TITLE:
Nature of Conflicts, Tensions and Exploitation in Sharecropping in Rural Sindh
AUTHORS:
Ghulam Hussain, Anwaar Mohyuddin, Shuja Ahmed
KEYWORDS:
Life-World; Rationality; Conflict; Sharecroppers; Exploitation; Liminality
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.3 No.8,
December
20,
2013
ABSTRACT: This paper explains the causes of
conflicts and tensions in sharecropping relationships, the nature and level of
exploitation. It
explains the immediate as well as root causes of conflicts that emerge between
sharecroppers and landlords. Life-world of peasants of Sindh has been explored
at village, sub-regional and regional level. It was found that the historical systemic structures of
exploitation still exist in its refined form in peasant life-world. Peasant
life within village and among village peasants is relatively peaceful.
Conflicts emerge or take serious turn when outside systemic agents get involved
in issues related to sharecropper and landlord. Historically property rights
given to big landlords and feudal lords by imperialistic forces while snatching
the indigenous right of peasants to self-cultivation, is the root cause that
has spawned several sub-systemic pathologies in the life-world of peasants.
Absentee landlordism, Kamdaari system, debt bondage, social bondage, system of
Kann, landlessness, adulterated hybrid seeds, and issues of Sanad are some of
the sub-systemic evils that have emerged over the years. All such sub-systemic
structures put bigger and influential landlords into strategic advantage over
the sharecroppers, particularly landless peasants; the imbalance that perpetuates
“permanent liminality” suppresses reciprocal dialogues and discourages mutual negotiations. Outside systemic
factors like SHO-Landlord nexus or Feudal-Police-Tapedar troika play central
role in conflict creation and exacerbation in landlord-sharecropper
relationship leading to bloody conflicts, caste wars, tribal feuds and
honor-killings, thus, further differentiating and alienating life-world and the
system rural Sindh.