Road to success, high hopes but very hostile environment

FOR all that criticising `the system` seems to be Pakistanis` favourite hobby, matters have not reached such a pass that people have entirely lost hope at least so it would appear from a poll conducted recently by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre. Paradoxical as it sounds, the poll found that 81 per cent of over a thousand adult respondents in this country believe that hard work receives its due reward and leads to material success. Curiously, of the 21 countries in which the poll was conducted, it was Pakistan where the majority had not become disillusioned about the value of working hard. Less than half of those polled in Japan, for example, recognised a close link between hard work and success.

One of the ways in which the finding about Pakistan can be interpreted, then, is that the outlook may look bleak but the citizenry still has hope.

It could be argued, though, that when all else is lost, people have nothing left to cling to but hope.

The same poll found, for instance, that 76 per cent ofrespondentsbeheve thatthe economy will either stay in its dismal state or worsen during the next 12 months. Indeed, many of the indicators on the ground regarding peoples` welfare and their chances of success are deeply worrying. Take food and nutrition statistics. For years now concerns have been being raised about the very high levels of child malnutrition prevalent in the country. Most recently, at a workshop organised this week in Karachi by the international NGO Save the Children in conjunction with the Sindh Planning and Development Department, participants learned that 44 per cent of children under five in the country are stunted and 32 per cent are underweight.

The problem lies not just in food insecurity but also the quality of nutrition: 39 per cent of children in foodsecure households in Sindh were found to be stunted.

Quite apart from the implication this has for the overall loss to the country`s economy, it paints a distressing picture of the next generation`s chances of success. Hard work is all very well, but its benefits are offset by a hostile environment.