as well!
What could government possibly have done to avoid this? The least that it should have! 1) Convict The Federal Board of Revenue for its chronic under-performance not to mention the runway corruption and evasions.2) The phasing out on agrarian subsidies- a long overdue action taken now that should have been taken more than a decade back.2) Formulate reforms that are still awaiting concern and enforcement including reforms for privatization and public enterprises. Instead, it chose to impose a 15% surcharge on the already small tax base, to burden the tax payers whose conscience was already in a tough struggle with the idea of evading taxes, owing to the challenges the current economic situation poses in front of us.
Consequently, taking Mahatma Gandhis words for the truth they reflect, To a man with an empty stomach food is God. the moral degeneration of the society should not be surprising for the observers. People have descended to doing anything it takes to possess the god. And this truly accounts for the terrorism breaking out sporadically, people ready to take lives for as less as a cell phone worth two thousand, sex trade increased multi-fold for people have nothing but their starving bodies to sell.
And then we talk of morality, and why people did not do much when Raymond Davis was released and when Drone attacks killed our countrymen. The reality is, that even if for a second a sweep of patriotism arouses one to stand up against the wrong, the hunger pangs grip him just the other, and our person, our spirit and we, die down to keep the bodies alive. Such a frequent murder of soul has turned out as it was bound to, a lifeless, soulless and selfish bunch of people making bargains with the devil for a petty sum. And now, were not just facing fiscal poverty, but a poverty of morals and values as well.(http://thenews.com.pk/blog/blog_details.asp?id=1202)
Stop evaluating the countrys economic state by inanimate objects of convenience like GDP and GNP! A fairer and veritable case study is not possible inside crisp, painted walls of a tall, financial estate, but can be well manifested through the musty scripts of poverty, our people, with lines carved on their foreheads, eyes robbed of life by hopelessness and hunger, zombie-walking on streets in some sort of a pseudo-psychological fix, with just one aim, to be able to earn the victuals of life for their families.
On April 1, as the petrol prices ramped up, frenzied people angered the streets with anti-government graffiti. They say, misery comes in big packages. The hike in petroleum prices has further jacked up food prices in a society where wheat and corn are kings. With employment laggard and spigots of money offered in the name of salary has only convinced people to opt for the cheapest means of suicide.
Whos really behind the seizer? Government? What could government have done to insulate us from the global price shocks? Theres not much to say about how the whole world is ensnared in the poverty tangle. But its quite a hard lash on people of this part of the world, whose spending tops more than double their income. However, one thing is to be acknowledged as a benefit here, people dont have to labour too hard thinking what to buy daal or murghi, after all daal worth only pennies less than murghi. Seems funny but Murghi is daal barabar outside the idiom as well!
What could government possibly have done to avoid this? The least that it should have! 1) Convict The Federal Board of Revenue for its chronic under-performance not to mention the runway corruption and evasions.2) The phasing out on agrarian subsidies- a long overdue action taken now that should have been taken more than a decade back.2) Formulate reforms that are still awaiting concern and enforcement including reforms for privatization and public enterprises. Instead, it chose to impose a 15% surcharge on the already small tax base, to burden the tax payers whose conscience was already in a tough struggle with the idea of evading taxes, owing to the challenges the current economic situation poses in front of us.
Consequently, taking Mahatma Gandhis words for the truth they reflect, To a man with an empty stomach food is God. the moral degeneration of the society should not be surprising for the observers. People have descended to doing anything it takes to possess the god. And this truly accounts for the terrorism breaking out sporadically, people ready to take lives for as less as a cell phone worth two thousand, sex trade increased multi-fold for people have nothing but their starving bodies to sell.
And then we talk of morality, and why people did not do much when Raymond Davis was released and when Drone attacks killed our countrymen. The reality is, that even if for a second a sweep of patriotism arouses one to stand up against the wrong, the hunger pangs grip him just the other, and our person, our spirit and we, die down to keep the bodies alive. Such a frequent murder of soul has turned out as it was bound to, a lifeless, soulless and selfish bunch of people making bargains with the devil for a petty sum. And now, were not just facing fiscal poverty, but a poverty of morals and values as well.(http://thenews.com.pk/blog/blog_details.asp?id=1202)
