POVERTY

Poverty: What is poverty? Is it the condition that led the child towards death? Is it the photographer’s indifference to the condition of the child?Let’s Discuss poverty, its forms, its impact and how can we help decrease it.——————–Pictory is the newest segment of Pamir News Blog. A pictory is the short form for ”A story in a Picture”. In this segment we will pick an issue related to our society and discuss it objectively to enhance our comprehension of the world. [Noor_.]window.google_render_ad();Free Forms & Tools To Help Your Small Business Grow. Browse Online!Entry Filed under: Tags:17 Comments 1. November 20, 2008 at 4:01 amI believe that people have no clue what poverty is unless they have experienced it themselves. They need to be informed that people all over the world are suffering because thay don’t have food. We Americans have a grocery store or fast food place right around the block. One child dies every 3 seconds because of poverty. No child or person deserves to go without food or shelter or water. People of the world shoud get together and do something to stop this grotesque sickness that we call poverty. If you don’t get three meals a day, be grateful you don’t have to pray to God you get one by the end of the week.2. October 15, 2008 at 1:43 pm[...] discussing poverty and trying to push all of us to think about the issue, helping reduce poverty. Pamir News Blog, months ago, had discussed poverty in a very effective way. I would urge the readers to start yet [...]3. May 24, 2008 at 10:25 amThe second quesiton raised by Noori is difficult, indeed. This question needs preciise and objective answers, as the previous question was subjective in nature.Keeping view the aforementioned definitions by various commentators/participants (summariesed by Noor),I may put this question in this mamner:How would you categorize and assess the poeples of your respective villages (not entire Hunza) around the above models of definitions? What may be causes?If you are serious and determined to dive in the ocean of this question, please take your time , list down households of your own villgages with sub-categories of landholdings, agricltural activities, livestocks, education, employment and business plus human resources. and the like and then come to conclusion by shariing your views. Thus, we can say that you have objective views that will depict the true codition of your villages, and these data/info of different villages shall then contribute to result the poverty level of the entire Hunza.4. May 22, 2008 at 7:07 pmMoving ForwardDear CommentatorsI mus congratulate you for objectively sharing your understandings pertaining to poverty. Frankly speaking I didn’t expect this level of participation. It is a reflection on and testimony to our commitment with learning. Both, students and professionals, have shared their views.I will summarize some of the definitions of poverty that we have come up with after the discussion related to “definition of poverty”:1. Difficult situation to sustain life activities2. The scarcity of resources3. Hunger, absence of shelter, clean drinking water, access to education and absence of health facilities4. Utter destitution5. Ignorance [Lack of awareness, literacy]6. Lack of Information, opportunity and empowerment,Some people also shared their knowledge about the types of poverty, the forms of poverty, the methods employed by various organizations to measure the ‘level of poverty’ in absolute and real terms. Taking the discussion ahead let me now pose another question.The next question is:How poor is Hunza [ Kilik - to - Mayoon]? Or what is the poverty level in Hunza Valley?I would like all of you to kindly analyze the poverty situation in Hunza - a region that claims to be ‘well of’, ‘prosperous’ etc.5. May 22, 2008 at 2:56 pmfruits of growing capitalism.6. May 21, 2008 at 8:12 pmPoverty, as is defined by many people, is inaccessibility of basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, basic health facility, education, security etc.There are mainly two types of poverty, namely: absolute poverty; and relative poverty.Absolute poverty is a complete deprivation of the basic needs. This kind of poverty prevails in the lowest class of society, like in developing and underdeveloped nations, where they don’t have food to eat, shelter to live, access to education and so on.While relative poverty is inaccessibility in comparison to others. Almost all of us are suffering from this kind of poverty. For example in Pakistan we are in poverty in terms of security, because compared to other nations the lives of most of Pakistanis are at risk.Poverty line is the measure of poverty, internationally this poverty line is defined as, persons who are earning one or two dollars (may be 69/138 rupees) a day. There are different standards set locally as well, by different nations, for example in Pakistan the definition of extreme poverty or below poverty line is, the non-availability of minimum calories (i.e 2,350 calories) of food per day (Social Policy and Development Centre, SPDC, 2006).According to, Centre for Research, Poverty Reduction and Income Distribution (CRPRID), 38% of people in Pakistan are living below poverty line (and is increasing) which is greater than 34% of Indian poverty.What can be the outcomes of poverty? Some of the outcomes can be vulnerablity to illness, violence, economic shock, bad weather, natural disaster etc. some other outcomes can be categorising some groups of the society such as wemen, ethnic groups, racial groups or socially disadvantaged, which also prevails in our Pakistani society. Another outcome is geneder baisness where lack of resources does not allow the girl child to attend school, to enjoy better health, to eat food equalent to their counterpart. All these outcomes are visible in our larger society.I conclude with His Highness Aga Khan’s new initiative as he wishes to work for the poor and has pointed out that they are awaiting for help and as he comments “we cannot leave them in this situation”. I think it is all the above mentioned endangers which our particular society/community might face in the future and therefore our Imam wishes to take steps before it strikes our society.Reshma NDIE7. May 21, 2008 at 1:30 pmThanks Editor, for posting the theme of poverty for discussion. I am not development expert nor I have knowledge of modern development and poverty elevation techniques, but I am much inspired with Shakespeare view of this world that a man once asked Shakespeare,“I marvel how fishes live in the water”? Shakespeare replied “As we live on land, big fishes eating the small ones”This picture is one of the awful, heart wrenching scenes, witnessed by the civilized world in modern age.Do we call that boy poor, because he is hunger, he do not have shelter, he is unable to see a doctor, his father is job less, or the necessity of modern living is not available to him?How poverty can be defined in modern age? Hunger, lack of shelter, clean water, modern medical facility are the common methods for measuring poverty, definition and level of poverty changes form place to place and from society to society, a poor person leaving in USA is poor because of the lack of facilities his fellow citizens availing, and he may be wealthier then the middle class person leaving in Afghanistan and Somalia.The question is how we define poverty and provides common ground for combat and eradication of poverty. Does serving one dollar a day to every person or providing certain calories of food to the poor will eradicate poverty from the world? Absolutely NO.Poverty is more socio- political term then economical, I believe as defined by the World Bank that poverty isLack of Information, opportunity and empowerment,Lack of information leads to ignorance and poverty, Modern development and is out an outcome of complex social political and economical phenomenon knitted through historical development of human knowledge; the more successful and elevated is one who has well and more knowledge of this complex phenomenon. A child in modern age is spending an average of sixteen year just learning that complex process, as each one of us is doing. The more informed we will, the more one will be able to survive in this world. Knowledge is not limited to formal education but it is the knowledge of its surroundings, economic prospects, his right and duties, skills, advancements in technology and other aspectsOpportunity is created through stimulating knowledge and information by mobilizing, Human and capital resources building institutions and infrastructures, which works as catalyst for economic development of the people.Information and opportunity depends upon empowerment, liberty of actions and functioning, empowerment is needed both at individual and state level, today its well known fact that corruption, poverty, inequality, injustices, violence, terrorism are all consequences of invasive control of one over other, Its states control over state, individuals control over individuals and communities.If we take example of the boy in the picture, and try to encompass the scenario of his miserable condition. He was victim of Africa’s political, economical and social predators, who after colonialism took state and state machinery to acquire power, wealth personal gains the whole society was plunge into civil war and conflictThe society was never ever able to demonstrate their free will, and develop based on their own consensus. Fiefdoms, warlords, and tribal chieftain played havoc with their lives and are still playing.If we take this aspect of poverty definition, in context of our area, one can easily say how poor we are? And what will be the fate of next generation, if we were not empowered , liberated, and got identityLeave a CommentName RequiredEmail Required, hiddenUrlCommentNotify me of follow-up comments via email.Some HTML allowed: