KARACHI, May 7: With no quick fix available to stem the spiralling prices of everyday food items, the worsening situation in which the common citizen finds himself is being cited as the main reason behind the rising cases of suicide in the country.
According to Edhi Foundation spokesperson Anwar Kazmi, four to five cases of suicide are now being reported across the country every day, as opposed to a daily average of two or three last year. “As compared to people living in rural areas, urbanites have been hit much harder by joblessness and inflation, and the number of suicide cases has seen a sharp rise in the past two and a half months,” he told Dawn.
“Most of these unfortunate individuals belonged to the 25- to 40-year age group and all of them were from very low income brackets. Their reasons can be attributed to growing unemployment and the rising prices of essential food items.”
Mr Kazmi pointed out, moreover, that these figures represented merely the tip of the iceberg since they were based on police reports and hospitals records. “About 60 to 70 per cent of the deaths which are actually suicide go unrecorded in police records,” he said. “The actual number of suicides would come to at least ten people a day across the country. For example, I remember that some 40 young people took their own lives in just Karachi during February 2004 alone.”
A survey conducted by Dawn showed that due to the rising prices of food essentials between Jan 2006 and May 2008, the average citizen’s cost of living has nearly doubled. The issue spiked last year as the earlier government’s claims of poverty alleviation and economic progress remained largely unmaterialised.
A critical difference
Talking to people working in various fields, it became clear that the majority are deeply alarmed about meeting their families’ daily food needs since rising prices are nullifying or rendering insignificant any increases in salaries. Most people approached by Dawn said that they could not see any immediate help coming from the newly-installed government since it was embroiled in the judiciary crisis and had put the issue of rising prices into cold storage.
It cannot be denied that the issue is of pressing concern. “Virtually every day, my colleagues discuss that fact that the annual 15 per cent increase in our salaries cannot match the far more rapidly rising prices of essential commodities,” said Arshad Mustafa, a grade-11 government employee. “With four kids to feed, the 15 per cent increase feels like peanuts given that prices increase almost every week. The government simply does not see this.”
In a similar vein Munir Ahmed, who works in a grocery store, pointed out that he must now spend at least Rs3,500 a month on purchasing essential foods such as pulses, flour sugar, milk or tea, to say nothing of other necessary goods such as soap. “My finances are stretched to their limit and we are just barely meeting our daily needs,” he said. “Just a couple of years ago, in January 2006, I was managing to get the same commodities in the same quantities for between Rs1,500 and Rs1,800. When one’s total expenditure is calculated by adding school fees, transportation costs and utility bills, etc, then the monthly bill crosses Rs15,000.”
Referring to the deep frustration being felt by ordinary citizens, the general secretary of the Karachi Retail Grocers’ Group (KRGG), Mohammed Farid Qureishi, told Dawn that “customers literally shout at shopkeepers when they visit after a few days and find that prices have risen again.”
According to Mr Qureishi, customers now tend to buy only the essentials they need for their immediate consumption over eight to ten days, rather than purchasing in bulk for a month. “In the first ten days of the month, business is thin in the shops,” he said. “In view of the speed at which prices are rising, customers cannot even resort to panic-buying since they literally cannot afford large quantities of essential goods.” The issue is not restricted to relatively low-income households. For instance Mohammed Rehan, who earns over Rs50,000 in a multinational telecom company, told Dawn that his monthly grocery bill now adds up to Rs12,000 for necessary goods such as flour, rice, cooking oil, bread, tea, eggs, milk, soap and toothpaste.
“Two and a half years ago, these items only totalled to about Rs7,000 a month,” he said. “The difference is critical seeing that I have a wife and three children, and also support my mother and brother. We live in a rented flat. And the Rs12,000 grocery bill does not even include other essential expenditures such as meat and fish or fruit and vegetables, as well as school fees and utility bills.”
Nowhere to turn
For citizens with limited budgets, the most shocking impact has come in the shape of ghee and cooking oil prices. In Jan 2006, a five-litre tin of Dalda cooking oil was for Rs395, which has now increased to Rs750. Ghee saw a similar increase, with the five-litre tin going from Rs395 to Rs730. Similarly, Basmati rice went from Rs36 per kilogramme to Rs85-90 during the same period, while kernel rice went from Rs50 per kg to Rs105. Basmati tota has gone from Rs22 per kg to Rs54-60, while Irri 9 is tagged at Rs65 as opposed to Rs16 per kg in Jan 2006.
In flour varieties, Chakki atta, fine atta and atta no.2.5 now sell at Rs25-26, Rs26 and Rs22 per kg as compared to Rs16, 15 and Rs14 per kg at the beginning of 2006. Meanwhile, gram pulse is currently selling at Rs65 per kg as compared to Rs30 per kg earlier, while masur price hit a record peak of Rs100 per kg as opposed to the earlier price of Rs38 per kg.
A 200-gram pack of Yellow Label tea now sells at Rs70 although it was Rs52 earlier, while a one-kilo bag of Nido has gone from being priced at Rs250 to Rs310. Everyday is now selling at Rs298 as compared to Rs228 in January 2006, when one litre of tetra pack milk was available at Rs29 as compared to the current price of Rs 48.
Shockingly, minced red chillies are now priced at Rs220 as compared to Rs 55 per kg in Jan 2006, while whole coriander sells at Rs180 although it was Rs55 per kg earlier.
As these woes are compounded by other factors such as the energy crisis and the global increase in oil prices, millions of citizens are now on the brink of slipping below the poverty line and failing to make ends meet. The rising the number of suicides in the country stands testimony to the fact that for too many individuals and families, it is already too late.
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