Poverty as an Unfinished Agenda for the Third World Countries, Impact of Social and Economic Factors on Poverty, A Case Study of Sindh

The main aim of this paper is to examine poverty as an unfinished agenda for the Third World countries by analyzing social and economic factors that are responsible for poverty in rural Sindh. Data were collected from 2500 households of four districts i.e. Shikarpur, Larkana, Sukkur, and Jacobabad of upper Sindh by using simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was designed as an instrument to measure the poverty. It was revealed that the poverty position in Jacobabad and Shikarpur was worsening as compared with Larkana and Sukkur. The factors like tribal disputes among various tribes and law & order situation are forcing most of the business people to shift their business from Jacobabad and Shikarpur. Access to health and education facilities in all districts has slight variation except Jacobabad where the literacy rate is very low. It was further revealed that the prevalent situation made the people vulnerable to natural disasters and uncertainties, thereby reducing the earning potential of poor families. The vulnerability of the poor household becomes evident from a very significant percentage of households without any legal right in all surveyed districts. The main findings of this research suggest that in general the household income is generated from agriculture and most of the farmers are facing lot of problems regarding availability of water and inputs. By the criterion of derived demand, the households from two districts, namely, Sukkur and Larkana are engaged in productive activities to earn more compared with the Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts.