KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF

MANAGEMENT
Balkumari, Lalitpur

Analytical assignment I

Why Growth Matters

Submitted To : Submitted to:

Mrs. Annupama S Pant Anamika Shakya
Visiting Faculty of Economics Roll:18785
Section C
BBA 2nd year, 1st Semester
Q1) Does the writer portray a bleak but realistic view of poverty in the poorest of nations
in this article? Justify your answer

Ans Yes, the writer portrays a bleak but realistic view of poverty in the poorest of nations in the
article. There are several examples in the article which depicts the widespread of poverty in the
poor country. The article highlights the backwardness of the underdeveloped country like
Pakistan. Its rural parts like the city of Lahore is suffering from various problems related to
electricity, lack of paved roads, poor health facility and many more. They have to suffer from the
problem of telecommunication. In the article it has been mentioned that about 85 percent of
people in poor country live on less than two dollars a day and thirty one percent live in extreme
poverty.

The women condition in the rural part of Pakistan seems to be even worse. They are highly
oppressed .The women are restricted from several activities there is lack of girls elementary
school, women are supposed to only household work and there has been discrimination against
girls regarding nutrition, medical care, female feticide. Women violence was highly prevalent in
the countryside of Pakistan as mentioned in one of the case a brother killed its own sister with
the reason of protecting the family honor. This depicts that the condition of women is miserable
in Pakistan.

Poverty refers to a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial
resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level
is so low that the basic health facility like food, clothing, shelter, health facility can’t be met.
Absolute poverty is the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs, such
as food, clothing and shelter whereas relative poverty refers to sate when people cannot meet a
minimum living standard as compared to the other person living in the same place and at same
time.Due to poverty in the poorest nation women are oppressed, child labour takes place and
there is also high infant mortality rate.

Infant mortality is one of the biggest problem of the poor nations. Infant mortality rate refers to
the death of children below the age of one year. According to the research it has been found that
in the poorest fifth of countries the infant mortality rate is 200 out of every 1000 births whereas
in the richest fifth of countries is four out of every 1000 births. It has been found that ten percent
decrease in income is associated with 6 percent increase in infant mortality rate. The highest
infant mortality rate are caused due to simple curable communicable disease like tuberculosis,
polio, measles, pneumonia., tetanus, measles, diarrhea. Having low income of people is one the
biggest reason of such high infant mortality rate as low income means low health education, low
knowledge of health care. Children are dying from small communicable diseases for which
medicine are also available at low cost. Lack of proper health education due to low income has
been a major cause for infants dying every year helplessly.

The lack proper knowledge about sanitation and eating habits is increasing the infant mortality
rate. The people of rich and developed countries have high knowledge about nutrition and
sanitation so as per the research none of the fifth richest country suffered from famines whereas
the quarter of the poorest country suffered from famine.

Child labor is another problem which is widespread in the poorest nations. It refers to the
condition where children below the age of fourteen are bound to work .About 42 percent of
children aged ten to fourteen are workers in the poorest of nations. Though there are laws
prohibiting the child labor 88 percent of the poorest country are not following the rule. One the
example given in the article was of a boy named Pachawak who had to work with number of
households as child labor. Another widespread child labor is prostitution of young girls as well
as poor children about 200.000 children have to work in war as child soldiers in the countries
like Myanmar, Angola, Uganda. Child labor hampers the children future as it may disturb them
mentally and physically. These children are the future of nation and when these children are not
fit mentally and physically then the development I the country never take place and the country
will always have to face the problem of poverty.
Vicious cycle of poverty

Low income is the main cause which brings poverty in the country. In the article in the poorest
of the nations there are no resources, opportunities for the people, people are bound to work are
bonded labors that ultimately create the low income problem. When there is low income there is
low demand for goods which leads to low investment, low employment and low productivity.
Thus poverty is a vicious cycle that goes round and round. The problem of poorest nations
having problem of child labor, women oppression, hunger, violence will always be present if the
poverty is not managed properly. Only if people are provided with necessities and opportunities,
people may rise from their current state in the poorest country and can bring progress in the
nation that contributes to reduction of poverty to at least some level.

Thus, in the article the writer has presented the sad, bleak but realistic view of poverty that is
prevalent in the poorest of the country in the world.

Q2) How can the fact that forty two percent of children aged ten to fourteen are workers
in the poorest countries, affect the development process of a nation? Discuss
Ans The child labor refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work below the
age of fourteen. Child labor is a widespread phenomenon in the poorest country. It is a result of
poverty in the poorest of nation that not only hampers the development of children but also
affects the development of the poorest nation. Poverty is a vicious cycle which goes round and
round and child labor is a result of poverty.

In the world's poorest countries, around 1 in 4 children are engaged in child labor and about 42
percentage of children work as labor in the poorest country which is a sad reality. Some of the
causes of child labor are the wage of children is less in compared to the adults. All the children
working as child labor belongs to poor families or orphans so the firms will have to pay less to
the children.

There are several effects of child labor. It affects the children mentally and physically as well as
it hampers the overall development of the nation. Children who are working as a child labor will
have no chance of gaining education that means they will not be able to contribute anything for
the progress of the country .The child who works as child labor will have no chance of
improvement in his life. Children who have fallen into labor have a miserable life and once they
fall into this vicious cycle there is no way of getting out of it.

Children who work as child labor are deprived of basic right to education and health facility.
They have high chance of having emotional breakdown and depression. These children have
high chances of getting involved into illegal activities like crimes that further decline the
economic growth of the poorest nation. Children who work face serious health problems
because of working intensively. Mostly, the employers do not care at all about underage children
who are almost always malnourished and they are bound to continue to work for long hours with
not much of wage.

Their mental health is severely affected as these children often face severe mental trauma when
they attain adulthood due to the constant threats and ill-treatment they received as laborers
Children who cannot find work are obliged to beg on the streets, and they also get involved into
prostitution. At some point they turn out to become thieves so as to help their family to survive.

Child labor has a negative impact on the welfare of a nation. Since these children do not receive
any education, it increases illiteracy in the poorest nation that hampers the overall economic
growth of the country. Due to lack of education these children when they turn into adults, finding
jobs becomes tough as they do not possess the necessary skills and training. This in turn leads to
hike in unemployment. The unskilled children are always underpaid which lowers the country's
per capita income that hampers the long-term economic development of the country.

Child labor is a consequence of poverty in the poorest of country. Child labor is significantly
high in poorest country like Uganda about 47.7 percent of child labor is prevalent, Malawi has
44.8 percent of child labor, Somalia with 46.7 percent of child labor. This is all because of
poverty. Poverty compels the children to work at the age from 4 to 14 which deprives children
from quality education, health facilities. The fact that forty two percent of the children aging
from 4 to 14 are child labor depicts the fact that these children are unskilled and in future also
they turn out be unskilled adults, they will have to bear less wage and it will continue till next
generation so they won’t be able to contribute for the economic progress of the poorest nations.In
this way child labor hampers the development of the poorest nation.
Q3) What surprised you the most when you read this article and why?

There were many facts that surprised me while reading the article. The most surprising facts
were the death of the innocents and the widespread of child labor in the poorest nations.

The infant mortality of about 200 out of every 1000 birth every year in the poorest country
surprised me a lot. The high infant mortality rate is an outcome of poverty in the poorest nation.
The cause of their death is even more shocking. As per the research infants die of very common
curable communicable disease like diarrhea, polio, sleeping sickness, measles, worms. Two
millions of children die of dehydration every year, three millions of children die of bacterial
pneumonia annually. Between 170 and 400 children are infected with intestinal parasites,
deficiency of vitamin A contributes to death of 8 millions of children every year.

The most shocking fact is that the medicines to cure these diseases is less expensive. It costs only
ten cents for oral rehydration, 15 cents to get vaccination for polio, measles, tetanus, pertussis. It
costs only two cents to get vitamin a capsules as well as intestinal parasites can be cured with
inexpensive drugs. But due to low income of people in the poorest country, the curable disease
also turns out to be even more dangerous as they have very less medical knowledge, lack of
proper knowledge of nutrition contribute to high infant mortality rate every year. Some people
are so poor that they cannot even afford cheap medicines while some are not even aware of
proper nutrition due to which millions of infants die every year.

Likewise the fact that about 42 percent of children fall victim of child labor in the poorest nation
surprised me a lot. Children are the future of nation and since most of the children in the poorest
country have to work as labor for their living, we can conclude that these children when they will
become adult they will be unskilled and they still have to work as a labor that donot contribute to
the economic progress of the nation. In addition to it some children tend to be involved in the
crime and illegal activities also known as the dark economy which hampers the economic growth
as well as development of the poorest nation. The cycle continues endlessly and the viscous
cycle of poverty never turns out to end. That means the poor country will always remain poor
until and unless the child labor, women oppression, infant mortality is controlled. This will
alleviate the poverty to at least some extent.
4) On what points do you disagree with the writer in the article? why?

Ans I agree with most of the statement in the article but the facts about the condition of women
has not been described in depth. It is true that the condition of women in the poorest nation is
highly miserable as mentioned in the article itself. But the article has not described the on going
efforts in one of the poorest country ie Pakistan that there are several activists who are actually
putting a lot of efforts to improve girls education despite several threats.

Pakistan native Malala Yousafzai is an activist for female education in Pakistan, who despite
being shot by Taliban’s is actually putting efforts by collecting millions of funds for girls
education. Her foundation has helped to establish many girls school in villages that has helped
more than 1000 girls to receive education. Similarly the Hoshyar foundation is a non profit
organization working for female empowerment and education which sponsors schools in
Pakistan which is making education possible for young girls. By 2018, the foundation was able
to support 12 school in Pakistan due to which more than 1200 girls have been able to attend
school.

In the article it has been portrayed that women and girls are restricted in their homes which is
true but the scenario is changing at present which has not been mentioned in the article.
Education in Pakistan is valuable but still undervalued. With the efforts shown by activists and
foundations female education is actually improving in Pakistan and the condition of women is
improving as compared to past.
References

https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Managing_the_economy/Poverty.html

https://borgenproject.org/7-facts-education-in-pakistan/

Honor code:

“On my honor as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this
assignment”

Anamika Shakya