New domains of progression

Tharparkar symbolises the peaceful coexistence of various communities that are knitted together by the economic and cultural necessity for survival. The agro-pastoral economy of subsistence livelihood has provided little space and time for the people of Thar to venture into new domains of economic progression.

Around 71 percent of population in Tharparkar is directly engaged with this traditional agro-pastoral economy while a significant percentage of the rest of the population is associated with unskilled labour. With all their development challenges, the people of the desert were able to create a sublime value of social cohesion through the collective expression of art and music. This, in turn, helped promote tolerance, pluralism and the socioeconomic necessity of living together.

Once a land of peace and pluralism, Thar is now exposed to exogenous changes that have not been evolved through indigenous historical and socioeconomic processes. This new economy unleashes a series of challenges and opportunities for communities that are not evenly poised to ‘own’ the socioeconomic reconstruction of their society. The most important essence of their traditions of peaceful coexistence needs to be ensured through the equitable distribution of opportunities that are offered by the new economy.

The traditional society of Tharparkar, with its socioeconomic necessity of living together, was built on the principles of symbiotic economic relations, distributional justice and the co-creation of the values of peace and pluralism. Breaking away from the traditional symbiotic communal life, the new economy is organised around the capitalistic principles of accumulation, competition and profitability. This will not only replace the traditional subsistence economy but will also bring new productive forces into play. This new economy can potentially exclude the conventional workforce without providing an alternative means of livelihood to locals. If the locals are not equipped with the skill set required to drive the new economy, poverty and vulnerability in the region is likely to increase manifold.

There has been a gradual dislodging of the traditional patterns of livelihood in Thar. If locals are not integrated into the new economy, they will stand to lose their chances of breaking out of their intergenerational poverty. Extractive commercial practices associated with the new economy can erode and deplete the natural resource base of Tharparkar. Coal extraction will disrupt the hydrological balance, which will adversely impact the agro-pastoral economy. This will be another cause for the vulnerability of Thar’s inhabitants.

The industrial activities of the new economy will bring about environmental degradation that could expose the biota of this ecologically-fragile region to the risk of extinction. Economic activity that is purely driven by commercial intent will result in the disruption of the food chain and thereby creating food insecurity, famines and droughts. The nexus of food insecurity and environmental degradation will culminate in high levels of vulnerability and extreme poverty for locals.

As a result, the industrialisation and urbanisation of the idyllic life of Thar’s inhabitants will transform the historically constructed organic institutions of socioeconomic transactions and cultural expressions. This institutional reconstruction will supplant the traditional economy of barter and social mediation with the virtual exchange of value and the digitisation of the systems of transaction. The region’s inhabitants cannot be the stakeholders of the new economy if they are left out of the process of this rapid transformation.

Be that as it may, the people of Thar have suffered a persistent threat of drought, famine and extremities of climate regardless of their indigenous values of social cohesion and togetherness. Tharparkar’s human development indicators have been deplorable as compared with the other districts of Sindh. The region also has one of the lowest ratings on the national level in terms of human development – below 0.399 points. According to the recent study on multidimensional poverty in Pakistan, 87 percent of Thar’s population lives in poverty, which is a significantly higher number than the national average of 40 percent.

Frequent droughts in the district have resulted in the shortage of food and fodder; limited access to income-generating opportunities; periodic migration; the sale of livestock and other movable assets at a large scale for survival; market-led exploitation; chronic indebtedness; and famine in most instances. The persistent spells of drought during the last 10 years have increased food deficiency by up to 70 percent. Malnutrition and food insecurity have compelled 60 percent of the families living in Thar to migrate. This has resulted in the sale of livestock at rates that are about 50 percent below their market value. These are the stark realities of an area that is blessed with the valuable deposits of 11 billion tonnes coal and other mineral deposits, including precious Karoonjhar stones and China day to mention a few.

The people of Tharparkar must not be reduced to the artifacts of a cultural museum; they have all the rights to experience the gains that spring from development initiatives. Despite their indigenous values of social cohesion, collective cultural expression and pluralism, poverty and isolation remain a stark reality of their daily lives that needs to be eradicated.

Development in Tharparkar is complex in the wake of rapid industrialisation and extractive commercial practices. Let’s imagine what will happen if Thar’s inhabitants are pushed to margins because they do not have the technical capacity to contribute towards the new economy. The people of Thar will face dual exploitation. They will be economically uprooted because their means of livelihood will be replaced by an exploitative, market-led economy that has limited space for manual labour. Furthermore, the v social fabric of collective expression will be discredited in favour of a mercantile culture of commercialism with no space for locals.

This transformation is, of course, inevitable and the people of Thar cannot stop it from happening. It is, therefore, vital for development practitioners and policymakers to ponder over a series of pragmatic solutions to help save a million people from a catastrophe. The new economy is not poverty-sensitive. In fact, it is profit-oriented. We need a new paradigm of development for the people of Thar before they lose hope in cultivating a better society for themselves.

We must start investing in building inclusive and representative institutions for the poor. We must develop a long-term strategy to outline the key divers of engaging locals in the new economy. We must work towards developing a technical workforce to participate in an effective manner in the new economy. We must establish strong advocacy networks of civil society organisations that can champion the cause of Thar’s people.

There are a string of environmental, cultural, economic and social consequences for locals that must be addressed to operationalise the new economy. The local network of civil society institutions must be given adequate and meaningful representation in determining Thar’s coal investment policy. The government must establish high-quality technical institutions to train Thar youth in market-driven trades.

The government must also engage specialised organisations to carry out detailed social and environment impact assessments to mitigate the adverse impacts of industrialisation. The recommendations of these studies must be the guiding principles of the new economy. It should be made mandatory for private sector investors to establish technical centres, schools and health facilities for Thar’s populace. They must also be bound to provide employment to the youth and must constantly support efforts to create a technical workforce in the region.

We must advocate the cause of Thar’s inhabitants before they are relegated to oblivion. We must also learn lessons from the policy failures in Balochistan. Development must be geared towards the benefit of the people. If it becomes the cause for the marginalisation of people, we must resist it.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: ahnihal@yahoo.com