Daily Times

The Hari Welfare Association (HWA), a non-profit working to protect the rights of the peasants, has raised the alarm that the post-flood situation in Sindh is compelling the farmers to fall into the trap of debt bondage.

At a press conference at Hyderabad press club on Saturday HWA’s president Akram Ali Khaskheli claimed that a rise in the number of cases of bonded labourers had been witnessed recently.

He informed that the courts of law set free 190 bonded labourers including 56 children and 63 women in the months of January and February this year, adding that the sudden rise of such cases reflected a far larger problem underneath.

He said in accordance with the Sindh Bonded Labour Labour System Abolition Act, 2015, the provincial government was supposed to set up and activate District Vigilance Committees (DVCs) in all districts of Sindh but only 14 DVCs had been established so far.

According to him, the DVCs could monitor the bonded labour situation, maintain coordination with the district administration, monitor enforcement of the Act and help rehabilitate the freed peasants. He told that the DVCs consisted of 4 government officers and as many private persons while the deputy commissioner of a district headed the DVC as its chairman.

Khaskheli demanded the government establish and activate the DVCs in all districts of Sindh with a special focus on the districts affected by the monsoon rains and subsequent floods last year. On behalf of the HWA, Khaskheli demanded the implementation of the minimum wage of Rs25,000 per month, pointing out that the agricultural workforce was being paid between Rs6,000 to Rs8,000 per month.

He also called for enforcement of the Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013, to allow peasants to form labour unions and the Sindh Women Agriculture Workers Act, 2019, to protect the women peasants.