NEED OF DEVELOPING OUR COUNTRY

NEED OF DEVELOPING OUR COUNTRY

Points : Introduction - Spread of education - Fighting superstitions Cleanliness - Improved methods of agriculture – Organizing Cottage industries - Co-operative banks - Conclusion.

Pakistan is a land of villages. The towns and cities are a few in number. The majority of population lives in villages. It is surprising that villages have been neglected so far by the government and the social workers. Hence our first duty is to make a scheme of up-lift for all the villagers of Pakistan if we want to make our country prosperous and happy.

The prevailing superstitions and the illiteracy will have to be first destroyed. The villagers will have to be free from the jaws of many evil customs. All this can be done by a band of social workers or by the government.

The first necessity of the villagers is the opening of schools, where boys and girls may learn how to real I and write. Primary education should be compulsory and free. For men and women who are busy on the farm during the day, night schools should be opened. Every village should have a library of useful books. The spread of education would work wonders within a few years.

As soon as education spreads, superstitions will disappear. Blind belief of villagers in superstitions is a great hindrance in the way of social workers. When these superstitions disappear, the work of up-lift would become very easy.

Though villagers are healthy and strong, yet they are not always clean. Cow dung and urine lie scattered in their houses. Their houses give out foul smell all the time. There is plenty of water in their rivers, ponds and wells. But their bodies and clothes are rarely washed and cleaned. This often results diseases like cholera, plague, small-pox, etc. Medical relief should he provided for the villagers to save them from quacks and old women who are the sole medical practitioners to the villages.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the villagers. They work on the farms and Pakistan is fed on their corn. But our villagers are hard workers. They work like beasts in the same way as their forefathers worked, without much brains. They should be taught the use of improved methods of agriculture. They should be told that they would save their energy, time and money by the use of new implements. They would reap a better crops. If some more wells and canals are dug, the villagers would cease to be at the mercy of rain.

Work on the farm occupies a villager for about six months. For the rest part of the year he remains idle. If cottage industries are organized, these idle villagers would find employment and get more income. Weaving, spinning, making toys and baskets, weaving woolen shawls, gathering honey from the bee-hives, etc. are some of the occupations for the villagers.

If this detailed scheme of village reconstruction is put into practice, 0ur villages would rise up again.