Shahzaib Haroon BUS-17F-016

Imtiaz Hussain BUS-17F-096

Syed Aun Raza BUS-17F-108
Diyal Das
Asadullah

Poverty in Karachi,
Ahsan

Pakistan
Submitted to Ma’am Sehar
Poverty in Karachi, Pakistan.
Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city and is the capital of the Sindh province located in southern
Pakistan. Karachi is home to a major seaport on the shores of the Arabian Sea as well as
massive commercial and industrial infrastructure. Increased development of air travel, in
addition to the foreign traffic maintained by the commercial and financial industries, has made
this city important to the overall economy in Pakistan. Regardless of these achievements, the
city still faces poverty.
In Pakistan, 24.3% of the population lives below the national poverty line in 2015.
The proportion of employed population below $1.90 purchasing power parity a day in 2019 is
1.3%.
For every 1,000 babies born in Pakistan in 2019, 67 dies before their 5 th birthday.

Approximately 75 per cent of all households in Karachi belong to poor and low-income groups,
whereas the remaining 25 per cent belong to middle and high-income groups. The average
monthly income of households is PKR 15,000, varying significantly across the upper and lower
income categories.
CAUSES OF POVERTY:
Poor governance.

 Governance, Political Instability and Poverty

 Non-Transparency in Resource Allocation
 Inadequate Access to Justice.

Economic determinants.

 Investment.
 Fiscal Policy
 Subsidies
 Employment.
 Inflation.
 Remittance

Social determinants.

 Land Tenure Systems

 The Structure of Society
 Low Level of Human Development
 Ethnic and Sectarian Conflicts

Environmental degradation and poverty.

 Impacts on Health and Linkages with Poverty

 Effects of Degradation of Natural Resources

RESPONSES TO POVERTY
a number of initiatives aimed at helping the poor by improving governance and functioning of
public sector institutions; creating assets, employment, and income generation opportunities;
revamping social safety net systems; and improving access to basic services are being
implemented by the Government, and also by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and
the private sector.
The Government has, over the years, undertaken several public works programs to create
assets and employment opportunities for poor people.

Ehsaas Program:
Recently PTI, government initiate the mega welfare project named as “Ehsaas” in which there
are more then 10 programs are being running to help the poor.
Ehsaas Kafaalat Program:
Kafaalat is the unconditional cash transfer program of Ehsaas. There are several objectives of
Kafaalat, one of which is to enable financial and digital inclusion of around 7 million women
through the one woman one bank account policy.
Ehsaas Emergency Cash:
The program covered more than 15 million COVID affected families; 12,000 per family, total
budget Rs. 203 billion. An SMS campaign was the entry point to identify these beneficiaries.
PM’s COVID-19 Fund Portal:
The Prime Minister launched an application web-portal for COVID-19 job/livelihood-loss-
affectees on May 2, 2020 and committed the PM’s COVID-19 Relief fund to those who will
qualify for assistance.
Ehsaas Rashan Portal:
Through the portal, the role of government will be to facilitate linking of donors and
beneficiaries (e.g., on geographic basis) and provide data of eligible beneficiaries to donors.
IT hubs and incubators in 450 BISP offices:
Digital hubs will be established at the Tehsil level where the government’s digital resources will
be made accessible as a public good (information systems, online curricula, one window social
protection interfaces) to create economic opportunities for poor families. The program will be
launched soon.
Ehsaas Nashonuma:
The Ehsaas Nashonuma is a health and nutrition conditional cash transfer program which aims
to address stunting in children under 23 months of age. Nashonuma has been launched by the
Prime Minister in August 2020 in the first phase in 9 districts of the country.
Undergraduate student scholarships:
Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship program is aimed at enhancing access to higher education
by awarding 50,000 scholarships of Rs. 20 billion to undergraduate students (50 percent girls)
from underprivileged families and areas over the next four years.
Ehsaas Amdan (Income) Programme:
Ehsaas Amdan (Income) program provides assets to enable the underprivileged to start small
businesses along with skills training and business planning.
Ehsaas Langar:
Ehsaas will open 112 Langars nationwide over a 2-year period through public-private
partnerships to serve meals to the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society.
Ehsaas Garbage Rickshaw:
A garbage collection vehicle that is used to earn a living through collecting and sorting out
waste.
Khushhal Pakistan Program (KPP):
Khushhal Pakistan Program (KPP), is an integrated small public works program. The program
finances public works whose cost ranges from Rs 0.05 million to Rs 5.00 million per scheme in
rural areas and Rs 0.05 million to Rs 8.00 million per scheme in urban areas. Rs. 8.50 billion was
spent under the Program.

Benazir Income Support Programme:

The Benazir Income Support Programme is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty
reduction program in Pakistan. Launched in July 2008, it was the largest single social safety net
program in the country with nearly Rs. 90 billion distributed to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016.

Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme:

The Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme (or Prime Minister's National Laptop Scheme) was an
initiative undertaken by then Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif as a
part of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme. The program aimed at provision of laptops to
deserving students studying in public and semi-public universities throughout Pakistan.

Welfare organizations in Pakistan:
There are also some welfare organizations working along the Government on the same moto to
eradicate poverty.

 Transparenthands Trust
 Aman Foundation
 Shahid Afridi Foundation
 Green Crescent Foundation
 Saylani Welfare International Trust
 Bilqees Sarwar Foundation
 Agha Khan Rural Support Program
 Idonate Foundation
 Edhi Foundation
 carepakistan.org
 pihro.org
 nutejeamerica.org
 Ansar Burney Trust International
 Darul Sakun
Opinion:
There are already so many Programs are being run by government and welfare organizations to
eradicate the poverty, but initiating such programs aren’t the only solution to end the poverty.
Government must have to work on country’s economic, social and governance issues to address the
poverty issues. Moreover, development of rural areas is very crucial, promoting healthy agriculture,
forestry and fisheries practices.

References:
https://www.adb.org/countries/pakistan/poverty

https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-poverty-in-karachi/

https://www.transparenthands.org/top-15-welfare-organizations-in-pakistan/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister%27s_Laptop_Scheme

https://www.pass.gov.pk/Detail845ae76f-4161-4d46-8452-ab8805d1f953