World Bank Data On India And Pakistan Shows Massive Contrast Over Poverty

Latest data released by the World Bank shows the tale of two countries - India and Pakistan - and their journey to battle poverty - a colonial inheritance. The comparison, especially over the last 15 years, shows a stark difference in priorities between the two south Asian neighbours.

While the data for India, released on Saturday, gives a comparative analysis of poverty between 2011-12 and 2022-23, for Pakistan, it highlights the same between 2017-18 and 2020-21. This also comes at a time when India's economy has been in the news last week for surpassing that of Japan's to become the fourth-largest in the world, and Pakistan's was in the news last month for yet another bailout package from the IMF as it struggles to stay afloat.

While India's growth story has been a result of its governance model - of development and poverty alleviation, Pakistan's plight has been a result of its misappropriation of funds and its policy on terror.

WHAT THE DATA REVEALS

Keeping inflation as one of its primary indicators, the World Bank has revised its global income threshold from $2.15 per person, per day to $3 per person, per day to ascertain what percentage of the population lives above the 'extreme poverty' line.

According to World Bank's Poverty and Shared Prosperity report, despite the upward revision of per-person income, between 2012 and 2022, extreme poverty in India declined from 27.1 per cent to 5.3 per cent of the total population. 

The report states that in India, 75.24 million people were living in extreme poverty during 2022-23, a massive drop from 344.47 million in 2011-12. This means 269 million individuals - more than the entire population of Pakistan - were lifted out of extreme poverty in India in just 11 years.

Sadly, for Pakistan, the story is quite the opposite. Extreme poverty figures have risen from 4.9 per cent to 16.5 per cent in less than 5 years between 2017 and 2021. Analysts suggest that the situation could be far worse because of Pakistan's outdated Household Income and Expenditure Survey. To add to this, the overall poverty headcount in Pakistan - at $4.2 per person, per day - has risen from 39.8 per cent of the total population in 2017 to  more than 44.7 per cent in 2021.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's economy has been completely dependent on loans from global institutions and friendly countries. It has taken 25 bailout packages from the IMF with a cumulative amount of $44.57 billion, and another $38.8 billion in loans from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank. Besides this, loans from China stand at more than $25 billion and $7.8 billion from lenders like Eurobonds and Sukuks. Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the Paris Club have also extended several billion in loans to cash-strapped Islamabad.

'FUNDING AND SUPPORTING TERROR'

However, Pakistan has been far from transparent in its allocation of funds. It has been pulled up several times by international financial institutions over Islamabad's lack of accountability. Islamabad and Rawalpindi's obsession with India and its age-old habit to compare with New Delhi has seen Pakistan spending most of its funds allocated to the country's infamous army, which in turn, has a policy of "bleeding India with a thousand cuts" with its asymmetric warfare against India by funding, setting up terror infrastructure, and supporting terrorists and terror outfits who carry out "cross-border terror".

Speaking to NDTV, former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, said, "The world cannot fix the Pakistan problem unless the structural problem of Pakistan army's overwhelming presence in politics and economy is fixed. Pakistan's army controls the allocation of resources. So, all the funds that are sent either via bilateral donors or multilateral donors ends up being misused by the army and in building the terror machinery. All donors will do well to get a wake-up call from the data which shows that only the Pakistani army is getting enriched by its bailouts."

"The world will do well to put strong FATF-like conditions to monitor the aid money that goes to Pakistan to ensure funds are used for development and the benefit of the people of Pakistan," he added.

Another diplomat, former Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, told NDTV that "The Pakistani government's priorities focus mainly on defence purchases on one end, and building a terror apparatus on the other end. Growth and development are phrases that are unheard of in Pakistani politics, as all governments have an unhealthy obsession with bringing India down, economically, politically and socially, rather than focusing on its own pressing domestic issues."

"But dismantling terror factories are not on Pakistan's agenda since most continue to indulge in falsehoods. When Congressman Brad Sherman told Pakistan to end terror, he also spoke on behalf of millions of Pakistanis who see their development funds being funneled away towards terror and towards fulfilling the inflated egos of Pakistani generals," he added.

An economist, Piyush Doshi, co-founder of the Foundation for Economic Development said, "Pakistan spending money in defence, particularly when it comes at the cost of very important development expenditure, is illogical. The world will be doing the people of Pakistan a favour by blacklisting the country, which will then force them to make rational choices and using funds to benefit its citizens."

The latest World Bank data tells a story - a tale of two neighbours - one surging ahead and the other collapsing. Both are setting an example for the Global South - of how to be and how not to be. The message is clear: Poverty is not destiny, it is policy, leadership and will.