THE OVER LOOKED ONES

Pakistan has always been an agricultural country and its economy is heavily dependent on agricultural industry. Large part of Pakistani land is rural, and agriculture is also mostly practiced in the rural areas of the country. Only 35 percent of the country's entire population currently resides in urban cities. This suggests that a significant portion of around 65 % of the Pakistani population still resides in the country's rural areas.  Despite being such a large percentage, 80 percent of the poor in the country live in rural areas. Large majority of them do not have the same level of access to primary requirements to live a normal life as individuals who live in big cities, such as healthcare, infrastructure, education, drinkable water, electricity etc. The poverty rate in rural areas is about twice as high as in metropolitan areas. Rural areas of Sindh is home to around half of the rural population and accounts for roughly a third of the province's GDP. Sindh is Pakistan's second-largest province by population. Sindh's population is 47.9 million, with 52.02 percent living in urban areas and 48.98 percent in rural regions, according to the 2017 census. Sindh accounts for 30-32.7 percent of Pakistan's total GDP.  Its agricultural sector share has varied from 21.4 to 27.7%. Sindh generates around 70% of the world's natural gas and oil. However, based on some surveys, over 70% of Sindh's rural population is still impoverished, with 50% of the population living below the poverty line. In Sindh, there is a significant quality of life disparity between the rural and urban populations, estimated to be over 30%. One does not have to travel far to see the disparity between the rural and urban populations. When we examine the standard of living in Karachi to the standard of living in villages around the city, we can see the differences. As we travel along the National Highway toward interior Sindh, we notice that the villages on both sides of the highway lack quality schools, medical clinics, and safe drinking water. When we visit distant areas in the province, where people don't even have contact to big cities, the conditions over there are even worse. There are several villages in Sindh where people have never seen metropolitan cities of the province even in today’s date, neither have they had any idea what a developed city looks like. If the government pays undivided attention and shows the readiness to respond quickly to these problems, then only there is possibility that these issues might get resolved.