ABSTRACT
Pakistan mirrors mass deprivation in South Asia, where tens of millions of people work in the informal sector of the economy without any form of social protection. Militarisation is most effective in veiling diversions of social resources away from human security to protecting predatory elites from the misgoverned. The Asian Development Bank recently analysed the state of social protection in 31 Asian countries and came up with the overall Social Protection Indexes (SPIs). Pakistan has the lowest SPI value in the South Asian region and second lowest in Asia. A minimum guaranteed income requires a mix of asset redistribution and assured employment, with special mechanisms for children, old persons, their caretakers, and the infirm. A higher allocation of funds for health and nutrition services is also imperative to break the cycle of chronic poverty. Disaggregation of employment statistics for the informal economy by economic sectors shows that trade, restaurants and hotels account for nearly a third of total informal employment.
