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By Samar Quddus Published in Dawn on November 05, 2024 The dream of saying ‘goodbye’ to poverty remains distant in Pakistan with almost 40 per cent of the population living below the official poverty line. While economic growth is often hailed as an answer to the development of the country, it cannot be considered as a panacea for overall prosperity and poverty alleviation. Without giving due attention to what is happening at the bottom 40 per cent of the population, rise in GDP risks millions getting trapped in cycles of deprivation in the long run and leads to wealth concentration among the top echelons of society. The focus on growth alone, while ignoring the root causes of persistently high structural poverty, undermines the growth itself. Poverty impedes productivity by weakening the workforce, which includes a large proportion of unskilled labour. Children growing up in poverty often lack access to essential […]