Agriculture and land reform: Poverty alleviation imperatives
According to statistics, at present 56 percent of the people in our country are landless. Among them a vast number are absolutely landless not even having any homestead. And the number of this landless people is gradually on the rise, never decreasing. Yet no effective or dynamic step has been taken to establish the right of the landless on all kinds of khas resources including agricultural land and waterbodies to check this disastrous trend. Even if some demonstrative steps were taken sometimes, its continuity, too, was not maintained, on the otherhand the land grabbing circle is continuously occupying all kinds of khas resources of the country under different garbs. In some cases the problem is extreme indifference of administration, in others, non-neutrality and unfavourable mind-set, which have kept this grabbing process going. As a result social discrimination and deprivation have spread further instead of diminishing. Thus have increased rich-poor gap, food insecurity, man-woman disparity and many other problems.
We have seen in the past the political parties while assuming power deliberated so much promises and commitments on such matters but seldom delivered. But it is true in all respects that in the continuing social system and reality of Bangladesh there is no alternative to agriculture-land-waterbody reform. For this what is needed is clear political commitment above party and person and its planned implementation. If it is possible then reducing the rural poverty to a considerable extent is also possible. Non-distribution of khas land and waterbodies among the actual landless, curtailing land right of Adibasis, depriving women of land resource, stripping the fishermen community of right to waterbodies -- all these are the unsettled issues of land reform in this country.
According to the research findings of renowned economist Dr Abul Barakat, the number of landless people has trepled over the past four decades, while there happened concentration of land ownership. There have appeared in various forms land robber-water robber-forest robber groups. Again these robbers assume immense power in the corrupt financial-political state structure. According to research findings the landless households constituted 19 percent of the total households in the country in 1960 which rose to 56 percent in 1996. Now the number of landless families is half of the total families in the country, but they hold only 4.2 percent of the total land. On the otherhand 6.2 percent families (rich by land ownership) hold 40 percent of total land in the country. According to government statistics 56 percent people in Bangladesh are poor, of them 76 percent live in villages and 24 percent in towns (2001 census).
For livelihood one crore 32 lakh people pursue waterbody related occupations in the country. In the fisheries sector 12 lakh are directly working whole time and one crore 20 lakh seasonally temporary basis. Of these one crore 32 lakh fishermen, at least 80 lakh are just poor. Number of people constituting fishermen's families is about four crore, half of whom are poor under any scale and their daily income is just uncertain.
Similarly 1.2 percent of the country's total population is constituted by 32 Adibasi communities. To them land and woods are motherly. Their culture itself is based on that. But their land right is yet not recognised. Adibasis living on both hills and plains in Bangladesh are victims of extreme deprivation. New settlers from mainland are occupying agricultural and homestead land of Adibasis in the hills while in the plains neighbourhood landgrabbers are occupying Adibasi lands. Fifty years ago Adibasis constituted 75 percent of Chittagong Hill Tracts population, now it has come down to only 47 percent. Similarly in 1947 only 20 percent were landless among the Adibasis of the plains, now their ratio has risen to 83 percent. As a result majority of the Adibasis are below the poverty line. On the other hand also caught in the complexity of Vested Property Act these minority communities are just becoming poor to poorer, while under this or Enemy Property Act land grabbing eviction, oppression and harassment of Hindu community are continuing unabated.
Importance of agricultural land and waterbodies is enormous for our overall socio-economic development. But we are astonished to observe time and again that the matter remains this way or that neglected to them. Even if some good steps are often taken their overall implementation and result are seldom visible. And for this the age old obsolete rules and regulations and management system remain imposed as stumbling block. By land reform we generally understand distribution and settlement of khas land and waterbodies among the poor communities, protecting interest of those putting their labour to the lands and waterbodies of landlords and others, and related issues. And agricultural reform actually means such structural changes as may enhance its productive power and thus render affluence.
Agriculture and waterbody reform leads to land reform including change of land ownership, resolve of absentee land and waterbody ownership, distribution of ceiling excess land and waterbody, change of related laws, change of share cropper rules, institutional transformation, reduction in wastage due to litigations on land and waterbodies, record registration, administration, market wages, environment friendly agriculture, recognition of women labour in agriculture, change in related strategy, technology and supply sectors in agriculture vis-a-vis globalisation. Agriculture-land-waterbody reform is a matter of political decision. In such reform the politico-economic structure plays the main role. So we feel if there is will and commitment, it is possible to considerably reduce the existing disparities in the country through agriculture-land-water body reform.
There is no alternative to agriculture and land reform in alleviating poverty in our country. The existing other development programmes could not free us from poverty. This has been aptly proved over the past 36 years. To free the whole country from poverty, the right of the poor landless people must be established on all khas resources. The illegal occupiers and grabbers of land and water bodies must be evicted from there and involvement of those who have kept the national revenue flowing to exchequer by giving their labour from beginning to the khas lands and waterbodies increasingly established. And for this not only commitment but practical and proper initiative and planning must be undertaken by the state. With such commitment initiative and effort we must be able to come out of the vicious circle of poverty.
Md Abdul Kader is Executive Director, Samata.
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