Daily Times

After China, Japan manufactures the most number of vehicles in the world with 7,934,516 automobiles produced per annum, and Toyota overtaking General Motors as the largest carmaker in the world in terms of sales volume. Iron ore is the most important ingredient required for the production of automobiles. Ever wondered how much iron ore is available in Japan? None. African countries are some of the world’s poorest nations. However, these countries are blessed with an abundance of iron ore. How many vehicles are these poor nations producing with this ample supply of iron ore? None. So, the richest nation, which has no iron ore, is producing a maximum number of vehicles while the poorest of the nations, having all that is needed to manufacture the same, are producing none. Ever thought about what is missing? It is the ‘mindset’, a fixed mental attitude that predetermines a nation’s response and the interpretation of situations.

The Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan, the largest in the world, have an estimated total of 220 million tonnes of rock salt deposits. The Salt Range has the largest deposit of pure salt found anywhere in the world. The current production from the mine is 465,000 tonnes of salt per annum. This reserve cannot be consumed in 600 years.

Pakistan’s coal reserves in Sindh (Lakhra, Sonda Thatta, Jherruck, Thar), Punjab (eastern Salt Range, central Salt Range, Makerwal) and Balochistan (Khost-Shahrigh-Harnai, Sor Range/Degari, Duki, Mach-Kingri, Musakhel Abegum, Pir Ismail Ziarat, Chamalang) stand at approximately 184,123, 235 and 617 million tonnes respectively, thus giving a total of 184,575 million tonnes of coal. This, if seen in the context of oil, equals billions of barrels.

The Sui gas field, located in Balochistan, is the biggest natural gas field in Pakistan. The Sui gas field accounts for 26 percent of Pakistan’s gas production. Remaining reserves are estimated at about two trillion cubic feet and the daily production is around 604 million cubic feet. Large indigenous reserves of Sui gas stand unexplored.

Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer, third largest cotton consumer, second largest importer and has the fourth largest cotton cultivated area in the world. Pakistan’s yield per hectare is around 650 kg, lagging behind dozens of countries.

Reko Diq is a large copper-gold resource on the Tethyan belt, located in the dry desert conditions of southwest Pakistan within the remote and sparsely populated province of Balochistan. The Tethyan belt is a prospective region for large gold-copper deposits. The Reko Diq mining area has proven estimated reserves of two billion tonnes of copper and 20 million ounces of gold. According to the current market price, the value of the deposits has been estimated at about $ 65 billion.

The livestock sector contributes about half of the value added in the agriculture sector, amounting to nearly 11 percent of Pakistan’s GDP, which is more than the crop sector. The national herd consists of 24.2 million cattle, 26.3 million buffaloes, 24.9 million sheep, 56.7 million goats and 0.8 million camels. In addition to these, there is a vibrant poultry sector in the country with more than 530 million birds produced annually. All these animals produce 29.472 million tonnes of milk, 1.115 million tonnes of beef, 0.740 million tonnes of mutton, 0.416 million tonnes of poultry meat, 8.528 billion eggs, 40.2 thousand tonnes of wool, 21.5 thousand tonnes of hair and 51.2 million skins and hides.

What differentiates us from developed nations comes down to only one factor — our mindset, which desperately needs a change. The likeliness of nations doing what they believe they can do depends on how much faith they have in their abilities. Humans with fixed mindsets believe that their basic qualities (intelligence or talent) are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They believe that talent alone can create success without putting in any effort. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

The dilemma being faced by our country is the mushrooming growth of people with fixed mindsets. They somehow lack faith, motivation, hard work and, above all, education. Looking upwards towards leadership for the much-desired change is a futile waste of thought, for the change of mindset comes from within each individual. Certainly not all of us will be able to do great things in life, but for sure we can all do small things in a great way. What our country and the people living in it really need to understand is the basic fact that they will not simply become successful one fine morning, for that historical morning will never come on its own.

The writer is a social activist. He can be reached at drirfanzafar@gmail.com