Rekindling lost bonds: Peasants call for better land reforms, to tie-up haris and waderas

PILER holds conference where farmers urge for land allotment and policies’ renewal.

UMERKOT: Peasant leaders demanded the government to review previous policies on land reforms and to allot state land to them at a conference organised by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research at Umerkot on Saturday.

At the conference titled, ‘Dialogue with employer and key stakeholders: livelihood challenges to agriculture and brick kiln workers,’ the activists demanded the government implement land reforms till 1977. They opposed the move initiated by the previous government, which introduced land reforms based on political grounds and allowed feudal legislators to benefit from them.

The participants unanimously backed the idea that the state should allot land through consultation with landless families.

They further expressed their grievances over the situation of workers in the agriculture sector, who do not have access to the benefits provided in government schemes. “We cannot understand the problems of haris [peasants] if we do not look back into history,” one of the speakers claimed.

They said the hari and landowners have an old relationship, which should be kept intact. They warned of consequences if the harmony between the two parties is disrupted since agriculture is the backbone of the economy.

They alleged that the haris are displaced from one place to the other by the landlords and haris do not have a safe piece of land.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th,2013.