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Question of land reforms in Pakistan
By Zulfiqar Shah
THE rural
society and agriculture sector of Pakistan is chained by feudal
relationships which has given birth to an evil land-tenure system
with a high degree of land concentration, absentee landlordism,
insecurity of tenure for share-croppers and low agricultural
productivity.
According to a report, around ten million children are doing labour
in brick kilns, farms, carpet manufacturing workshops and
restaurants and another twenty million workers engaged in
agriculture and industry work as bonded labour. Feudalism is the
real problem and all other problems strem from it. The feudal lords
and their allies constitute only five per cent of our agricultural
households and own 64 per cent of our farm land. The rest of the 95
per cent are only their political vote-bank.
The total land area of the country is about 803,940 square
kilometres. About 48 million hectares, or 60 percent, is classified
as unusable for forestry or agriculture and consists mostly of
deserts, mountain and demographic settlements. About 21.9 million
hectares is being cultivated. Nearly 65 per cent of the cropped area
is in Punjab, perhaps 25 per cent in Sindh and 10 per cent in the
NWFP and in Balochistan. Farming is Pakistan's largest economic
activity.
In Punjab, tenancies are split more evenly between share and fixed
rent contracts. Landlords in Punjab are much smaller than those in
Sindh, with a median holding of only seven acres of land, and are
more likely to be residing in the same village as their tenants. In
Sindh, more than one third of the land is tenanted and about
two-thirds of land is under sharecropping, a form of farming where
output is shared between the landowner and tenant.
Sharecropping is the predominant form of tenancy in Sindh where the
land ownership distribution is particularly skewed. According to a
study, a median landlord in Sindh owns 28 acres of land, whereas
nearly 80 per cent of the share-tenants are landless farmers. Big
landlords in the province often employ kamdars to manage their
tenants.
Unlike India, Pakistan did not carry out essential land reforms soon
after independence and has, as a result, failed to facilitate the
much-needed transition of productive relations from feudal-agrarian
stage to industrial one. However, three isolated attempts were made
to reduce landholdings at intervals but these could not bring feudal
system to an end. In the early 1950s, provincial governments
attempted to eliminate some of the absentee landlords or rent
collectors, but they had little success in the face of strong
opposition.
In January 1959, General Ayub Khan's government issued land reform
regulations that aimed ‘to boost agricultural output, promote social
justice, and ensure security of tenure.’ A ceiling of about 200
hectares of irrigated land and 400 hectares of non-irrigated land
was placed on individual ownership; compensation was paid to owners
for land surrendered. Numerous exemptions, including title transfers
to family members, dampened the impact of the ceilings. Slightly
fewer than one million hectares of land were surrendered, of which a
little more than 250,000 hectares were sold to about 50,000 tenants.
The land reforms failed to lessen the power or privileges of the
landed elite.
In March 1972, the Z. A. Bhutto government announced further land
reform measures, which went into effect in 1973. The landownership
ceiling was lowered to about five hectares of irrigated land and
about twelve hectares of non-irrigated land; exceptions were limited
to an additional 20 per cent of land for owners having tractors and
tube wells. The ceiling could also be extended for poor-quality
land. The owners of confiscated land received no compensation, and
beneficiaries were not charged for land distributed.
Official statistics showed that by 1977 only about 520,000 hectares
had been surrendered, and nearly 285,000 hectares had been
redistributed among about 71,000 farmers. The 1973 measure required
landlords to pay all taxes, water charges, seed costs, and one-half
of the cost of fertilizer and other inputs. It prohibited eviction
of tenants as long as they cultivated the land, and it gave tenants
first rights of purchase. Other regulations increased tenants'
security of tenure and prescribed lower rent rates than had existed.
The ceilings on private ownership of farmland in 1977 were further
reduced to about four hectares of irrigated land and about eight
hectares of non-irrigated land. Besides, agricultural income became
taxable but small farmers owning ten hectares or fewer were
exempted. The military regime of Zia ul-Haq did not make efforts to
implement these reforms. Governments in the 1980s and early 1990s
avoided any significant attempt at strict implementation of the land
reform measures, because they got much of their support from landed
aristocracy of the country.
Agrarian reforms in Pakistan have never transformed rural society in
the context of property structure and production re lations. The
limits in reforms were fixed in terms of the individual but not
family holdings, which resulted in transfer of land to family
members and relatives. In times of the military rule, feudal lords
support the ruling junta to protect their system. And the military
badly needs them.
Even after three waves of land reforms, 3,529 zamindars have
5,13,114 holdings of more than 100 acres in the irrigated areas, and
3,32,273 holdings exceeding 100 acres in un-irrigated areas. Some
7,94,774 Khatedars have 54,64,771 land holdings of less than 12
acres in irrigated areas. In un-irrigated areas 1,44,098 are
reported to have 16,28,826 holdings of less than 24 acres.
Land reforms play an important role in reducing poverty and
empowering the poor farmers. In Pakistan, the power of landed
aristocracy has acted as a barrier to social and economic progress
of the rural society. Genuine land reform can help solve the
problems caused by the fact that farmers often use relatively
inefficient capital-intensive techniques due to distorted market
prices and that small farmers do not have access to the liberal
credit subsidies on imported machinery and capital equipment.
Under any scheme of serious reforms, the land ceiling should be
fixed at 50 acres irrigated and 100 acres non-irrigated land. The
necessary legislation should be done in favour of land reforms and
Haq-e-Shifa. All laws and regulations regarding land developed under
colonial era need to be abandoned and a judicial commission on land
utilisation should be formed to check exceeding commercialization of
land. Under Haq-e-shifa, the agriculture land of about 8 acres
should be allotted to the landless agriculture workers and peasants
families. The agriculture land occupied by or allotted to military
forms and government departments should be revoked and distributed
among the landless peasants under the principle of Haq-e-shifa.
Corporate forming should not be promoted. Allotment of forest land
to the influential persons has to be revoked and re-allotted to the
peasants on the condition of re-forestation. The occupied surveyed
or un-surveyed lands in Kacho, Kaachho, Kohistan, Kach, Bailpat,
Thar, Thal and elsewhere in the country must be re-surveyed and
distributed among the landless peasants and agriculture workers
families.
Equitable distribution at the tail-end is imperative. It is
necessary that all disputed irrigation projects including Kalabagh
dam are given up and water requirements of Indus Delta fully met. To
avoid water logging and salinity, the canals, branches and
watercourses should be lined. The government must draw up an
agriculture policy with the consultation of agriculture scientists,
peasants, agriculture workers and growers.
The parliament should be persuaded to pass a legislation for
protection of the peasant’s rights, allowing them to have their
trade unions, ensuring social justice and providing old age benefits
to them.
DAWN:Saturday, 02 Feb, 2008
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