5 socio-economic issues where Pakistan trails behind India

India and Pakistan have been facing serious tensions due to recent incidents along the Line of Control. These tensions are straying Pakistan from critical socio-economic issues within the country. While a lot of these issues are also pertinent to India, Pakistan is faring a lot worse with dismal figures on poverty, unemployment, literacy, malnutrition and energy crisis in recent years.

And it is not just economic issues, Pakistan has other pressing matters related to healthcare services, low literacy rate and high mortality rate that it needs to fix right away. Here are the main issues that Pakistan should focus on instead of stoking tensions on the border:
 
1. Slow economic growth
 
India's GDP ranks 8th in the world with a huge figure of $2.07 trillion, reflecting its wide net economy. While Pakistan's GDP accounts for $ 270 billion, which ranks 41st in the world. The GDP growth rate in Pakistan is 5.54% as compared to India's 7.57%. Low FDI, huge debt trap, badly managed tax system, low export and high import and inflation put tremendous pressure on the Pakistani economy, not letting it grow at a fast pace. Agriculture has seen a major setback with a decline in the production of a number of crops. Cotton production fell 31%, rice dropped 1.5% and oilseeds saw a decline of 31% last year.
 
2. High unemployment
 
Unemployment rate in Pakistan, in 2014, was 5.2 per cent which doesn't fare well against India's unemployment rate of 3.6 per cent, according to the World Bank. Pakistani think-tank Institute for Policy Reform (IPR) even cited the possibility of a much higher unemployment rate as compared to the World Bank figure. "The reported unemployment rate is just under 6%. Apparently, it has fallen slightly from the level in 2012-13. However, if appropriate adjustment is made the unemployment rate rises to 8.5% in 2014-15. This is the highest rate of unemployment in the last thirteen years," the think tank said in a report.
 
3. Energy crisis
 
Shortage in electricity production has severely impacted the manufacturing industry in Pakistan. The energy crisis also makes life difficult for the common man in Pakistan with frequent and long power outages. Comparatively, the present Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims to have made progress in bringing electricity to many remote areas of the country. India's Ministry of Power claims 7,108 villages have been electrified out of 18,452 unelectrified villages in 2015-2016.
 
4. Literacy
 
Adult literacy rate, according to the World Bank figures, was 72.98 per cent in India (2011) and 55 per cent (2010) in Pakistan. In a report by Pakistan's Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, the adult literacy rates (for 10+ years old) moved at a slow pace of just 1% per annum during the past five years. Some of the reasons cited in the report are: schools not easily available, feudal society, gender discrimination and uneducated parents.
 
5. Poverty
 
Poverty is the biggest concern in both India and Pakistan with neither countries able to find a solution. But for the sake of comparison, the World Bank figures place India in a slightly better position. Even though the number of poor people in India are likely to be more, the percentage might reveal a more contextual figure. In 2013, India stood at 21.9% and Pakistan at 29.5 % in terms of population under poverty. A new methodology adopted in Pakistan earlier this year, for poverty estimation, put  60 million people below the poverty line. On the other hand, a World Bank report from last year, which also revised the global poverty line, said India's poverty rate is one of the lowest among countries with the largest number of poor. Moreover, mortality rate under-5 (per 1,000 live births) stood at 48% and Pakistan at a much worse 81%.