Naveed Yaseen replied on Saturday, June 27, 2009 05:03 PM
I believe the sustained direct help (i.e. like 'Benazir Income Support', pun intended) is often counter-productive in long term for following reasons,,,,
• It leaves their economic productivity un-utilized for society.
• It leaves them vulnerable when this direct help stops for whatever reason.
• It damages their natural instincts of survival, like confidence, determination, motivation of hardwork and stepping ahead. Like a birdling who never learned flying because he was persistently spoon-fed in nest.
• Perhaps most importantly, it either kills the self-respect, or keeps hurting it as long as its alive. Both situations are not good for individual and society.
So one should avoid direct help except in a life-threatening need.
One should rather try to help one stand on their own feet. Unless they are very old or disabled, perhaps a better approach may be like following,,,
1) Get them some training/experience in some trade suitable for them. Like get them a short-course and/or internship with someone already in that trade. This doesn't necessarily mean they have to be educated or literate to get training or do internship.
2) After they have learned the trade, perhaps in a few months, provide them capital to start their own business in that trade, no matter how small that business may be.
Some examples of small businesses where one can make halal living without too much capital or too much training
• livestock farming (dairy, poultry, goat/sheep)
• vegetables farming (its labor intensive but valuable, a family can survive in 2-3 acres)
• small shop ('phatta' or 'khokha') in some busy bazar or flea market
• small part-time food place ('dhaba'), like fast-food or desserts
• transportation (like rickshaw, taxi, van, 'pickup' etc)
• distribution (like SIMs, phones, electric supplies, auto parts, tools, basically any 'china maal')
If a person is young, has technical instincts and has to immediately start earning, get them some vocational short-course and/or internship in some evergreen technical trade like IT, machining, molding, printing, electric, plumbing, welding, auto, refrigeration etc. And then after a few months of experience get them tools/machines for their own setup. |
