The promise of roti, kappra, makan for the poor is becoming an elusive dream with every passing day thanks to some very poor policies of the very party that had proclaimed this slogan. The irresponsible pre-budget utterances of certain important figures of this government on imposition of VAT reflected their lack of preparation on the issue as is also evident from presentation of the budget with out it. The budget, even with out the VAT, has already caused manifolds increases in the prices of essential commodities such as flour, pulses, rice, vegetable oil etc and the prices are only likely to escalate in times ahead because of withdrawal of subsidies on such items in the budget. Life for the teeming hundreds of millions of poor of this country is truly nasty and brutish now. For some it might even be short. NIMRA ZIA, Islamabad, June 8.