It was beginning of 2008 when upon refusal to pay the undue tax amount; the local Tapedar roped a poor farmer Ghulam Abbas Lanjwani and illegally detained and tortured him in his official residence.
Abbas was freed only after he promised to pay the money. Upon his release, Abbas mustered up the courage to take the matter to Layari Development Organisation (LDO), ActionAid’s partner in the Khairpur district, Sindh.
Background of the issue
Dhall (overall tax on agriculture produce) includes Abiana (water tax), agriculture tax, drainage fees and local cess. The system of dhall collection in Sindh is very complex while manual record-keeping gives way to deliberate mishandling and misappropriations.
Small farmers and peasants in rural parts of Sindh have been paying illegal taxes or dhall for decades, totally unaware of their correct schedule and payable amount. The working of the revenue department has been non-transparent and exclusive, resulting in farmers’ exploitation at the hands of Tapedars (revenue official responsible for agriculture tax collection), who is believed to be an important instrument of bureaucratic control in the area. He directly interacts with farmers and handles all cash transactions. It is an open secret that Tapedar lets go of the tax money in case of influential landlords, and covers the deficit by over taxing the poor farmers who are usually forced to pay four to five times the real tax amount.
The struggle begins…
“Tapedar always misbehaves with small farmers. He uses abusive language and threatens us. We are ignorant of the actual tax amount, and unaware of the official tax schedule. This makes us more vulnerable and susceptible to his manipulation.” Shared Mukhtiar Shah, a small farmer.
ActionAid’s partner organised a group of 10 farmers including 3 women farmers to resist the highhandedness of revenue collectors and lodged a formal complaint with the District Coordination Officer (DCO). After many meetings and follow-ups the DCO was convinced to suspend the accused Tapedar, who was later transferred to another area. The problem was not yet over, and neither was the farmers’ struggle.
To gauge the severity of the problem and identify the causes of this deep-rooted problem, ActionAid’s partner conducted a detailed survey in the district and interviewed 800 farmers to collect evidence on the issue. The survey revealed that malpractices of the Tapedar had overcharged the 800 poor farmers (sample) a whopping Rs. 1.9 million. Considering the fact that 85 percent of 65,000 farmers in Khairpur district are small growers, one can imagine the magnitude of financial corruption and misappropriation carried out by the revenue officials.
To strategise a long term action plan, consultations were held with the local farmers. Local communities, farmers and rural workers were given awareness about the issue, while provincial level advocacy groups were developed to put up collective resistance and raise the issue at local, provincial and national levels.
Farmers take action
The correct tax schedule was obtained from the revenue department and printed in local language for farmer’s understanding. Our partner mobilised local activists, Community Based Organisations, civil society actors and poor communities to discuss the issue, compile facts and figures and put up a strong argument before the media. Small growers and woman farmers were involved in consultations and their recommendations were taken up. They also learnt about legal, economic and human rights aspects of the issue. Women farmers were in the forefront of the struggle and participated in all activities.
The change
“Without the support of ActionAid and LDO we would not have been able to raise voice against this injustice. Standing up against the powerful is very difficult, especially when it could lead to vindictive actions from those in authority. We are thankful to our friends from AAPk and LDO for giving us the direction and courage.” Says community person Qalander Bux Shanbani
Awareness, organisation and mobilisation empowered the poor people to refuse to pay illegal taxes. The farmers made it clear to the Tapedars that they were liable to pay the tax in accordance with the government regulations only; nothing more, nothing less. They started to keep a copy of tax schedule with them for quick reference and demanded stamped receipts against payments. AAPk supported the partner organisation to take up the survey report with substantive case studies to the local and provincial government authorities. A women Parliamentarian presented the report in Sindh Assembly and demanded inquiry and action. AAPk also facilitated solidarity visits of provincial level advocacy groups and activists to Khairpur which helped in farmers’ networking with other like minded alliances.
Setting a precedence
“This successful campaign gave us confidence to raise voice against inequality and exploitation. By refusing to pay illegal Dhall, each one of us has been able to save almost 2500 rupees per year. We can now use this money to buy food and medicines for our children.” Says farmer Qalander Bux Kandhro.
Community women shared with the partner how, following this success, they had more food to eat -for themselves and their children, and how their access to medical care and schools had improved.
“We used to work hard but there was never enough money to end our children to school. If a child got ill, we did not have money to buy medicine. Now we know where all our hard money was going. These corrupt people do not have a heart, they don’t care of poor people’s children are hungry, ill or dying. We will not let them exploit us any more.” Says Marvi, a field worker
Refusal to pay illegal dhall to the revenue department is unprecedented in Pakistan. Earlier, almost 70 percent of the local population was being financially exploited by the Tapedar, and were forced to pay almost 400 percent in excess to the actual tax amount.
The way forward
Year 2010 saw a monumental success in Dhall campaign. AAPk in collaboration with its local partner LDO and civil society alliance Hari Abadgar Ittehad organised a people’s assembly on Dhall and finalised the draft of writ petition against collection of illegal tax. The writ petition was filed in Sindh High Court, which gave its verdict in favour of the people. According to the court’s verdict, Tapedars are no more authorised to collect Dhall. Instead, the Dhall will now be deposited to National Bank of Pakistan after the tax schedule being made public by the Revenue Department.