The rural and urban divide in Pakistan is a cause of concern as has been highlighted by a report released by the World Bank. It reaffirms the fact that more than 80 percent of Pakistanis living below the poverty line live in the rural areas of Pakistan. This shows that the successive governments have failed to implement agendas that go beyond the metropolitan hubs and all of the development is concentrated in such areas because they are not only the centers of activity but also are areas which are highlighted in official visits. There is also a gross divide between the development framework of the different provinces. It shows that the Punjab centric policies have left the other three provinces waiting for the governments to take action. Provincial governments have also failed in this regard because 70 years of independence implies that a government should have done ample amount of work to develop the rest of the areas in Pakistan, which has unfortunately not been the case here.

However, the current regime is prioritising human development and Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised the launch of a poverty reduction initiative. According to this initiative, measures will be taken within seven to ten days to bring people out of abject poverty in the country. For this purpose, the new government also contacted Chinese officials because our friendly neighbour introduced several rigorous programmes in their own country to alleviate the poverty situation. The first step in this initiative is setting up homeless shelters. This gives people a good headstart because then they can focus on finding a livelihood.

The promise is that the entire state machinery will be involved in this initiative. This comes after the economy got the required boost after economic aid and the government can now focus on projects which will provide immediate relief to the citizens.