In spite of a very high prevalence of poverty in the world it is quite difficult to come to an operational definition of poverty which could be used worldwide in every context. In this article i am trying to look some researches and studies conducted in other parts of the world and try to analyse the situation in FATA with its own unique context.
The notion of poverty used to be associated with economic poverty till recent times and still continues to be a very important aspect. The most comprehensive definition of poverty which includes both economic and social aspects of poverty could be derived from United Nations summit on social development in Copenhagen declaration according to which “Poverty is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information”. Even this comprehensive definition could be challenged in the view of the Maslow’s theory of human needs and that’s why other concepts of relative poverty and social exclusion etc came in to use.
Abel Smith and Peter Townsend (1965) introduced the concept of relative poverty and identified various indicators specifically in context of industrialized countries such as access to holidays, ability to offer food to friends, lack of parties for children, lack of fresh meat etc to be indicators of poverty. The poverty indices of Smith and Townsend were later on criticized by Piachaus (1981) as life styles sometimes need other indicators such as for vegetarian communities this is the presence of fridge that matter and not the fresh meat.
Falkingham and Hills (1995) added a new dimension to the understanding of poverty through their capability theory they measure the poverty in terms of one’s ability to live a life characterized by active participation in society and a sense of security.
Though the economic aspect in definitions is still prevalent and world bank still considers those people as poor whose annual income is below US$ 370 a year.( This threshold of poverty is for developing countries) And according to estimates of 2010 there are more than 1.3 billion people across the globe who live on less than US$1 a day. The income definitions are still used for national categorization of countries on the basis of per capita income. Some states calculate the poverty of individuals or households on the basis of required number of calories per person. In 1951 the US agriculture department conducted a survey of low income households and they found that these people consume 1/3 of their income on their food. So it is a common practice for identifying the threshold of poverty to multiply the cost of the standard food basket of the required calories by 3, to reach to the bare minimum amount required to live.
Abel Smith and Peter Townsend (1965) introduced the concept of relative poverty and identified various indicators specifically in context of industrialized countries such as access to holidays, ability to offer food to friends, lack of parties for children, lack of fresh meat etc to be indicators of poverty. The poverty indices of Smith and Townsend were later on criticized by Piachaus (1981) as life styles sometimes need other indicators such as for vegetarian communities this is the presence of fridge that matter and not the fresh meat.
Falkingham and Hills (1995) added a new dimension to the understanding of poverty through their capability theory they measure the poverty in terms of one’s ability to live a life characterized by active participation in society and a sense of security.
Though the economic aspect in definitions is still prevalent and world bank still considers those people as poor whose annual income is below US$ 370 a year.( This threshold of poverty is for developing countries) And according to estimates of 2010 there are more than 1.3 billion people across the globe who live on less than US$1 a day. The income definitions are still used for national categorization of countries on the basis of per capita income. Some states calculate the poverty of individuals or households on the basis of required number of calories per person. In 1951 the US agriculture department conducted a survey of low income households and they found that these people consume 1/3 of their income on their food. So it is a common practice for identifying the threshold of poverty to multiply the cost of the standard food basket of the required calories by 3, to reach to the bare minimum amount required to live.
What are the causes of poverty and underdevelopment in the world generally and in FATA specifically. Lets take a look at what other people say about it.
The most persuasive effort has been by Acemogulu, Robinson, and Johnson (2001), who argue that the extent of settler mortality caused by the disease environment in colonies resulted in settler populations of differing sizes. Settler populations of smaller size (that is, in high disease
colonies) tended to be more exploitative, and this was reflected in the institutions they created. Thus settler mortality, they suggest, can be used as an instrument for institutions. If mortality of the settelers can be the basis for developing exploitative institutions by colonial systems then perhaps FATA was among the most dangerous zones for them, because here in FATA the mortality of settelers was not only due to diseases but was due to the war for freedom from these people.
Some other researchers argue that underdevelopment and hence poverty are caused by limited education, and again colonolism has been accused of reducing education opportunities for indigenous people. e.g Engerman and Sokoloff (1997, 2002) suggest that colonies with a small settler population (which, parenthetically, they attribute to other factors than settler mortality, such as the size of the existing local population) tended to suppress education possibilities for the native population.
Some other authors have analysed the situation with a different angle like R.G. Rajan and Luigi Zingales state " it is not a dominant group imposing its preferences on others, but a bad configuration of interests that leads to underdevelopment.** ( The Persistence of Underdevelopment: Institutions, Human Capital, or Constituencies? by Raghuram G. Rajan and Luigi Zingales NBER Working Paper No. 12093, 2006) but keeping in view the situation of FATA one can see that again here even the configuration of interests is being influenced by people who dont have long term stakes in FATA because they are non local people.
With regard to FATA there has been a few controversial studies e.g by Sungi " between hope and despair" (Supported by DFID) by going through it one can see that exceptional cases have been generalized and perceptions of the data collectors have been reflected in findings e.g on its page 22 (PPA, Between hope and despair) they claim that the poor have to take credit to pay the fines imposed under FCR, while in reality this is not the case. Though it provides some good information about the poverty situation in FATA, but the problem is with its sample size and many times the perception of people who dont really belong to FATA.
To understand the causes of FATA now it is time to look in to these causes, but both the research and if some remedial action is identified be implemented by people of FATA who have long term stakes involved. Dimensions/proximate causes to be explored further are 1) Geographical features and location of FATA 2) Natural resource base and human capital 3) Political interests of other countries in the region 4) treating FATA as a buffer zone and experimental place 5) A system of justice by state that is not understandable to common people that how justice is being administered 6) a complete analysis of socio economic situation of FATA.
This list is not an exhastive one and educated people of FATA are requested to add their expertise at this point of time, for the benefit of the coming generations of FATA.
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