Income disparities and a lack of opportunities are creating a vicious cycle of inequality, frustration and discontent across generations. One of the consequences of inequality within societies is slower economic growth. In unequal societies, with wide disparities in healthcare and education, people are more likely to remain trapped in poverty for several generations.

More than 734 million people around the globe live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day, while a handful of billionaires get richer by the day. The wealth of global billionaires had reached $8.5 trillion by 2018, marking an increase of 34.5 percent since 2013. Growing awareness of inequality is catalysing resistance, with millions taking to the streets worldwide to protest against extreme poverty, the scrapping of fuel subsidies and rising transport costs.

The concept of inequality is based on disparities in assets, income, status, education, health, rights and other opportunities, either due to discrimination at the social level on the basis of gender, religion, caste, or other characteristics; or the manipulation of policies by powerful groups or individuals.

The National Human Development Report 2020 (NHDR 2020) takes precisely this approach to deconstructing inequality in Pakistan. The NHDR 2020 builds on a new framework of analysis that identifies three primary drivers of inequality in Pakistan: power, people, and policy. It shows, for example, that the richest 1 percent of Pakistanis have access to 9 percent of the country’s income and that this inequality goes far beyond income and wealth. The poorest and richest Pakistanis effectively live in completely different countries, with literacy levels, health outcomes, and living standards that are poles apart.

The report also analyses the data from Pakistan’s latest Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2018–2019. Among children who are between 10 and 15 years old, 9.9 percent are engaged in labour. They often work in difficult conditions, with extremely low remuneration.

The existing federal law against child labour is seldom applied. A high percentage of women, almost 60 percent, are engaged in marginal occupations, including as domestic helpers. Low-income households have larger families. The concentration of children in relatively poor families has adverse impacts on their nutrition as well as their prospects for quality education and future employment. This also has important implications for social protection programmes aimed at children. Over one-quarter (27 percent) of Pakistan’s agricultural workers belong to the poorest 20 percent of the population, suggesting that there is greater poverty in rural areas.

Most studies on inequality focus on the richest and poorest income quintiles. But what about those in the middle? Their experiences of inequality are important to consider, yet all too often, these are overlooked. In Pakistan, during the Musharraf era, the middle class real per capita income grew at a relatively high rate, at almost 5 percent per annum. Thereafter, the growth rate has been low, falling to 1.2 percent between 2013–2014 and 2018–2019.

The vision of a functioning democracy and a social welfare state is enshrined in the Constitution. Article 25 is the first section of the Constitution that explicitly recognises the equality of citizens which states that all citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of law.

Other articles also strongly affirm the need to reduce inequality by upholding social justice, eradicating social ills, and promoting people’s social and economic well-being. Article 37, for instance, asserts that the state must promote, with social care, the educational and economic interests of backward classes or areas, remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period and make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible on the basis of merit; women are not employed in vocations unsuited to their age or sex. The Constitution also identifies concrete steps to prevent high and/or rising inequality. Article 38 highlights the need to raise the standards of living, ensure equitable rights and reduce income disparities.

At the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 aims to “reduce inequality within and among countries”.

According to Aliona Niculita, the UNDP resident representative in Pakistan, “With the Pakistan NHDR 2020, we dare to dream of a world where no one dies because they are unable to afford healthcare; where families educate their daughters because girls’ schools are not an hour’s walk away; and where youth are not disenfranchised or radicalised. We wanted to create a context where people could live long, healthy, and creative lives, full of opportunity and potential. The Pakistan NHDR on inequality has similar goals, with the hope that the people of Pakistan can live, and choose, as they please.”

The current government has taken some initiatives to address the needs of the marginalised segments of society. Realising the need to address inequalities, the prime minister launched the Ehsaas strategy in 2019. As the Covid-19 pandemic takes a heavy toll on vulnerable groups, the Ehsaas initiative has become increasingly important.

Reducing inequality should play a central role in policy-making. Experts believe that the government needs to focus on the promotion of equal access to opportunities, fiscal policies that include measures for social policies, such as unemployment and disability benefits and legislation that tackles prejudice and discrimination, whilst promoting greater participation of disadvantaged groups.

Policy makers need to devise a policy to increase spending on social infrastructure for pro-equality growth. The policies should be formulated to increase social expenditures that would be helpful in reducing the crime rate.

The NHDR 2020 also suggested that elite privileges should be curbed by reforming taxes, subsidies, pricing policy and access to assets. It is also suggested that an action plan for tackling inequality should be developed as a matter of urgency. The government should form a special commission to do so, one that draws its membership from political parties across the board, including members of the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies, senators, and representatives of civil society and academia.

Tacking the challenge of inequality requires all key players to come together across the board and across political divides to enable Pakistan and its people to reach their full potential.