Importance of CSR for the Socio-economic development of Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan’s population consists of about 168 million people (Population census of Pakistan) out of which 66 % reside in the rural areas according to the Economic Survey of the year 2006-07.The majority of the rural population has little or no access to basic health, education, and nourishing food services due to poor infrastructure and low development in these areas. (UN, 2001) In order to get better health and education services, people from these rural regions migrate to large cities. This migration creates a vigorous escalation in the population of these cities but also make it extremely hard to control and provide proper health and education facilities to this ever increasing number of people. This has led to the unequal distribution of recourses and increases the probability of innumerable crimes. The government of Pakistan is facing numerous challenges including the escalating price of war against terrorism, high inflation, infrastructural problems and the downward dwindling of the ladder of economic growth, which affect the social indicators, adversely. Furthermore, the record destruction caused by the floods is probable to cause a further downfall in the social indicators, pushing the nation deeper into poverty, elevating unemployment level, causing low enrollment as the number students dropping out of school surges and amount in health issues. Pakistan is among the most populous countries in the world, with the rate of growth of population at approximately 2 per cent, Pakistan has not been able to meet the targets set by it in Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF). (State Bank of Pakistan Annual Report, 2010)