Few Expect Much of New Rural Development Focus
Few Expect Much of New Rural Development Focus
Villagers in Uzbekistan are sceptical of official plans to focus on rural development in 2009, according to NBCentral Asia observers.
On December 5, the state news agency UzA carried a speech by President Islam Karimov in which he declared that 2009 would be the Year of Rural Development and Improvement. The president promised a new programme focusing on agricultural reforms, support for private farmers, and “protection of the interests of the middle class”. This, he said, would result in a higher standard of living in the countryside and benefit the country as a whole.
It has become a tradition for each year to be given a particular theme, accompanied by government programmes and ambitious plans. For instance, 2005 was declared Year of Health, 2006 Year of Charity and of Healthcare Workers, 2007 was Social Protection Year, and 2008 Youth Year.
Observers inside Uzbekistan says such statements of intent have little real impact on ordinary people’s lives. Although 2008 was Youth Year, not much has come of plans to support young people and help them get an education and find work. Only ten per cent of the 450,000 school-leavers has gone on to higher education, while many of the rest have swelled the army of unemployed.
A businessman who finds work for Uzbek migrants in Kazakstan said many parents asked him to send their children abroad despite the tough conditions they would face there. In his view, this is a clear sign that life is getting worse for young people.
Commentators in Uzbekistan say the authorities need to do more than simply coin another empty slogan for 2009. People in rural areas are in particular need of support from the state, as many lack a clean water supply and other basic infrastructure.
“We get our drinking water from a spring a kilometer away from our house,” said one woman from a village in the Jizak region of central Uzbekistan.
Things are much the same in Bukhara, further to the west, where people are increasingly unhappy about the lack of clean water.
“For many years, we’ve had water brought [in tanks] by tractors,” said a human rights activist there. “I don’t believe that they’re going to provide us with good [mains-supply] water.”
Villagers also complain that the supply of natural gas is erratic, even though the country produces 60 billion cu m of the fuel every year. The shortage becomes particularly acute in winter, when gas consumption increases.
“Because we don’t get gas, we have to cook our food on a fire,” said one villager. “In winter we keep warm with a stove in which we burn wood.”
The electricity supply to villages is also poor.
“We’ve had constant blackouts for more than ten years now,” said a resident from a village in the eastern Andijan region. “Things might change now with the rural development year, but I’m not sure they will.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
On December 5, the state news agency UzA carried a speech by President Islam Karimov in which he declared that 2009 would be the Year of Rural Development and Improvement. The president promised a new programme focusing on agricultural reforms, support for private farmers, and “protection of the interests of the middle class”. This, he said, would result in a higher standard of living in the countryside and benefit the country as a whole.
It has become a tradition for each year to be given a particular theme, accompanied by government programmes and ambitious plans. For instance, 2005 was declared Year of Health, 2006 Year of Charity and of Healthcare Workers, 2007 was Social Protection Year, and 2008 Youth Year.
Observers inside Uzbekistan says such statements of intent have little real impact on ordinary people’s lives. Although 2008 was Youth Year, not much has come of plans to support young people and help them get an education and find work. Only ten per cent of the 450,000 school-leavers has gone on to higher education, while many of the rest have swelled the army of unemployed.
A businessman who finds work for Uzbek migrants in Kazakstan said many parents asked him to send their children abroad despite the tough conditions they would face there. In his view, this is a clear sign that life is getting worse for young people.
Commentators in Uzbekistan say the authorities need to do more than simply coin another empty slogan for 2009. People in rural areas are in particular need of support from the state, as many lack a clean water supply and other basic infrastructure.
“We get our drinking water from a spring a kilometer away from our house,” said one woman from a village in the Jizak region of central Uzbekistan.
Things are much the same in Bukhara, further to the west, where people are increasingly unhappy about the lack of clean water.
“For many years, we’ve had water brought [in tanks] by tractors,” said a human rights activist there. “I don’t believe that they’re going to provide us with good [mains-supply] water.”
Villagers also complain that the supply of natural gas is erratic, even though the country produces 60 billion cu m of the fuel every year. The shortage becomes particularly acute in winter, when gas consumption increases.
“Because we don’t get gas, we have to cook our food on a fire,” said one villager. “In winter we keep warm with a stove in which we burn wood.”
The electricity supply to villages is also poor.
“We’ve had constant blackouts for more than ten years now,” said a resident from a village in the eastern Andijan region. “Things might change now with the rural development year, but I’m not sure they will.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
