Govt lamented for discrimination against scheduled casts

HYDERABAD: Activists and community members of Umerkot district, affected by the drought, lament the government discrimination against scheduled castes in the distribution of relief wheat. They also demand the government to declare parts of Umerkot a desert and provide people with reverse osmosis (RO) plants.
Rukma Meghwar, who presently lives at Kolhi Daro, a katchi abidi in Umerkot city, protested against the relief distributing authorities for their discrimination against the people belonging to scheduled castes.
“We believe there might be a lot of people who cannot receive relief at this difficult time,” Rukma said, while sharing her problems at a meeting organised by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) in Umerkot.
Around 40 percent of Umerkot district of the total 5,608 square kilometres comprises desert area, which is prone to drought.
The remaining areas are also facing a water shortage in the irrigation canals, especially tail-end farmers, who are unable to receive their due share of water.
Moreover, the Umerkot district is ranked number two at the provincial level, where 46.2 percent people out of 663,095 live below the poverty line.
The participants of the meeting demanded the government to extend its support to the residents to help them survive through the disaster. Peasant women, brick kiln workers, and civil society activists, who participated in the meeting, discussed the drought, food shortage, malnutrition, and the options of extending support to these workers living in the drought-hit areas.
Participants pointed out that the government only considers Tharparkar district as a desert and drought-affected area; whereas there was a need to declare parts of Umerkot a desert.
They said the people were already suffering due to lack of health facilities, food shortage, and malnutrition, and with the drought, their woes increased further, especially for those living in the scattered sandy villages. These people rely on rain-fed agriculture and raising cattle, but with no rain, they can neither grow crops nor fodder. In terms of the distribution of wheat bags, the meeting observed that the distribution of wheat is being made by the people belonging to the ruling political party and they prefer to benefit their party well-wishers. The discriminated families are crying against this unfairness. The meeting participants suggested that ration card system should be introduced for distribution of relief wheat in a transparent manner.
Current relief wheat distribution system has been made cumbersome, in which the poor people often do not receive anything.