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62 million Pakistanis now living below poverty line

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Britain to double Pakistan aid | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: Britain announced on Wednesday it was doubling its development aid for Pakistan over the next four years, but tied the increase to Islamabad’s progress on the reform agenda.

“The UK has deep family, historic and business ties with Pakistan. That’s why we are committed to Pakistan for the long term, to help millions of people lift themselves out of poverty, and to help Pakistan to grow in stability, prosperity and good governance,” British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson said, explaining at a briefing the Pakistan context of the UK review of its overseas aid budget.

The high commissioner emphasised that the planned increase in aid was meant to “unlock the potential” of Pakistani youth and as such a large chunk of the assistance would be directed to deal with the “education emergency” by getting over 4 million children into schools, recruiting and training 90,000 new teachers and providing more than 6 million textbooks.

Pakistan, which is the second largest recipient of the British aid after Ethiopia with an annual assistance of £200 million, could see it scale up to £446 million a year by 2015. But this enhancement in assistance, focusing on key areas of education, health, financial inclusion, democracy and governance, is conditional and Islamabad will have to prove its commitment to reforming itself.

But india is still the largest recipient of British aid.:)
 
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But india is still the largest recipient of British aid.:)

thanx for the info sir i thought we are the only country getting aid :what: i heard india is top of the list in getting aid is it true ??
 
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thanx for the info sir i thought we are the only country getting aid :what: i heard india is top of the list in getting aid is it true ??

UK confirms 280 million pounds annual aid to India​

LONDON: The David Cameron government has resisted pressure from various quarters at home to continue aid to India at the rate of 280 million pounds per year until 2015, an official review of UK's overseas aid has announced.

The review says that Pakistan, which is facing several crises and challenges will be given 350 million pounds a year over four years, but this aid is "linked to progress" on reforms.

On Britain's plans for aid to India, the review document says: "India's tremendous economic growth over the last decade has lifted people out of poverty and generated the resources to pay for some of the world's largest and most successful anti-poverty programmes".

One example, it says, is the primary education scheme that has got 60 million children into school since 2003.

It adds: "But the scale of need in India's poorer states - each of them larger than most African countries - remains huge.

The state of Bihar alone has double the number of people living in extreme poverty than Ethiopia.

Madhya Pradesh has the same population as Britain but an economy 100 times smaller and 50 times more mothers die there every year".

The Department for International Development is discussing a new approach with the Government of India - one focused much more tightly on India's poorest states and poorest people.

It will focus aid in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. "We will share expertise, support innovation and build skills to help India's public and private resource go further", the review document says.

Britain's 'top priorities' in India will be ensuring the poorest girls and women get quality schooling, healthcare and nutrition; and supporting the private sector to deliver jobs, products, infrastructure and basic services in areas which desperately need them.

Saddled with mounting budget deficit, British aid to several countries has been cut or substantially reduced as part of its overall efforts to cut public spending.

The department will target aid to India in the three poorest states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

Several MPs have voiced public criticism to give aid to an India whose economy is growing exponentially, and is now in a position to give aid to many African countries.

The criticism comes amidst deep public spending cuts that have led to many job losses in Britain.

The UK will end its bilateral aid work in countries that have been assessed as no longer requiring substantial UK aid programmes, including some classified as having 'middle-income' status or emerging economies.

These include Serbia, Cambodia, Moldova and Vietnam, with more closures to be announced in the coming weeks.

The shake-up will follow a review into Britain's aid work, expected to conclude soon, and follows earlier announcements that the UK will end programmes in China and Russia.

UK confirms 280 million pounds annual aid to India - Economic Times
 
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Another one:

Government defends £1bn of aid to India​

The government has defended its decision to give £1bn in aid to India, despite the rapidly increasing wealth of the emerging economic giant.

A review of UK aid will maintain aid donations to India of £280m a year until 2015, while withdrawing assistance from countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Serbia and Moldova, the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, revealed.

The decision is likely to infuriate some Conservative MPs, who believe it is time to halt aid to India, which has economic growth of 8.5% a year, gives aid to Africa, spends £20bn a year on defence and has a £1.25bn space programme.

But Mitchell will use a speech at Chatham House to insist that, while Britain's aid programme to India will not go on forever, it is not yet time to withdraw aid from the country.

Describing India as "a development paradox" which is home to more than 300 million of the world's poorest people as well as some of its wealthiest, he will say UK aid will in future be targeted at the country's three least developed states – Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Total UK assistance to India will be frozen for the next four years, and much more of it will be used to support pro-poor private investment, delivering jobs, products and basic services to the very poorest states, he will say.

Challenged on BBC Radio 4's Today programme over why Britain should support a country which spends such large sums on defence at a time when its own defence budget is shrinking, Mitchell said: "India is in a part of the world which is quite challenged in defence terms. Their defence budget is going down.

"India has the biggest pro-poor social protection and anti-poverty programme anywhere in the world. Our contribution to that is modest – but it is significant, particularly in the three states I have mentioned.

"They do have a space programme, but on the other hand there are more poor people in India than in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and the average income of an Indian citizen is only one-third of that of a Chinese person."

Asked about Mitchell's comments, David Cameron's official spokesman said: "We have always been very clear that we are committed to increasing our aid budget to 0.7% of GDP, and we are going to stick to that commitment.

"Some of the poorest people in the world still live in India, and that's why we are maintaining a development programme there for a transitional period."

The conclusion of the Department for International Development's aid policy review next month will see programmes halted in several countries deemed to have "graduated" from being aid recipients.

The UK will end its bilateral work in countries assessed as no longer requiring substantial aid, including some classified as having "middle-income" status or emerging economies including Serbia, Cambodia, Moldova and Vietnam, DfID said.

The end to programmes in Russia and China has already been announced, and further closures will be announced in the coming weeks.

Britain will continue to work in countries in Africa and Asia that have high numbers of people living in extreme poverty, including Ethiopia, India and Bangladesh.

Government defends £1bn of aid to India | Global development | guardian.co.uk
 
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When single Chipati is for 5 rupee and milk for 40, you can only imagine how a person who earns 200 rupee a day would be able to life his life. Just to remind you, 6,000 is the minimum wage in Pakistan and that makes 200 rupee a day.

200 Rupee, for a family of 3,

cost of chipati = 5 Chipaties a day per person, 15x5 = 75.
1 litter of milk = 40 Rupees
Salan = 60 (1/2 kg of vegetable+oil+fire+spices)

Total food expense = 175

House Expense = ?
Electricity = ?
Water = ?
Cloth = ?
Health ?
Education = ?
Security = ?
Transportation = ?
Savings = ?

What if the family is of 5 people?

Say thanks to God that this number is only 35%, even when people like Zardari and Rehman Malik are governing this country.

May God Bless Pakistan and its Peope! :pakistan:

thats why we need Imran khan now
 
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Pakistan can get rid of all his problems within 2 years....if we have anyone like Imran Khan
 
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Sister*

and no problem! :cheers:
:cheers: thanx sister :D

---------- Post added at 01:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 AM ----------

Pakistan can get rid of all his problems within 2 years....if we have anyone like Imran Khan


yes we can get rid of all problems after all we have resources all we need is gud leadership :) if we utilize all the resources we can be super power :D
 
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here is interesting article by Saqib Omer Saeed ,i am pasting :) may be u guys have read it before..

Pakistan: poor economy, rich country

Pakistan is among the richest countries in the world, but also suffers from a poor economy.


It was January 2008, a relatively cold morning in Dubai. I was walking on Shaikh Zayed Road after parking my car about 300 meters from the meeting point with my client. I stopped suddenly before Crown Plaza upon hearing a Pakistani labourer arguing with a guy, claiming that UAE was not a rich country.
I went up to the gentleman and said “Khan Sahab are you crazy? You are standing on Shaikh Zayed Road, the heart of Dubai and you are saying that this country is not rich?”
He smiled and responded with a statement that I can never forget. He asked me to ignore all the big buildings, the infrastructure and the trade and then see what the country really had to offer.
These days I have been reading articles on the forthcoming budget and Pakistan’s economy. Being an analyst I am also involved in debates on VAT, capital gain tax and other technical issues. But I am still intrigued by Khan Sahab’s statement, and for the sake of analysis there is no harm in taking a look at where Pakistan stands.
The country has the second largest salt mine in the world, fifth largest gold mine, seventh largest copper mine, fifth largest coal reserves, seventh largest wheat and rice production capacity (can be enhanced to be the largest), is eighth in the rankings of fresh water availability with 2,053 cubic meters of water per person in 1995.
I must stop the count here for I already feel ashamed.
Khan Sahab you were right. Dubai is not a rich country. Dubai is actually a rich economy. Pakistan on the other hand is among the richest countries in the world, but also suffers from a poor economy.
It is quite amazing that the country that is chasing the realization of coalition support funds of 349 million dollars from the USA also happens to possess 185 billion tonnes of Thar coal which is worth an estimated 25 trillion dollars.

The country that faces a severe energy crisis has the potential to generate power supply for the next 100 years by utilizing the same coal reserves.
This coal utilization can save four billion dollars by reducing oil import costs. Dr Murtuza Mughal of Economic Watch stated that coal power generation can cost Pakistan Rs 5.67 per unit for power generation while IPPs cost Rs9.27 for the same. Other than coal, Pakistan is also rich in wind and bio resources of energy.
The point is simply to understand that the way our finance ministers portray the situation does not represent our true economic potential. It is really a shame that we declare it our success and best planning to successfully acquire aid packages from IMF, World Bank or the USA on time.
It is really worrying to think that the financial success of the government in our country is on the basis of financial arrangements rather than economic management.
Our governments feel happy to appoint IMF, World Bank or investment banking professionals as economic chiefs of the country. They either simply ignore the important economists for these positions, or they are just interested in short term fiscal management.
It is high time that our focus on economic planning and budgets to shifted towards clear cut economic goals for developing an industrial base in the country.
We need to come up with policies that ensure a culture of entrepreneurship in the country. Income support programmes cannot serve the objective of economic freedom. It is actually the facilitation of doing business and converting ideas into returns that can change the economic outlook of Pakistan.
We sit over a resource bank of trillions of dollars while we chase millions to survive. This myth of the poor economy of the richest country has to end.
Our prime issues are not VAT, capital gain tax etcetera. The biggest issue is the under utilization of the massive resources available in this land, where our federal budgets has been silent for years. This issue is directly related to poverty reduction as well as developing confidence in the people of Pakistan and about their future.
We need to see beyond fiscal management and look towards true economic management of our country.
 
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But india is still the largest recipient of British aid.:)

do look up the per capita aid received by Pakistan and compare it to per capita aid received by India. Pak received almost 8 times per capita aid than India
 
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