किसानों ने मंत्रियों को जमकर सुनाई खरी-खरी, हक्के-बक्के रह गए दोनों मंत्री

Khushkhera industrial area in Alwar district has long been a prominent symbol of Rajasthan's industrial strength. The echoes of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor once resonated here, the roar of machines brought fresh hope every morning, and the livelihoods of thousands of working families were tied to these factory gates. But today, a strange silence has settled over that very Khushkhera. Locks hang where machines once hummed, empty shifts stand where workers once laboured, and production that once ran three shifts now barely completes one. This picture is not the consequence of any policy failure, it is the scorching heat of a war blazing thousands of kilometres away in the Middle East, whose flames are now being felt in every industrial town of Rajasthan.

The growing military confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran has dealt a severe blow to global supply chains, and its deepest wound is visible on India's small and medium enterprises that depend on international trade routes. In Beawar district, known as Rajasthan's mineral hub, around 1,000 out of approximately 1,100 factories have been shuttered, and the sound of machines has given way to silence. This is not the story of a single district. According to Laghu Udyog Bharati, this sector spans nearly 14 districts of Rajasthan and directly sustains the livelihoods of six lakh people.

The roots of this crisis lie in the depths of the sea. Due to the Iran-Israel conflict, maritime routes have become unsafe and logistics costs have skyrocketed. With threats looming over the Middle East and the Red Sea region, ships have altered their routes, pushing container freight from 300-500 dollars to anywhere between 2,000 and 4,500 dollars. War surcharges have also led to a steep rise in insurance premiums. When this lifeline of trade is endangered, the first to suffer are the small entrepreneurs and labourers who have neither the cushion of accumulated capital nor the financial resilience to weather such crises.

According to traders associated with the container yard in Jaipur, where around 150 containers were once visible, the number has now swelled to over 2,000. This mountain of containers is, in reality, a mountain of hopes and hard work that reached the port after months of toil, only to find the onward path blocked. In Jalore, 80 percent of industrial units are on the verge of closure, with 250 units already shut in recent weeks and over 6,000 workers rendered jobless.

This crisis is not confined to the mineral sector alone. From textiles to ceramics and marble, the disruption in commercial LPG supply has severely disturbed the entire industrial supply chain. In industrial zones such as Bagru, Ringas and Sitapura in Jaipur, the disruption of commercial LPG supply has forced textile, ceramic, marble and chemical factories to down their shutters. The henna factories of Sojat, which once exported their products to Europe and the Gulf countries, have not been spared from this global turbulence either.

The most poignant scene is that at Jaipur Railway Station. With factories shut, the fear of days reminiscent of the COVID era has returned. Workers who remain are themselves caught in a food and sustenance crisis due to the non-availability of domestic LPG cylinders. On trains like the Ajmer-Sealdah Express and the Garib Nawaz Express at Jaipur Railway Station, large crowds of labourers can be seen returning to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, the same migration, the same helplessness, the same burdened shoulders, a sight we witnessed in 2020. The only difference is that then, it was a pandemic that painted this picture. This time, it is a war.

There is yet another layer to this crisis that must be understood. With Iranian airspace closed and airlines cutting back on flights from Jaipur for security reasons, the Jaipur to Abu Dhabi and Dubai routes have been the worst affected. Both regular flights to Dubai have been cancelled continuously. This has a direct impact on the millions of families in Rajasthan whose sons and husbands work in the Gulf countries. Air tickets from Italy and the Gulf to India, which were earlier around fifty thousand rupees, have now reached one lakh fifty thousand rupees. Thousands of families in Shekhawati had been waiting for their loved ones to return home for Eid or on holiday, but they now stand helpless before fares that have tripled.

Globalisation granted us the facility to sell our goods to any corner of the world and source raw materials from any country. But this same globalisation has also taught us that the political upheavals of distant lands now arrive at our own doorstep. International raw material prices have risen by 20 to 30 percent, logistics and shipping costs have become up to five times more expensive, and ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have adversely impacted imports from China and Europe as well. These are not mere statistics, they are the pain of families that wait for their monthly wages at the end of every month.

In these circumstances, it becomes imperative that we identify the structural vulnerability in our economic framework that leaves us so exposed to external shocks. India's small and medium enterprise sector, which accounts for a significant share of the country's total exports, remains critically weak in terms of energy supply security. Over 5,000 industries in Indore and surrounding areas depend on Middle Eastern countries for up to 60 percent of their raw material requirements. Rajasthan's industries share this same dependence. Until we succeed in linking alternative energy sources to industry, and until we diversify and make our supply chains more resilient, such crises will continue to recur.

Both the Rajasthan government and the central government bear the responsibility of putting immediate relief measures in place for affected entrepreneurs and workers. Such industries must be provided with short-term interest-free loans, subsidies on electricity, and special export incentive packages so that they can weather this storm. From a long-term perspective, it is equally essential that Rajasthan, a leading state in solar energy — accelerates the process of connecting its industrial zones to green energy. The renewable energy projects already underway in areas like Khushkhera and Bhiwadi are a positive step in this direction.

Wars are fought elsewhere, but the price is paid by the workers of Khushkhera who cycle to the factory every morning. For them, the geography of the world is not Iran's Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea, their world extends only as far as that factory gate, which today stands closed. Opening that closed door requires policy sensitivity, technological self-reliance and a restructuring of supply chains — all three, simultaneously. This is what the moment demands.