Scholars using the official data of Pakistan describe how the proportion of poor people there has changed over the decades. Which of the following describes this trend?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → It fell between the 1960s and the 1980s and then started rising again in the recent decades
Scholars using Pakistan’s official data find that the share of poor people fell from the 1960s to the 1980s, but then began to rise again. This is called the re-emergence of poverty in Pakistan.
Option (2) It rose between the 1960s and the 1980s and then started falling in the recent decades — Incorrect. The order is reversed: poverty first fell and then rose.
Option (3) It fell between the 1960s and the 1980s and has kept falling in the recent decades — Incorrect. Poverty did not keep falling; it started rising again in the recent decades.
Option (4) It stayed about the same from the 1960s to the 1980s and then started rising — Incorrect. Poverty did not stay the same up to the 1980s; it fell sharply.
NCERT (2026-27): “8.6 Development Strategies — an Appraisal Scholars argue that in Pakistan the reform process led to worsening of all the economic indicators. We have seen in an earlier section that compared to 1980s, the growth rate of GDP and its sectoral constituents have not yet improved. Though the data on international poverty line for Pakistan is quite healthy, scholars using the official data of Pakistan indicate rising poverty there. The proportion of poor in 1960s was more than 40 per cent which declined to 25 per cent in 1980s and started rising again in the recent decades. The reasons for the slow-down of growth and re-emergence of poverty in Pakistan’s economy, as scholars put it, are agricultural growth and food supply situation were based not on an institutionalised process of technical change but on good harvest. When there was a good harvest, the economy was in good condition, when it was not, the economic indicators showed stagnation or negative trends.” |