Big land owners have good life and can afford quality education and health services for their loved ones. They get opportunities to participate in social, economic and political activities. They lead the society, acquire powerful and rule over others. Unfortunately, the land-poor farmers serving them (ploughing their land) suffer from starvation and their children are denied education. Their livelihood depends upon land owners and they often remain in perpetual bondage. This relation hurts their self-respect; and they feel humiliated in the society. This creates extreme dislike and dissatisfaction in the society. This is the state of conflict which might often surface in the form of violence. Therefore, the land issue is an important aspect of conflict resolution in Nepali society.Land is important form of asset that provides shelter and is a source of livelihood to 66 percent of the population. Women are denied land ownership; only 19 percent of them hold land and other assets. Since women do not own land and property, they are dependent on men and are as such compelled to accept all forms of suppression and violence. So, in this way, the pattern of land ownership is the foundation of the patriarchal system. The household economy is controlled by men. Women produce goods and services but men are engaged in selling them and managing household economy. Since men hold land, property and other household resources, they often misbehave women. Though polygamy is outlawed, it is still socially accepted in many parts.
In case of difference of opinion, men ask women to leave the home. Men know that their women do not have land and assets and they cannot leave to fend for themselves. They tend to take undue advantage of this vulnerability. Equally, women also know that they have no place to go and no means of livelihood. So they surrender to men and suffer violence and discrimination. This tradition has systematically denied women the ownership of productive resources, excluded them from leadership and decision making processes and restricted their freedoms and rights.
All human beings are equal; they have self-respect and they want to lead dignified lives. This is a fundamental human right. But the skewed land ownership has seriously hampered their quality of life and curtailed their human rights. The land-poor people plough for land owners and borrow little amounts to manage household economy. This kind of system creates class gap where landowners consider themselves superior and the land-poor farmers inferior. The landowners often exploit and misbehave with the land-poor farmers and their family members. The landowners provide left-over food and ragged clothes to the land-poor farmers serving them. This kind inhuman behavior hurt the land-poor farmers and they become disillusioned with the society. They do not see justice served to them. This frustration leads the society into protracted conflict. This is a serious threat to peace, stability and prosperity.
There is no peace and freedom for the land-poor farmers at present. They have to surrender to landowners for their daily livelihood. The land-poor farmers plough their owner's land on exploitative terms, including curtailing their individual freedom like choice of vote, casting the vote, mobility, selection of occupation, among others. They cannot raise their voice in the fear of eviction. This has created bonded system like Haliya (ploughment); Kamaili (workers); Kamlahari (girl child bonded labor); Haruwa (ploughmen), Charuwa (cattle herder), among other. These people are under the control of landowners.
They cannot take a day off or engage in entertainment. Since they have to work for long hours, they do not have time to take part in social activities and expose themselves to social and political affairs. This excludes them from participating in political activities and decision making processes that affects them. If we analyze present political leaders and policymakers, hardly anyone comes from land-poor farmer category. Hence land-poor farmers' freedom and identity are in jeopardy.
Land reform has been an unresolved political-economic issue in Nepal for a long time. This has further weakened the condition of land-poor farmers and has led the society into complex conflict. There have been peaceful and violent movements at people's level, and there is political commitment to address these conflicts. When the heat of the movement goes down the political commitment disappears. Political leaders have not been able to walk the talk. This makes the peace structure very fragile.
Unless we correct past wrongs and ensure just distribution of productive resources, there will be no sustainable peace. The conflict harms both the elite landowners and the land-poor farmers. We want peace (with justice) once and for all. Therefore, it has become important to change the political economy of land in order to address both latent and surface conflicts and to pave the way for sustainable peace. The choice is ours: whether we contribute to build peace through land reform or leave behind a seed of protracted conflict.
The author is a development professional
pathakki@yahoo.com
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