[Reader-list] The News Story on Sindh Tenancy Act

[Zulfiqar Shah]

Law supporting Sindh peasants lies defunct
 
By By Shahid Shah
 
KARACHI: According to the Sindh Tenancy Act (STA) 1950, a landlord is required to pay a fine worth Rs500 if found abusing a tenant, but since its inception, this law has never been implemented.

“Peasants have no political and social freedom,” lamented Taju Bheel, President Hari Mazdoor Mahaz Sindh, and suggested that hari (farmer) courts be formed to resolve the issue.

The STA was an attempt to address issues faced by tenants who are peasants, such as the duration of their residence and their share of agricultural produce. However, according to a draft prepared by the Asian Development Bank, “the Act no longer reflects contemporary circumstances and needs and the level of compliance is low.”

One of the issues tenants face today is that landowners take loans worth millions of rupees from banks in tenants’ names.

“The government is providing billions of rupees to rescue the rich (shareholders) from the sinking stock exchange,” said a social activist. “Instead, it should come forward to pay back peasants’ loans.”

Currently, there is no tribunal in place to deal with matters related to peasants. Moreover, they cannot afford to go to civil courts, where cases can drag on for several years. Under the STA, every tenant must be registered, but according to Zulfiqar Shah, provincial head of South Asia Partnership (SAP), a civil society organisation, this has never happened. In addition, none of the tenants have a permanent address, as they are often forced by their landlords to relocate.

“Such displacement affects education,” said Bheel. “These children should be treated equally and provided a quota in universities and colleges.”

According to Zulfiqar Shah, Pakistanshould follow India’s example and form an agricultural policy for its farmers. As a mark of protest, tenants residing in Sindh, united under the SAP, have planned a march from Hyderabadto the Sindh Assembly building on March 15. The march is expected to end by the close of month.

Sindh is home to over a million peasants, none of whom have access to education or health services. Before the partition of the sub-continent, the STA ensured that peasants in all provinces of Indiawould receive their rights. By contrast, the traditional system allowed the landlord to impose his own rules.

Rochi Ram, a lawyer and social activist, explained that in the majority of India, each piece of land was in the hands of three parties; the government, the landowner and the peasant, but just the feudal lord and landowner in Sindh.

In 1930, things looked to be changing for the peasants when the Sindh Hari Committee was formed. At the same time, however, the landof Sindhat Sukkur Barrage and JamraoCanalwas distributed among people from Punjab, resulting in widespread protests in Sindh. 

With the help of the Sindh Hari Committee and the leadership of Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi and Qadir Khokhar, the peasants succeeded in getting the STA enforced in 1950, which was meant to ensure interaction between the tenant and landowner.

According to the STA, all disputes between the peasant and landowner were to be resolved by the Mukhtiarkar, then a first-class magistrate.
However, when landowners entered politics and became ministers, the Mukhtiarkar became a servant of the feudal lord. The STA also stated that the tenant had to pay the cost of the plough, but ever since the mode of production switched from ox ploughs to tractors and other machinery, the cost has increased manifold.

“They (peasants) were in a better condition before the partition,” said Ram. He believes that the current political system, where the majority of the politicians are from the families of feudal lords, has done nothing for the protection of peasants’ rights. “They have no way of getting justice.”
 
Source: The News, KarachiSaturday, January 03, 2009


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