The Rural-to-Urban Transformation in Pakistan: No Reprieve from Poverty and Exclusion

More than the increasing pressure on agrarian resources, land flight in Pakistan is caused by the starkly inequitable distribution of land. The land-poor and landless classes in the country, particularly in Sindh and Punjab, are dependent as sharecroppers or farm labourers on landlords. In order to escape from their life in debt bondage, more and more peasants endeavour to find a niche in low-class urban localities. Since they do not possess any skills and assets, they wander around for a livelihood of sorts at the bottom of the informal economy. The mixture of inordinately low wages and the absence of regular employment keep them entrapped in a state of pauperism. When they try to engage in collective action, mostly in industry, both employers and government officials team up to defuse their fight for higher wages and decent employment. Without a fundamental change in the policy of exclusion, and a better deal in economic, political and social terms, a majority of the country’s workforce would continue to remain entrapped in sub-human standards of living. The moot question thus is as to why people would remain loyal to a State unwilling to offer them protection from immiserisation.