econmic crisis and the common man

According to the definitions in various dictionaries, a common man is one who doesn’t have an identity or title or is known as an ordinary man. Compiling all the definitions I could come across, I could give a comprehensive definition of a common man. A common man is one who represents the majority of population of his country. In Pakistan, a common man is one who is not highly or even moderately educated, who doesn’t have resources to fulfill the basic needs of life and who doesn’t have a control on things happening to him.
As we are here to discuss the economic crises for a common man, we must realize that economics is not understood or read by the common man of Pakistan. I had a chance to ask few of the people who, according to the definition, are common men of our country. For them, an economic crisis was all about joblessness, low wages, inefficient health assistance, inflation, and very few of them were concerned about educational institutions for their children and their expenses. But when I asked them why this all is happening, they couldn’t say much instead of blaming the government. Moreover, the sugar shortage was another concern that bothered not only the common men but also the elites of Pakistan, who had to take a bitter cup of coffee in their breakfasts due to the crisis.
To alleviate the situation, the government of Pakistan is needed to focus on the ever growing inequality of income in Pakistan. Although, there are programs introduced by government to support the cause such as “Benazir Income support program” but such programs are being criticized by the well known economists. It is believed that there were many other opportunities that could have been more efficient in order to shorten the inequality gap. The initial allocation to this program is Rs. 34 billion (US $425 million, approximately) with the objective to partially offset the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of the poorer sections of the society. It means that this program is catering for the temporary problem of inflation that has been created due to multiple reasons. However, what actually should be done is to use this huge sum of money to eliminate and control the sources of this inflation. Moreover, this sum of money could have supported the SME’s (small and medium enterprises) of Pakistan for their growth and stability. Only 15% of the population can benefit from the program which indicates 60 % of the population below poverty line will be left out. This program serves as a partial treatment for the crisis however; the government should focus on preventions of crisis and should deal with the root causes.
According to former World Bank economist and ex-Pakistani finance Minister, Shahid Javed Burki, Pakistan GDP may decline to 2.5 % and a sharp fall in rate of growth is likely to be observed in near future. He says that Pakistan needs a comprehensive economic program which can focus on fundamental economic restructuring. But unfortunately, that has been a route not taken. he found it alarming that 6 to 7 percent times more was being spent in the non developing sector than on development.