July 03, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 6, 1427

THE lack of development in the countryside is distinctly visible to the naked eye. If anyone visits cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and later goes to places like Thar (Sindh) and Chaghi (Balochistan), he would easily discern the neglect of the rural areas.

While the urban areas reflect affluence in the matrix of luxurious cars, tall skylines and machine-carpeted arteries network, the countryside look is dominated by decrepit thatch-roofed and mud-walled houses, unpaved streets littered with animal excreta and almost naked and bare-footed human beings, wearing gloomy countenances, mirroring the rampant poverty.

While one would not entirely absolve the colonial era for creating the development cleavage between cities and villages, it also did a lot with an skewed angle, to develop the communication network of railways, ports, shipping and some arteries to facilitate transport from every nook and cranny of the country to feed their newly invented machines after the industrial revolution in England.

The native rulers, most of whom represented the landed aristocracy, also ignored development of their areas, except building well-carpeted black roads for reaching their farms and main arteries joining the cities. They feared that any economic development would create an upsurge of educational institutions, hospitals and road network.

The landed aristocracy had the temerity to oppose the development of social sector in their constituencies on the assumption that such a development would ultimately lead to erosion of their authority and power.

This scribe remembers vividly how one of our feudal care-taker prime ministers, while travelling in a compartment in the presence of his friends and this writer, boasted about his opposing a government decision for opening a secondary school in his area.

Another similar instance abruptly comes to my mind is that of an MNA from Sindh who opposed tooth and nail, opening of an Arts and Science College in his native taluka and got it located in the neighbouring one on the plea that unruly students would take to streets raising objectionable slogans and disturb the tranquillity and peace in the vicinity of his residence.

Yet another folly is the whole-hearted prop to the two-track educational system— one run by government for masses, and the other run for the elite class in the private sector. This privately owned system was resuscitated in early 1980s, has been solidified into an unshakable footing. One system caters to commoners’ interests and suffered from regressive deterioration in qualitative as well as quantitative instruction, while the other one is meant for youngsters from the moneyed class, for grooming them as future administrators and rulers of this land of the pure.

The other reason why the countryside suffers from deprivation, is the disunity among the countryside dwellers. Divided by factional fights, tribal tiffs and caste conflicts, fuelled by local bodies and legislative assemblies’ elections, almost every village, within and without, stands estranged socially as well as politically.

These factors along with umpteen other minor issues have added to villagers’ worries and miseries. It is almost a pity that a villager is denied fruits of modernisation even in the form of clean living and safe potable water. The funds earmarked for various village-based projects are almost negligible when viewed in context of the immense needs. Except for a limited number of areas, there has been a little trickling down of modernisation in the rural areas.

Economic depredation, retrogressive backwardness and abject poverty pervading the countryside is not unknown to powers that be. They do not realise that for the last several decades there has been a massive transfer of resources from rural areas to urban sector, but the government cares not a whit for the weal and welfare of the rural masses.

Absence of any significant industrial development in rural areas has been a key factor in the migration of rural population to the cities. Compelled by marginal earnings from crops, the rural youth, over-spilling in number, move to cities to earn their livelihood.

As a result, the cities are now bursting at seams because of ballooning population, delivering cultural shocks to migrant labour and proliferating squalor settlements. The trend shows, that there is a rush towards cities because of underdevelopment pattern that has been the rule for the many decades.

Our governments have always had a strange set of priorities in which the public welfare, especially of rural residents, ranked at the bottom of the list. The rural population for instance will draw no benefit from IT except for the odd crumbs, that might just come their way.

Poor villagers are a vulnerable lot, exploited to the hilt. With falling purchasing power, sluggish economic activity, absence of industrialisation and gloomy state of uncertainty in the expansive belt of the countryside, there seems to be no light at the end of the long and dark tunnel. In fact, a citizen of countryside is more heavily taxed.

No doubt the development of the vast swathe of the land may appear challenging, but how long the countryside would be administered on hyped promises and lollypops sans performance?