It pains me to reveal here that one of my bosom friends, who has been working with the development sector for the last ten years, and has been traveling to attend various trainings abroad about poverty alleviation on government funds, has never done anything to elevate the poverty of his own people. I have noticed that during his ten year tenure his economic health has improved enviably, but the poor in his area have not seen any practical work done by him to help them. Instead in his district (Jacobabad) poverty has alarmingly increased and the downtrodden people are compelled to commit suicide or sell their children.When I was in Karachi, I came across several NGO activists who were invited by the SMEDA for a week-long training in a luxury hotel. In the lobby of the hotel, I could also see a few corrupt retired officers who have now established NGOs and are cheating the donors in the same ruthless manner as they cheated the government of Pakistan and its people. My friend who is a judge asked me why these NGO’s were wasting their funds and other resources on so-called trainings and surveys about poverty, when the reasons for poverty are evident and clear. If these funds were spent judiciously in poverty alleviation programs and schemes, then, poverty would be a fairytale.We must keep in mind that the financial mismanagement and misdirected policies of our corrupt bureaucrats and technocrats are some of the reasons which have increased poverty, in particular, in my province Sindh. Is there anyone to ask these NGOs to do something for the betterment of the poor instead of the seminars and workshops in the air-conditioned hotels accompanied by luxurious lunches and expensive dinners?HASHIM ABRO, Islamabad, September 4.