compromise over livelihoods and move, she said.
Despite being mostly illiterate, the agriculture workers both women and men, know the market ups and down. For example, they witnessed last year’s cotton price fluctuation, which went as low as Rs2,000 per 40 kg from Rs2,400, fixed by the government.
The other cash crops like onions are no more profitable for them. Due to “anti-peasant” market policies the decreasing onion prices have pushed the peasants to live in debt slavery. The government authorities have also failed to provide them any relief.
Even Mother Nature is not in favour of these peasants, as delayed monsoon weather has also affected the other cash crop, that is, cotton. Attacks of pests like the melli bug on cotton also cause severe losses.
Collecting fodder for cattle is another arduous job for these agriculture workers as it is the alternate source of livelihood for them.
The meeting observed that these worker families live under centuries old cruel system. At many places, these farmers, mostly belong to the schedule castes of Hindus, and are not allowed to send children to school, a basic human right, guaranteed by the constitution.
Advocate Kanji Rano Bheel, who is a human rights activist as well, claims that 85 percent bonded labour out of 1.3 million debt slaves are living in lower Sindh districts, including Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, and Umerkot. These people are living their lives like slaves as they do not enjoy any basic rights.
Shujauddin Qureshi of PILER said the organisations working for workers and human rights want to bridge the gap between natural partners in agriculture, which are landlords and peasant. There is a need to restore trust between them, but there should be an end to exploitation. “We receive reports in which poor peasant families fall prey to the cruelty and injustice and they are unable to get their rights.”
Advocate Sarwan Kumar Bheel pointed out that the lawyers who helped and got peasants released from bonded camps through courts are facing persecution, and criminal cases are lodged against them.
He said the working conditions in the agriculture sector were horrible. Due to persecutions, some peasants have now gone into hiding, leaving their children and families behind, he added.
Nobahar Wasan discussing the overall education situation for the children of peasants said government school buildings are available in many villages, but village chieftains, fearing a dent in their traditional control usually discourage haris to send their children to these schools. “Even they don’t allow schools to run properly.”
The meeting suggested reactivating district vigilance committees led by Deputy Commissioners of each district with inclusion of lawyers, media persons, and rights activists as members to resolve the issues of bonded labour effectively.
Schemes should be initiated for the released bonded labour by providing skill trainings in the government institutions so they may have alternate sources of income to survive. Otherwise they will remain trapped in the vicious cycle of bondage and poverty.