The public distribution system, which provides food at low
prices, is a subject of vital concern. There is a growing realization that
thought Pakistan has enough food to feed its masses three square meals a day,
the monster of starvation and food insecurity continues to haunt the poor in
our country.
Increasing the purchasing power of the poor through
providing productive employment leading to rising income, and thus good standard
of living is the ultimate objective of public policy. However, till then, there
is a need to provide assured supply of food through a restructured more
efficient and decentralized public distribution system (PDS).
Although the PDS is extensive – it is one of the largest
such systems in the world – it has yet to reach the rural poor and the far off
places. It remains an urban phenomenon, with the majority of the rural poor
still out of its reach due to lack of economic and physical access. The poorest
in the cities and the migrants are left out, for they generally do not possess
ration cards. The allocation of PDS supplies in big cities is larger than in
rural areas. In view of such deficiencies in the system, the PDS urgently needs
to be streamlined. In addition, considering the large food grains production
combined with food subsidy on one hand and the continuing slow starvation and dismal
poverty of the rural population on the other, there is a strong case for making
PDS target group oriented.
The growing salaried class is provided job security, regular
income, and percent insulation against inflation. These gains of development
have not percolated down to the vast majority of our working population. If one
compares only dearness allowance to the employees in public and private sector
and looks at its growth in the past few years, the rising food subsidy is
insignificant to the point of inequity. The food subsidy is a kind of D.A. to
the poor, the self-employed and those in the unorganized sector of the economy.
However, what is most unfortunate is that out of the large budget of the so –
called food subsidy, the major part of it is administrative cost and wastages.
A small portion of the above budget goes to the real consumer and an even
lesser portion to the poor who are in real need.
It is true that subsidies should not become a permanent feature
except for the destitute, disabled widows and the old. It is also true that
subsidies often create a psychology of dependence and hence is habit – forming,
killing the general initiative of the people. By making PDS target group
oriented, not only the poorest and neediest would be reached without additional
cost, but it will actually cut overall costs incurred on large cities and for
better off localities. When the food and food subsidy are limited the rural and
urban poor should have the priority in the PDS supplies. The PDS should be
closely linked with programs of employment generation and nutrition
improvement.
The word “square” as used in the passage means
In the early 1920's,
settlers came to Alaska looking for gold. They traveled by boat to the coastal
towns of Seward and Knik, and from there by land into the gold fields. The
trail they used to travel inland is known today as the lditarod Trail, one of the
National Historic Trails designated by the congress of the United States. The
Iditarod Trail quickly became a major thoroughfare in Alaska, as the mail and
supplies were carried across this trail. People also used it to get from place
to place, including the priests, ministers, and judges who had to travel
between villages down this trail was via god sled. Once the gold rush ended,
many gold-seekers went back to where they had come from, and suddenly there was
much less travel on the lditarod Trail. The introduction of the airplane in the
late 1920's meant dog teams were mode of transportation, of course airplane
carrying the mail and supplies, there was less need for land travel in general.
The final blow to the use of the dog teams was the appearance of snowmoniles.
By the mid 1960's most Alasknas didn't even know the lditarod Trail existed, or
that dos teens had played a crucial role in Alaska's early settlements. Dorothy
G.Page, a self-made historian, recognized how few people knew about the former
use of sled dogs as working animals and about the Iditarod Trail's role in
Alaska's colorful history. To she came up with the idea to have a god sled race
over the Iditarod Trail. She presented her idea to an enthusiastic musher, as
dog sled drivers are known, named Joe Redington, Sr. Soon the pages and the
Redintons were working together to promote the idea of the Iditarod race. Many
people worked to make the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality in 1967.
The Aurora Dog Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton,
helped clear years of overgrowth from the first nine miles of the Iditarod
Trail. To raise interest in the race, a $25,000 purse was offered, with Joe
Redington donating one acre of his land to help raise the funds. The short race,
approximately 27 miles long, was put on a second time in 1969. After these
first two successful races, the goal was to lengthen the race a little further
to the ghost town of Iditarod by 1973. However in 1972, the U.S. Army reopened
the trail as a winter exercise, and so in 1973, the decision was made to take
the race all the way to the city of Nome-over 1,000 miles. There were who
believed it could bot be done and that it wad crazy to send a bunch out into
vast, uninhabited Alaskan wilderness. But the race went! 22 mushers finished
that year, and to date over 400 people have completed it.
Based on information in
the passage, it can be inferred that all of the following contributed to the
disuse of the Iditarod Trail except
