by Khalid Aziz

 

ISLAMABAD, March 4 (Gwadar Pro) - Pakistan is equally celebrating China’s success in its long battle against absolute poverty at a time when top Chinese legislators and social leaders have gathered in Beijing for two annual sessions to formulate future plans for further progress.

 

A research report by Xinhua News Agency underlines a number of key elements that made this historical achievement possible, especially the latest phase in which the last 100 million people were driven out of poverty. Details of China’s efforts to bring its population out of the clutches of poverty will be studied all over the world for guidance, but here are 4 key lessons for Pakistan to follow in its own war against extreme poverty.

 

 

China’s anti-poverty success is a tale of 40 long years of well-thought-out plan put into action with absolute determination and finest scrutiny. The Xinhua report states that the campaign entered into its toughest phase during the last 8 years in which 100 million people scattered all over the country, particularly in southwest parts, were pulled out of poverty. It has a lesson for Pakistan that pursuing such a mass-scale programme required consistency in policy and strategy in the first place to become a success. In Pakistan, successive governments have rolled out poverty elimination programmes but all failed to achieve their purpose due to inconsistency. The nature and strategy of the anti-poverty programmes kept changing with governments, which left things unfinished and the problem even further aggravated. It becomes more meaningful as only the other day Prime Minister Imran Khan announced seeking vote of confidence from the National Assembly after the government met a setback in Senate elections. It once again plunged the country into political uncertainty which will also affect all development plans initiated by this government, including its flagship anti-poverty programme ‘Ehsas’. The political leadership must understand this and work for depoliticising poverty elimination and other economic growth plans.

 

 

As per Xinhua research report, the cornerstone of the China’s anti-poverty drive was motivating the people to change their mindsets and find ways to earn their livelihood. The government only assisted them in this process. In Pakistan, the anti-poverty plans are limited to disbursing cash to the needy without enabling them to work. As a result, the poor kept looking towards the government for their livelihood which further made the economy stagnated. Today, beggars roam around every city and town in flocks which has become a bigger problem than poverty itself.

 

 

The last 8 years of China’s poverty eradication drive are a story of the government’s officials engaging nearly every household to learn their specific needs and circumstances and provide them help as per their individual conditions. This was the most challenging phase. In Pakistan, we have blanket programmes that fail to intervene on individual level. This has led the country to nowhere in its anti-poverty drives despite disbursing billions of dollars.

 

 

Transparency is the first word that comes to mind with every mention to China. Prime Minister Imran Khan has been mentioning the Chinese anti-poverty drive as well as its strict adherence to transparency as a role model for Pakistan during his election campaign and even after becoming the premier. China ensured that each penny goes to the deserving and maintained multi-layered checks for the purpose. Instead, in Pakistan, these programmes are criticised for lack of transparency and oversight and there are reports that even millionaires benefited from these programmes. On the other hand, the poor have been seen complaining that no help could ever reach them.