Last border village also at end of the queue for development

The thinly-populated Tanot, about 120km from Jaisalmer, is actually what postcards are made of. The picture-perfect village, the last civilian point on the India-Pakistan border on the western side of the district, houses mud shelters with thatched roofs. Villagers dress in traditional attire but, in the words of poet RS Thomas, “So little happens.”
About 10km from the India-Pakistan border, Tanot is located on a single-lane road surrounded by sand dunes on both sides. The village has 49 houses and 495 voters, but is far from the sound of the poll bugle.


Our first stop in the village was at Sudama Ram Bhati’s single-storey mud house with fresh paintings on the wall. The 76-year-old would like to thank the Army and occasional rains for his survival in extreme conditions. For him and others, elected representatives hardly matter.

The voting pattern is based on caste factor in this Rajput-dominated village, which has a polling booth.

“The arid region has been reeling under drought. Our cows and goats, the only possessions, are dying of hunger. We can’t afford to buy fodder. Yet our MLA and authorities haven’t taken any step to open any fodder shelters. We solely depend on water tankers from the Army,” rues Bhati.

His words also reflect the sentiment of others.

The village has one primary school. “The nearest secondary and senior secondary school is about 50km away — in Ramgarh. Most kids are forced to drop out of school due to lack of basic facilities and mode of transportation,” Odram Meghwal, a teenager, says.

The ever-changing topography of the village due to desert storms makes lives more difficult for the villagers. Though the village has vast oil reserves and is located near famed Tanot Mata temple, where thousands of people visit during the tourist season, development is a far cry. The lone source of livelihood is cattle rearing.

The villagers claim that the financial assistance for the construction of toilets and houses hasn’t been reached them and the only medical facility is the nearby BSF post. Some parts of the village has electricity connections, while the rest survive on “the moon and the stars”.

As we were leaving the village, we spotted a sand dune and a kid goat. “The mother of the goat ventured too far. It has not returned yet. If it does not return soon, the kid may not survive,” a village woman says.