Food crisis

If the government ever needed evidence that the people who elected it to rule them are suffering from the effects of the food crisis, it now has it. The survey, by the Pakistan Institute of Public Opinion, which is the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International, yields results which should make any government pause. The survey has revealed that 56 percent of people said that the rising prices of food, fuel and electricity had affected them negatively, while 32 percent went further in saying that, as a result, they had cut down on food for their families. All parties in government, including the PML-N, which rules the country’s largest province, should be less than thrilled to know that no less than 70 percent of Pakistanis blame government policies for the price hike, even though the government has blamed the global food crisis for the problem, which the government blames for the fact that 77 million of 160 million Pakistanis are now below the poverty line. According to UNDP figures, that represents a 28 percent increase over last year.

This means that about 50 percent of Pakistanis are below the poverty line. That such a proportion has proved acceptable to the government should indicate that it has not kept enough of an eye open for the poverty figure, either because of a complacence that is now being challenged in a major way, or because the team put together by the present government is incompetent; or because it simply does not care.