India has achieved great success in the last few years in reducing poverty. According to an article published in the European Times, the rate of extreme poverty in India was 27.1 percent in 2011, which will reduce to 2.6 percent in 2023. During this period, about 49.6 crore people came out of the situation of extreme poverty. At the same time, poverty in the neighboring country Pakistan has increased instead of decreasing. The poverty rate there has increased to 23 percent.
An article published in the European Times has compared the poverty situation of India and Pakistan. In this, data from the World Bank’s Poverty and Equality Report released this month has been cited. According to the report, the results of efforts to reduce poverty in both the countries have been completely different.
Extreme poverty in India reduced from 27.1% to 2.6%
According to World Bank data, the rate of extreme poverty in India was 27.1 percent in 2011. It will come down to 2.6 percent in 2023. This figure is based on the poverty line of $3 per day. In the report, increasing employment opportunities have been cited as a major reason behind reducing poverty. About 13.4 crore jobs increased in India between 2017 and 2023. This is almost double the increase in the working age population. During this period, a large number of rural women also got employment. Apart from this, poor families also got relief by increasing the scope of food assistance schemes of the government. Aadhaar and the system of sending money directly to the bank account i.e. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) helped in reaching the benefits of government schemes to the people. The report said that this system reduced the role of middlemen and helped in preventing embezzlement of government funds.
Poverty increased to 23% in Pakistan
Unlike India, the situation of extreme poverty in Pakistan has worsened. According to the World Bank report, the poverty rate in Pakistan based on the poverty line of $3 per day was 16.5 percent in 2018-19. By 2024 it will increase to 23 percent. This means that about 5.8 crore people in Pakistan are living below this poverty line. The data of Pakistan’s Planning Ministry has also revealed the increase in poverty. The national poverty rate there has increased from 21.9 percent to 28.9 percent.
The gap between rich and poor has increased in Pakistan
The report also talks about increasing economic inequality in Pakistan. There the Gini coefficient has increased from 28.4 to 32.7. Let us tell you that Gini coefficient is used to measure the difference in income between the rich and the poor in a country. The increase in this figure means that economic inequality has increased. According to the report, about 48 percent of the extremely poor people living in the World Bank’s Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region are in Pakistan, while Pakistan’s share in the total population of this region is less than one-third. In the report, Pakistan’s poverty rate is said to be about 1.6 times the regional average.
Source: ndtv.in
