Poverty starts having an impact on the child's life in Pakistan when he is still in the mothers' womb. In developed countries a newly born child is 3-4 kilos in weight and has an average height of 51 centimeters. In developing countries like Pakistan it weighs 2-3 kilos and has an average height of 46 centimeters.
This is because expecting mothers in poor families do not get the proper diet with the required nutritional values. To have a healthy child the mother has to have a basket of high calorie food items like meat, eggs and milk. In families living below poverty line, these items are not a part of a weekly or even a monthly menu.
The rise in food inflation has taken them out of the reach of a fairly large section of population. There is then the gender disparity. The male earning member who is supposed to need more energy to work consumes the best that is available at home. Female members who have to do with whatever is left over are the worst sufferers in terms of calorie intake.
In fact they suffer neglect right from childhood onward as the male child, particularly in rural areas, receives the best of whatever food is available. With vitamins and minerals in short supply for the expecting mother, the growth of the baby in the womb suffers.
Children in poor families are born with physical weaknesses that make them prone to diseases. Some leave a lifelong mark on them. Besides poor diet for the expecting mother there are other factors that make children prone to disease and lead to their premature death, a phenomenon predominantly connected with poverty.
These include environmental contamination caused by intensity of household crowding (persons per room), drinking water contamination and unhygienic environment characteristic of urban slums and poor rural habitations. Pakistan is one of the top four countries of the world with highest child mortality rate. Here every eleventh child who is born dies before reaching one year of age.
The mortality rate in children fewer than 5 years is also quite high. At a seminar organised by the Pediatric Association of Pakistan in Karachi in December 2009 it was maintained that of all children born alive, 9.4% ie almost one in 10 die before the age of 5, 7.4% die before reaching 1 year and 5.4% before completing their first month of life.
It was revealed that 73% of babies who die before the age of 1 month die in the first 72 hours after birth. Besides the weaknesses that the child inherits from his mother suffering from malnutrition, most deliveries in poor families are conducted by "dais" in unhygienic conditions. Regular check up by a qualified doctor is a luxury, which is not affordable. Government health facilities are insufficient in rural areas, in cities they are over crowded.
The statistics reveal the extent of the effects of poverty on a child but fail to convey the human suffering, the maddening feeling of helplessness and the deep anguish families pass through as they see a much loved child pass away. Poverty continues to haunt the child in later years also. Children in families living below poverty line are often required to work to earn for the family.
This is all the more son if the sole bread earner is dead or incapacitated due to disease or the family is required to pay off debt. The children are thus deprived of their most basic right, the right to play. They are also denied education. Around 10 million children are estimated to be toiling away their childhood to supplement the family's income.
In rural areas they help older family members in fieldwork. In lower Sindh children of Kohlis and Bhils are regarded particularly useful in picking chilies. At other places children look after milch animals. Children of bonded labourers work at kilns along with their parents. In cities, small tea stalls tire repair shops and mechanics shops thrive on child labour.
Children are employed in the glass bangle industry also. Before developed countries put restrictions on the import of industrial goods based on child labour, carpet factories and industries producing sports goods and surgical instruments employed thousands of children.
Children were considered particularly suitable in carpet industry for their small size, which allowed them to manipulate the weaving machine well. Despite the Constitution clearly stipulating that "No child below the age of 14 years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment", ILO has reported widespread incidence of child labour in coal mines in Chakwal, Nowshehra and Shangla.
How many child labourers are in Pakistan? The Child Labour Survey conducted in 1996 by the Federal Bureau of Statistics for the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, found 8.3% or 3.3 million of the 40 million children aged 5-14 years to be economically active practically on a full-time basis. These figures are considered by ILO to be under-estimated and the HRCP report on the State of Human Rights 2008 notes that "Estimates by other organisation puts the number at 11 milion."
A major reason behind the high illiteracy rate is that many poor families, particularly those with a large number of children depending on one earning member, consider it more profitable to send the children to tend the animals or work in cities than get them into a school.
The fact that there is no guarantee of a job after completing school education provides poor parents an argument against educating children. A report in Dawn appearing in June 27, 2007 says, "About 6.463 million children do not go to school, which is the second largest number of such children in a country. The number of street children is growing with almost 25,000 on the streets in Karachi alone."
Why has the widely reported data failed to make the economic planners shed their apathy? Why can't they see that they need to invest more in the future of the nation than the meager sums allocated for crucial sectors like health, education and social development that produce a healthy and educated generation, create jobs and reduce poverty?
Pakistan continues to suffer from poverty on account of an well-entrenched vested interest. Those in power do not want their share in the pie to decrease with the result that there is little left for the common man. The military we are told must have more money because of hostility with India.
This underlines the need to promote friendly relations between India and Pakistan. The politicians need big governments to accommodate cronies. What is more they must spend lavishly to maintain an exhibitionist living style, which they consider to be their privilege. A visionless ruling elite continues to look the other way as the poverty bomb ticks.