Mr Ian Morris in a recently published book titled Why the West rules for now has described the patterns of history in thousands of years. Apart from geographical reasons of progress, he has stated that the main springboard of progress was the abilities of humans to extract energy from their environment. He cited the example of the discovery of coal in England in the 19th Century which led to the invention of the steam engine and railways which then laid the ground for the domination of British in India while the local population used the old bullock carts of Mohenjo-Daro.
Similarly, the exploitation of cheap energy from hydel sources led to industrial progress of textile industry and agriculture that produced exportable surplus of goods in nations. The failure of Pakistan to exploit 40 thousands MW of hydel energy from our rivers by building mega dams has held back the progress.
The closure of industrial units due to lack of energy has resulted in unemployment leading to social unrest and agitation by unemployed labour. The lesson of history ought not to be ignored. If we fail to harness energy from our natural sources, we are going to meet the fate of failed societies in the history.
MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
