LAHORE, Sept 13: The average annual income of labourers in the agriculture sector in Punjab is about Rs15,000 — roughly half of the national per capita income.
A survey, titled “Working Conditions of Agricultural Labour in the Punjab”, conducted by the National Commission for Justice and Peace and launched on Friday found farmers’ indebtedness to be as high as 60 per cent of the agricultural households in Punjab whereas the Agriculture Census of Punjab had found it be just 17 per cent in 1990.
The survey included interviews of 2,112 agricultural workers and 461 landlords from 180 villages in 10 districts of the province.
In the absence of an agricultural policy that monitors and regulates demand and supply of the work force, farm workers are bought and sold like cattle, the survey says. They are indebted primarily because of low wages. Employers provide credit for there is a shortage of labour due to migration — around 30 per cent of the labour force is on the move — and debt is the only way to keep it tied to a place for a long time.
Inadequate living conditions and health care make children and women vulnerable to disease and death. A high rate of childhood death is reported among farm workers: 124 children among 1,000 die before the age of three and 38 per cent of them die due to immunizable diseases.
The choice of work and place is also limited because neither the public nor the private sector has any arrangements for training labourers in skills that might improve their productivity as well as the scope of their profitability. The lack of skills and options also mars productivity of labour.
Although the Constitution prohibits slavery in any form and the existing laws can effectively deal with such crimes as illegal detention, institution of false cases, economic exploitation, cruel behaviour, implementation of these laws remains a serious problem when it comes to agricultural labourers.
No standard is observed for working hours, holidays or leisure. The routine daily work commonly stretches from 10 to 12 hours. No concept of weekly, monthly or annual leave exists in this labour market.
In many cases, the survey claims, whole family works for wage of a single person. Although women do equal or even more work, their participation is less recognised.
In view of the above-mentioned finds, the survey recommends formulation of an agriculture policy to reform the sector through legal protections and policy intervention.
Deprived of the choice of profession, freedom of movement and ability to negotiate wages due to indebtedness, agricultural labourers and their dependents are destined to live malnourished lives, deprived of education and civil liberties. There is need for new legislation to safeguard the rights of the agricultural labour.
Just and honourable minimum wage should be fixed for agricultural labourer and enforced through the Minimum Wage Board. An annual increase should also be made part of it.
Working hours, workers’ unions and job security should be ensured by regulating the relationship between labourers and landlords through a mandatory written contract, which should specify terms and conditions of the work as well as wages.
Loans and advance payments should be regularised through a law that does not become a means of economic exploitation and infringement on basic human rights.
The survey also recommends that labour inspectors should monitor implementation of these laws and should have magisterial powers to deal with problems on the spot. Cases involving agricultural labourers should also be tried in Labour Courts.
In addition to the above-mentioned legal actions, the survey has also recommended some policy shifts. Poverty alleviation programmes should focus on agricultural labour and a massive amount of money should be pumped in this sector.
The government should allot all of its arable land to bonded farm-labourers.
Absentee landlordism should be abolished without making exceptions for civil and military bureaucracy.
The limit of ownership of land should be reduced to 50 acres. Ownership of all family members should be added together and counted as a single agricultural unit. The land acquired through reforms should be distributed among landless peasants only.
The survey maintains that rehabilitation of bonded labour is primarily a duty of the government. The labourers require land for housing and cultivation, agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilisers, irrigation water and development loans.
An age limit for work should be fixed and implemented. Child labourers should be paid separately according to their input. There should also be strict check on the practice of loaning and borrowing money against children’s work to eliminate chances of their exploitation.
Immunization and mass literacy programmes should be initiated focusing on children in the agricultural sector.
Crime against women labourers should be recorded retrospectively and redressed in accordance with the law. They are not generally recognised as workers. Women, too, must be paid separately, according to their input, the survey added.