The holy month of Ramadan brings blessings in the lives of common man. People are spiritually enlightened as they develop a special relation with Almighty Allah and his Holy Prophet (PBUH). Everyone is engaged in completing the religious obligations and helping the poor and the needy by sadqa and zakat. Here everyone is supposed to benefit the depressed class of society by providing such people the basic necessities of life. Unfortunately, people in our country especially the manufacturers and suppliers stock the basic food items and intend to create an artificial shortage, ultimately raising the prices of vegetable, fruits, pulses and meat etc.
This exerts an unbearable pressure on the middle and lower class which are already entangled in the cobweb of poverty and isolation. These people hardly make up to both ends meals and this artificial price hike cripples them like anything. It has been reported that during the month of Ramadan prices of goods and edibles has been raised to almost 40 percent which is enough to extinguish the purchasing power of common man. It’s the responsibility of the government to ensure a strong check on prices and intervene where necessary to lower down the unnecessary rise in prices. No doubt our government spends billions to give subsidies on goods. The Punjab government has introduced a special Ramadan package to provide quality edibles at subsidised rates to the people. This initiative has proved to be beneficial for the people as fruits and vegetables would be available at 15 percent less than the market price. Ramadan bazars are set throughout the province providing edibles at cheap rates but this is not enough. Ramadan bazars cannot be set up at very hook and corner of the province and every citizen can’t afford to go to a Ramadan bazar to buy low price goods as many complain that these goods are of low quality.
Many Islamic countries of the world in order to facilitate the people pay heavily to keep the prices at a steady level and in our democratic country things are entirely different. It should be the prime concern of our government to reduce the prices of goods. As Ramadan is more significant so steps should be taken to control profiteering, hoarding and action should be taken against those who try to raise the prices at the expense of the poor.
It is said that our responsibilities are greater than out wants and it’s the responsibility of every citizen to play a role in the development of the society by condemning the anti-state elements who intend to affect the poor class of the society. We must not become a particle of a negative system and try to help the needy as much as we can.
SYED MUHAMMAD ABUBAKER
Lahore
