Deflowering a desert, but it provides solace to people who can not afford to buy food.

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Development could change agenda in virgin Tharpakar

Islamkot is a town in Pakistan’s impoverished Tharparkar district. Its name has changed several times. There was a time when it was called Shyamkot. Then it was rechristened Salamkot. Today it’s called Islamkot.

Even if some sections of the Pakistani establishment today disown their past, the Sant Shree Nenuram ashram here is a living embodiment of what Sind would have been before 1947. Everyday, hundreds of cows and buffaloes line up in a single file to quench their thirst and chomp fodder.

“At 6.30 am the ashram provides millet to birds. Thousands of birds flock here. They know they will get food,” Kala Khushal, 71, the sevadari or volunteer of the temple told TSI. Sant Shree Nenuram Ashram also serves free food to the neediest sections of the population, mainly working children from Bheel and Kohili communities and jobless adults. The food is modest, ‘dal chawal’ on a piece of paper, but it provides solace to people who can not afford to buy food. “Three hundred to five hundred people are served lunch and dinner every day,” Khushal informs TSI.

The 100-year-old Ashram has symbolic value. Situated in the great Tharparkar desert bordering Rajasthan, the 22,000 square kilometer of remote area hosts a human habitation of about 1.2 million and an animal population of 4.5 million - tilting the ratio 4:1 decisively in the latter's favour.

With recent discovery of coal deposits. things could be changing. The total deposits of four coal blocks have been estimated to the tune of 1 billion metric tones. Similarly there are rich deposits of fine quality granite and china clay. Although 40 per cent of Tharparkar’s population comprises Hindus and Dalits, people live in harmony and participate in each others’ festivals like Eid and Diwali. It is not uncommon to find Hindus amongst mourners in the Moharram procession.

With the advent of hectic development work, the desert is witnessing changes and it is feared that the demography of Tharparkar will change drastically once exploitation of coal and granite begins.

“The people of Tharparkar are herdsmen. Labour force will come from outside once mass scale exploitation of coal begins,” predicts Arif Hasan, noted architect and town planner who has written extensively on Tharparkar.


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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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