Daily Times

As I went out to see the doctor, several things caught my attention! There were piles of garbage here and there, especially in what is called the old tow such as Ghalib Market, Shah Jamal, Liberty, Gulberg, etc.

Despite environmental signs planted across the roads especially after Jinnah Flyover, people still litter heavily. However, I don’t blame these people as they are poor and illiterate and are struggling to make both ends meet. The new taxes imposed by the new government have made life difficult for the poor who in order to kill hunger resort to drugs, caffeine and alcohol and cigarettes.

The Plant More Trees campaign will provide employment to the poor. With the rapidly advancing world, those who cannot afford even the basic needs; it becomes difficult for them to adopt new methods. For example, take the case of a villager. His mentality will be the same. He will want more sons because he believes that a son will be his helping hand. And so, he will want more sons and not daughters as they are considered a burden. Daughters are like a burden because the groom demands dowry and that too heavy dowry. They are forced into giving a lot of dowry because of the standard set by the society. Resultantly the daughter is sent back with kids- divorced! With the ailing parents to take care of the daughter they had married with so much love, care, joy and happiness.

The Plant More Trees campaign will provide employment to the poor. With the rapidly advancing world, those who cannot afford even basic needs; it becomes difficult for them to adopt new methods. For example, take the case of a villager. His mentality will remain the same. He will want more sons because he believes that a son will be his helping hand

The system needs to address the problems of the poor it needs to provide support and a helping hand to all those who are needy and poor. Building infrastructure is not the answer as it is eradicating the rural areas fast which are the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. The kisaan, the mazdoor and all the people from the lower caste who are working day and night to make possible the luxuries of the rich and in return what do they get a meagre salary which is not even enough to meet the basic provision such as roti, kapra, makaan the motto set by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The government should provide free facilities to these people so that they can at-least sleep peacefully on their charpoys with a fan in the summer, otherwise they rest under the sky full of stars but don’t complaint and are happy and content with whatever little they have. It then becomes the duty of the govt and society at large to take care of the needy!

With the growing price of cement, bricks, mud, sariya, transport, petrol/diesel the mazdoor yet doesn’t get enough for at the end of the day the money goes to the contractor who is a fraud! Selling good timber at high rates and replacing original material with fake ones. He keeps the profit in his wallet without paying the ones who really need it because they cannot read or write it!

What can be done is to tell little by little to the domestic helpers about the importance of hygiene making sure they shower twice a day, wear some Khushboo and keep their quarters clean. However, nothing comes without accountability and that accountability should be for both the rich and the poor.

The writer can be reached at beenishmhmd@gmail.com