chronic illiteracy

The literacy rate is about 45% and the rest of the people 55% are illiterate according to 1998
census of Pakistan. Those people who are well-informed in modes of life are called educated.
But illiterate are those who cannot read a paragraph in any language with - understanding. The
difference between literacy and education is clear; In common understanding the educated
people are those who have received formal education in educational institutions.
But actually the educated people are those who understand the modes of life. Illiteracy covers
the maximum number of population in which the higher age group people fall. They have
crossed the age of 40 and more. There are the people mostly living in rural areas and have their
rural profession related to agriculture. With the advancement of mechanized farming the labor
force in rural areas became unemployed and some people are shifting to urban areas for job.
Again these people are unemployed in urban areas facing problems of residence and
employment. Moreover, those who are literate are unable to get employment due to shortage
of jobs.

Illiteracy is the problem when the people are unable to under stand new policies in agriculture
which give poor yield per acre. Illiterate people are mostly familiar with old methods of
cultivation and feel hesitation in adopting the new ones.

Causes:
1. Only 2% of GDP spent on Education whereas 60% is used for defense
2. Un-availability of schools in remote and rural areas
3. Occupation of schools by influential people in rural areas
4. Conversion of Education as a Industry instead of Service
5. Expensive education as compared to Europe, where education is free

rampant corruption

Corruption is rampant, it has damaged moral values and created a gulf between haves and have
nots. Corruption is in vogue in Pakistan because of its complex legal structures, undue
discretionary powers enjoyed by public servants, absence of international accounting and audit
standards and weak public accountability. It is due to the complex legal procedures that
prolong the litigations indefinitely, favouring mostly the actual culprits. Fight against corruption
is generally a long-term effort and consequently may span successive political administrations.
The absence of transparent policies and systems for selection and appointment of public
officials, clearly stated procurement procedures etc, the social evils like nepotism, favouritism,
and even “sale of vacancies” are nurtured. In the absence of transparent systems, the
concerned officials have a great propensity to exploit the situation to extort bribes
 Increasing population

The current population of Pakistan is 202,774,857 as of Tuesday, January 8, 2019, based on the
latest United Nations estimates. Pakistan being one of the high-fertility countries with a large
proportion of young adults and children had a population of 33 million in 1950 and its rank was
14th in the world but today, its population has reached around 210 million making Pakistan 6th
most populous country of the world, after China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, and surpassed Japan,
Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Korea, Russia etc.

If the population of the country continues to grow with the same rate (1.90%), it is likely to
double in next 37 years, making Pakistan 3rd most populous country of the world; whereas land
area will remain the same rather will be reduced due to residential plans,Major factors
responsible for high population growth in Pakistan are high fertility, low contraceptive
prevalence rate, high unmet need of family planning, declining mortality, custom of early
marriages, son preference, poverty, illiteracy especially of women and lack of women
empowerment, religious constraints, beliefs, customs, traditions and lack of recreational
activities.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence is an endemic social problem in Pakistan. According to a report, nearly 70 to

90 percent of women are suffering from many forms of abuses. In Pakistan more than 5000
women are being killed per year due to the domestic violence and thousands of women have
been injured badly. Approximately 97% of women were interviewed and told that they have
been the victim of some kinds of assaults, ranging from verbal abuses or threatened to being
subjected to beating or non-consensual sex.
It is really painful to mention that 12 years old girls are being killed by their own fathers and
brothers. Different reasons are linked with domestic violence in Pakistan such as, poverty,
illiteracy and social taboos. In Islamabad nearly 4,000 women had been attacked during the
period of eight years in which 30 percent were pregnant. So about four women are killed in this
manner everyday. Domestic violence is not only physical, but verbal and psychological too.
Many a times women are taunted and insulted by their husbands who abuse them on various
occasions. Such conditions have aggravated since the early 2000's, as women have started to
work outside of their homes. Honour killings, another brutal form of domestic violence, are
done in the name of honour as the name suggests. These are generally practiced in rural areas
where if a girl is found to have any sort of relation with a man who is not her husband, is raped
or killed in order to protect the honour and dignity of the family, without any authentic
evidence at times. Such girls are considered as a blot on the family name for being involved in
men.

Women victimization

In Pakistan, domestic violence is the most common form of gender discrimination. The
depressing irony behind the male-dominated society in Pakistan is that; it determines that
women are not given enough independence and power to speak up against the unfair
treatment they receive. The rate of abuse women suffer in Pakistan is even higher than most of
the world; as 70-90 percent of Pakistani women become victim to unfair treatment. Commonly,
the woman accepts repeated beatings, sentimental whippings and verbal offense under the
pressure to keep the family united.

More than one in three women experience sexual assault, physical violence or stalking by an
intimate partner at least once during their lifetime, revealed Center for Disease Control and
Prevention survey conducted by CNN. Furthermore, nearly one in every five women gets raped
or is the target of some attempted rape in their lifespan.

Women all around the globe are subjected to abuse, made victims of unfair treatment and
bullied into silence. Being more fragile of the two genders, they are not only mentally and
emotionally manipulated but also physically and sexually harassed, their tongues are tied and
voices suppressed.

It’s mournful that women are overpowered and controlled as puppets by the male dominated
society of men. The famous campaign “World hates women” also focuses on how the male
population of world can’t bear to see women self-sufficient and content with themselves. It
should be noted here that there is no generalization, as men of virtue do understand the role of
women in society building and thus they ensure that women be given their due rights.

Child labour

Child labour is a sad truth of Pakistan and unfortunately it prevails in many forms in the
country. According to a survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, out of the
estimated 40 million children in Pakistan, approximately 19 million are working as child
labourers.
This is unacceptable given that a principle of policy in Pakistan is to provide free education and
rid the country of illiteracy. In many cases, the parents of child labourers cannot afford
education or they believe that education does not lead to marketable skills. Unfortunately the
rate of child labour is increasing in Pakistan. It is primarily due to the reason that 25% percent
of people are living below poverty-line in Pakistan and they are unable to fulfil their basic
needs, hence they have to force their children to struggle in such a young age.
It is very sad to see these young children who should be going to schools at this age are going to
kilns and factories and the hands that should be holding pens and books are being used to lift
heavy weights of bricks or changing heavy tyres of cars at auto repair shops. Every child in
Pakistan, in fact all over the country has a right to be educated, he has the right to enjoy his
childhood and play freely! The government and even the local citizens of Pakistan should play
their part in eradicating child labour and provide these children with better opportunities.

problems of the youth

Despite constituting a major chunk of our population, our youth are lagging behind in every
field. They have a major role to play in country’s progress but due to lack of support they are
facing many new challenges in today’s society: they are afflicted by an identity crisis, lack of
self-confidence, a sense of hopelessness and confusion, and ambiguity concerning about moral
issues and the future. They have been trapped in a culture marked by guns, violence and drugs.
All this has resulted in an unstable economy, a shattered confidence of foreign investors,
lawlessness and a break-up of the social fabric. Let’s see what major problems are faced by our
youth.

The most profound problem our youth is facing at present is frustration. This monster is eating
up our youth slowly and gradually. The youth in Pakistan don’t have jobs, means of healthy
entertainment, health resources and awareness. The frustration as a result of multitude
problems is increasing day by day.

Generation gap

In Pakistan, the generation gap is increasing day-by-day. Before I discuss this topic first try to
understand its meaning. The generation gap is a difference of attitudes of generations that
ultimately lead them to poor understanding of each other. The relationships don’t work out in
an appropriate manner and generations instead of coming closer to each other become more
distant. In Pakistan, the likeness towards the Western Culture in the youngsters is increasing
day-by-day. They love to wear Western dresses and speak English. Speaking English is
considered to be a mark of intelligence. Moreover, people categorise English as a status symbol
language.
Each generation has its demands, requirements, opinions, and thoughts. Parents think with
their point of view whereas children have their own perspective. Children usually have
command on technology whereas parents don’t understand it as much, they are too busy doing
jobs and fail to provide quality time to their children. In other cases we see parents
unnecessarily interfering in the lives of their children. Both scenarios are wrong. Parents need
to keep a balanced approach with their children. They should neither be too distant nor
extraordinarily attached to them.
Parents need to keep an eye on their children without letting them know. They need to take
out time for healthy discussion with their children. A friendly relation should be developed
between parents so that children may quickly discuss their problems with them. Problems arise
when children seek sanctuary in the company of bad friends because they think that thinking of
their parents is outdated. They don’t want their parents to advise them. They want to live their
lives without any interference. This all happens gradually, and when parents come to realise
this, their children are gone quite far away from them.
The generation gap is destroying our cultural norms and traditions. Family ties are gradually
disrupting. The main reason is the advancement in technology. On the one hand innovation in
technology has provided multiple opportunities for progress and on the other hand, our family
system is getting deteriorated by it. Technology has detached children from their parents.
Children instead of listening to their parents prefer to spend time on social media. They love to
watch movies and dramas but don’t like to spend their time with parents.
Previously, parents and teachers were role models for children, but now their role model is
some western celebrity who is a famous actor or singer. Neighbours were given their rights.
Today’s generation is getting caught in drugs, pornography, and many other illicit activities. The
main reason is the lack of attention from parents. They seek serenity in drugs and time comes
when they have no control over themselves. Parents realise this very late and find so hard to
bring their children towards the right path. Games have also polluted minds of children. They
spend whole night and days playing games that put a very bad impact on their mind.

Fast urbanization

In about 10 years, nearly half of Pakistan's 188 million people are set to live in cities, compared
to only a third today. The majority of people in Pakistan live in the countryside, with only one-
third of the country's estimated 188 million inhabitants currently are in cities. But things are
changing rapidly. Pakistan is urbanizing at an annual rate of three percent – the fastest pace in
South Asia. The United Nations Population Division estimates that, by 2025, nearly half the
country's population will live in urban areas.
By 2025, Lahore's population, currently about seven million, will exceed 10 million. Karachi's
will be 19 million; it is 13 million today. But how can the country cope with such migration
levels? The inadequate provision of shelter to the urban poor continues to be one of Pakistan's
most immediate problems.

Feudalistic mindset

The narrow-minded yet highly influential feudal class in Pakistan is reluctant to let the country
develop into a modern state. The prevailing culture of feudal lords in most parts of the country
is an impediment to modernisation, viable social change, and modern world. The change that is
compatible with a fast changing world is not compatible with the psyche and mentality of the
ruling elites who mostly belongs to the feudal landlords. The influential, often politicians who
own land, back in their villages, are not in favor of any development or education related
projects. They think that the developmental changes may create the possibility of affecting
their hegemonic power, absolute authority, and the existing structural hierarchy of the society.
The feudal lords are blamed for defining right and wrong, pressing and suppressing, enslaving
and torturing, bonded and child labor. The land owner is a hovering curse for the poor tenants
– the dignity of the farmers’ family is often put at stake in front of the mighty land lords. They
inflicted pain on the children of the tenants. A few tragic episodes which surfaced recently due
to vibrant role of electronic media are an eye-wash for the sane citizens and civilized world. The
culture of feudal impunity was put in the spotlight after a landowner’s son cuts a boy’s arms off
over a minor dispute of electricity bill in the village of Chak Bhola, in Punjab where 10-year-
old’s, Tabassum Iqbal’s arms were shredded by the rotating spikes of the threshing machine in
July 2014. The police refused to open a case without a medical report. A case wasn’t even
opened after the report was presented.

Age-long cast system

The independence movement for Pakistan was based on two nation theory. The theory
proposed that Muslims are different from majority Hindus based on religion and the values
proposed by it. One of the key difference was that Hindu religion sanctioned division of the
society based on a caste system. Muslims refused to accept it and believed
in aik hi saaf main khara ho gay mehmood o ayaz. They had good relations with lower caste
Hindus which were majority component of it to be a potent political force. But the reality is that
the caste system survived post-independence. Pakistan is only an Islamic country in name and
one of the most unislamic country in practice. It cannot become the new Medina unless and
until the back of the caste system is broken and true equality attained
where Mahmood o ayaz has to be treated same by prosecution for breaking the law. It can
either happen through peaceful social transformation. Or it could be through bloody revolution
which is just around the corner and waiting for a flash point to trigger it.

Inflation

Inflation edged up to eight percent in the month of September 2018 on the back of a persistent
increase in petroleum products and regulatory duties on imported consumer goods.

This was the highest month-on-month increase since last few years heralding a trend that
consumer inflation will go up in coming months, according to data released by the Pakistan
Bureau of Statistics.
The rupee was recently depreciated, which will also reflect in the prices of imported goods in
the next couple of months.

Moreover, the government imposed regulatory duties on several hundred items, including
foodstuff, to meet the revenue collection target for the current fiscal year.

Average inflation is 7.45 percent from 2010 until 2018, reaching and all time high of 11.40
percent in June 2012 and a low record of 3.40 percent in September 2015.

Inflation, measured through the consumer price index (CPI), tracks the prices of around 480
commodities every month in urban centres across the country.

Food inflation in September was 1.10 pc on and average was 4.75 percent from 2011 to 2018.
Non-food inflation remained 5.1 percent year-on-year and 0.2 percent month-on-month.

On a monthly basis, prices of non-perishable food items increased 0.89pc while those of
perishable products dropped 7.8 percent. Food items (-12.4 percent) such as onions, pulse
mash, potatoes, tomatoes and gram whole. On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged down
by 0.06 percent, following a 0.21 percent increase in August, driven by food items such as
tomatoes, onions, chicken and fresh fruits. Non-food items such as personal equipment,
education and washing soaps and detergents. Inflation Rate in Pakistan averaged 7.76 percent
from 1957 until 2018.

Core inflation, measured by excluding volatile food and energy prices, was recorded at 8
percent in the month of September. The gradual build-up of domestic demand is evident in
rising core inflation. Of 89 commodity groups of the CPI, it covers the price movement of 43
items.

Core inflation has remained subdued since November 2015 because of a tighter monetary
policy and reduction in food and fuel prices.

Unemployment

Unemployment is a sensitive and most commonly faced problems of Pakistan. Most of the
natives are suffering from this depression referred to as ‘unemployment’. Many Pakistani
graduates are talented, intelligent, and skilled yet don’t get an opportunity to work. Currently,
more than 3 million Pakistanis are unemployed and the ratio is more than 12%. There are many
students who move abroad for work after getting degrees. Pakistan is fortunate enough to have
valuable human capital but unfortunately due to lack of opportunities most of them leave the
country.
The biggest reason of unemployment in Pakistan is due to the backwardness of agriculture
sector that accounts for 20.9% to the country’s GDP and over 44% get employment from this
sector either directly or indirectly.

Poverty

Poverty is a curse. Pakistan is a poor and under developed country. Most of its population lives
in entirely adverse circumstances. Some reports reveal that more than forty percent
population of Pakistan lives below the line of poverty. Four out of 10 Pakistanis are living in
acute poverty with the population of Balochistan faring the worst among the provinces,
according to Pakistan’s first-ever official report on multidimensional poverty.

A large number of people in our country do not have proper place to live, this miserable
condition has given birth to a large number of beggars and needy people who live on the
charity of the rich people. The economic condition of an average individual is very pathetic.
Poverty; hunger and unemployment afflict a large section of population. The causes of poverty
are quite obvious and known.

A STUDY on poverty has brought Pakistan face to face with a reality that it will find hard to
accept: every third Pakistani is caught in the ‘poor’ bracket i.e. some 58.7 million out of a total
population of 180 million subsist below the poverty line.

This includes more than half the population in the forever remote Balochistan, 33 per cent in
Sindh, 32 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 19 per cent in Punjab. These are daunting
figures. But they are much needed for planning, especially when the government appears too
embarrassed to release statistics related to poverty. The Sustainable Development Policy
Institute, which has carried out this economic-mapping exercise, is justified in calling for the
release of government figures and for a policy to combat acute poverty. These are facts which
are being kept under wraps at great peril to the country.

Week foreign policy

FOREIGN policy is an aspect of national policy. If national governance is dysfunctional foreign

policy cannot deliver. This is because no coherent political framework for a successful foreign
policy will be available. This is the norm in Pakistan.

As long as Pakistan’s military-intelligence complex (the ‘deep state’) overwhelms civil and
political society in terms of per-capita resource allocations, strategic perceptions, and policy
influence, the national perspective will remain distorted. This negatively impacts on foreign
policy.
Those who see this state of affairs as a given that cannot be changed are wrong. Those who
regard mere national survival as national resilience are equally wrong. Low expectations are a
national curse. The prevalence of institutional agendas over national agendas has ensured
national humiliation and isolation.

Elections alone can never transform bad governance into good governance. Without the rule of
law, political accountability, and a sufficiently informed and minimally educated public opinion
there can be no working democracy, including a credible foreign policy. Talking strategy
becomes meaningless.

The importance of Pakistan is a function of its size, potential and location. The success of its
foreign policy is a function of how it utilises these assets. Pakistan has a population of over 200
million which makes it a significant country. But its economy is externally dependent and its
social indices are woeful.

Accordingly, Pakistan is a less than sovereign country. This excludes the possibility of an
independent foreign policy whatever postures are adopted. The blame game substitutes for
policy while extremism threatens to capture an increasingly soft state.

Devalued currency
Pakistan’s rupee plunged the most in nine years, after the central bank was said to have
devalued the currency as South Asia’s second largest economy showed signs of stress ahead of
elections next year.

The rupee fell 3.1 per cent to 108.1 against the dollar at 2:29 p.m. local time on Wednesday,
the lowest level since December 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The
International Monetary Fund last year pointed out that the currency, which operates under a
managed float regime, was overvalued by as much as 20 per cent and was negatively impacting
its exports. In an interview last month, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan
said he was trying to persuade Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to adjust the rupee’s value after the
devaluation of currencies by regional players including China, India, Turkey and Thailand gave
them an edge over Pakistan.

Terrorism
Terrorism in Pakistan has become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in recent years.
Terrorism in Pakistan originated with supporting the Soviet–Afghan War, and the subsequent
civil war that continued for at least a decade. The conflict brought numerous fighters from all
over the world to South Asia in the name of jihad. The mujahideen fighters were trained by
Pakistan's military, American CIA and other western intelligence agencies who carried out
insurgent activities inside Afghanistan well after the war officially ended.
Former Pakistan's army chief, Gen Raheel shareef accused longtime regional rival India, ill-
focused on Pakistan, of seeking to undermine his country's $46 billion Gawader project to build
an economic corridor to transport goods from China's western regions through Pakistan.
Though, it is not uncommon for Pakistan and India to accuse one another on all troublesome
issues. [9]
Imposition of martial law in 1958, Pakistan's political situation suddenly changed and thereafter
saw dictatorship type behaviour at different levels appearing in the civil service, the army and
political forces or Zamindars (landlords created by the British) who claimed power, probably
because the British originally did not consider Pakistan an independent state, yet did not want
to intervene; this trend continued into the 21st century, when finally, the US persuaded
General Pervez Musharraf to hold elections. Other causes, such as political rivalry and business
disputes, also took their toll. It was estimated in 2005 that more than 4,000 people had died in
Pakistan in the preceding 25 years due to sectarian strife.