THERE are good reasons to believe that PPP is still committed to its promise of providing Roti Kapra aur Makan enshrined in the socialist philosophy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. On Labour Day, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah announced a labour package raising the minimum wage from Rs 4600 to Rs 6,000 as well as in pensions. Indeed in his maiden speech to Parliament, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had expressed his concern about the plight of labourers and the wish to improve their lot in accordance with the ILO conventions ratified by the government. This move surely deserves a word of praise. Hopefully, the package would not be a pie in the sky and would be implemented from July 2008. Among others, it includes a housing network of about 80,000 residential compounds and a health system. Schools will be opened in areas with a large density of workers. This is a step towards the realisation of food, shelter and clothing promise made by the party founder. Having said that, the question of the rights of the workers in our country has to be seen from another perspective as well. These rights are inextricably linked with a country's overall economic stability. In our case, we certainly need to cut down the wide gap between the haves and the have-nots. The most urgent task facing the new leadership today is to rein in spiralling inflation that has cut into the masses' financial ability to buy basic food items. It is a pity that in certain areas, the price of a nan has hiked up to Rs 10. Apart from inflation, the country is facing crippling power and water shortages that, unless redressed, would greatly impact the country's economic activity and as a result affect the labour community. The experts should put their heads together and try to find solutions to such crippling problems in order to ensure the country's development and prosperity for all, including labourers.