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Punjab AdvanceOctober-2013

My Word

Ithas been an enduring journey Ever since its inception, Advance,rechristened Punjab Advance, has come a long way, chronicling thegrowth and development of the state A veritable mirror to the state'sjourney through the times.

With this issue , we intend to relaunch the magazine in a new look as its contentshave been refurbished lending a new touch to its design and format. While takingan exhaustive look at the state governance, it would be our endeavor to incorpo-rate varied shades of Punjab's culture and ethos in the magazine..

Several new columns featuring literature, heritage, cinema and sports would findspace in the magazine to add divergence and colour to the contents.

In addition, we will be featuring a luminary of the region and a regular health col-umn. Another facet would be a column on bureaucratic rumblings where ideasand thoughts of bureaucrats would find space.

In the Literature section this time, we are privileged to carry a short story by DivyaA, which has been nominated for the Laadli Media Awards, and proud to carry apiece by Prof. Surjit Hans who has undertaken an arduous task of translating thecomplete works of William Shakespeare to Punjabi. That it has taken 20 years oftoil for him to complete the monumental task, we salute him for his unparalleledeffort.

The edition winds up with the column, The Last Word, where humour in personallife finds an expression.. Readers are welcome to contribute to this column..

As the state of economy has been subjected to undue criticism lately, in spite ofbig strides that it has achieved, the cover story ,this time, is on the exuberanteconomy of Punjab. We tend to take a comprehensive view of the financial posi-tion of the state, and dig into the reasons that have been responsible for the situ-ation as it obtains today.

Drug menace has been eating into the vitals of the state. A look at the police crack-down on the vicious problem and how much dent has it made to rattle the drugsupply lines that originate from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh as much as from Pak-istan and Afghanistan.

Another main story is on flash floods and water-logging in Muktsar and its ad-joining areas that have spelt widespread devastation, rendering hundreds of fam-ilies homeless and marooning thousands of acres of agriculture fields. The gravityof the situation is reflected in the fact that it might take many many months for thelife to get back to normal in the region.

Your comments and observations on this new endeavour would be of utmost im-portance to us.

We look forward to readers' response at [email protected].

Ajay BhardwajEditor -in-Chief

x

N

Chief Executive Officer N Ashwani Kumar

Editor -in- Chief N Ajay Bhardwaj

Editor N Donald Banerjee

Layout N Amresh Amar

Design N Arun Kumar Sharma

Publisher N Director, Information and Public Relations, Punjab

Contact address N Chief Executive OfficerPUNJAB ADVANCE,Room No. 7, Fifth floor,Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh-160001Ph. : 0172-2740668

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors in the arti-cles published in PUNJAB ADVANCE are their own. They donot necessarily reflect the opinion of Punjab Government orthe organization they work for. Editor reserves the right toedit, abridge or expand the articles submitted. In case of anydispute, legal jurisdiction will lie in Chandigarh based courts.

Printed and published by Ashwani Kumar on behalfof the Department of Information and Public Rela-tions, Punjab, through PUNMEDIA, printed at M PPrinters, B-220 Industrial Area, Phase II, Noida-201305 (UP) and published at Chandigarh. Editor:Ashwani Kumar.

M P Printers,(A Unit of D.B. Corp. Ltd.) B-220, Industrial Area, Phase II, NOIDA-201305(UP)

C o n t e n t s

Resurgent economy

06 Punjab economy on an upswing as the state mops up resources and goes in for fiscal reforms

This month

Cover Story

N http://www.diprpunjab.gov.in

N OCTOBER-2013N VOL-1N NO-1

Resurgent economy Sukhbir’s fiscal reforms

focus on development

Gujarat Chief Minsiter Narendra Modi hails Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal, promises to protect Punjab farmers

28

Police unleashes no holdsbarred fight against the drugmenace

Development in Amritsarbooms

13

We will bail out Punjab, says14th Finance panel chief

18

Majithia for punishment tothe guilty of ’84 anti-Sikhriots

19Badal gets “Agriculture Policy Leadership” Award

24

Passing of an eraA distinguished farm econo-mist from Moga departs

30

Punjab agriculture at crossroads

31

Home alone, always :Book Review

40

Bride Barter: A short story

41

“Honthon Se Chhoo Lo Tum...”

The common man’s ghazalking

44

'Operation chimp'

50

20

37

34

16

Prof. Surjit Hans worked

tirelessly for 20 years to bring

Shakespeare to Punjabi for the

first time in literature

Gobindgarh Fort regains its

glory in Amritsar

While the nation's economy has beenfloundering, rupee rollicking upand down in the vortex and slug-gishness in growth is writ large allover, it will be too far fetched to

expect the states to be in the pink of economic health.After all, the state economies do not exist in isolation ofthe national economy.

And Punjab is no exception. The worrisome sluggishgrowth of the national economy has indeed cast

some dark shadows on the state economy as well.But the shadows have not been overwhelming

enough to blunt the initiatives that Punjab hastaken on fiscal reforms.

Though it has been a bumpy ridefor the state economy, yet astute

fiscal management and sustainedefforts have still succeeded in

keeping the state economyafloat, besides infusing

a new life in theeconomy.

In fact, thefinancial pic-ture of Punjab,

6 Punjab AdvanceOctober-2013

Resurgenteconomy

Cover Story

By Ajay BhardwajN

l Green shoots of recov-ery bloom in the state, asPunjab takes big leaps infiscal reforms;

l Clocks higher growthrate than the nation’s

if seen in perspective, looks far more promising than ithas generally been made out to be. "It is a misplacedpropaganda", says Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

Senior officers in the Finance Department affirm thatthe state was caught in a financial crunch for some timedue to high-debt servicing in the last three months. Infact, the state had to shell out, on an average, more thanRs. 1100 crore on account of debt servicing. It was cou-pled with a slump in tax collections due to a not-so-bumper wheat crop.

"All this took a temporary toll on the economy", saida senior official. But the situation has firmly remainedunder control and is expected to look up brightly in daysto come, say senior officers..

That the economy otherwise has been buoyantenough is testified by the fact that Punjab's rate of growthduring 2012-13 at 5.19 per cent had an edge over the na-tional growth rate which hovered around 5 per cent.Considering all factors, this has happened for the firsttime in the last three decades that the state's economyhas grown at a rate higher than that of the nation. It wasonly in the seventies and early eighties in the wake of thegreen revolution that the state had recorded a highergrowth rate.

More so, the average economic growth in the stateduring the 11th Five Year Plan period ( 2007-12) hasbeen 6.74 per cent against the target of 5.9 per centdemonstrating the buoyancy in the economy..

Besides, a big positive of Punjab,s economy has been

a definite and steady control on the fiscal deficit, a finan-cial problem that has been bogging the state for manyyears.

During the current financial year the fiscal deficit isexpected to be under 3 per cent as against 3.5 per centrecorded last year which by all means reflects brightly onthe state finances when compared to 5 per cent fiscaldeficit clocked by the Centre in the corresponding pe-riod.

Another bright spot in the economy has been thatthe revenue receipts kept their upward swing in a bigway in the last six years of the SAD-BJP rule. The rev-enue receipts shot up from Rs 17,013 crore in 2007-08 toRs 26,234 crores in 2011-12 at an annual growth rate of10.5 per cent. This year, between April and July the rev-enue receipts were to the tune of Rs 9,849.34 crore ascompared to Rs 8,914.58 crore during the correspondingperiod last year.

Yet another high in the economy has been that theratio of state's own tax revenue to GSDP looked far morepromising at 7.5 per cent in 2010-11 as compared toother states like Gujarat (7.1 per cent), Maharashtra (7per cent) and Haryana (6.4 per cent).Since 2008, the owntax revenue has increased at a rate of 18 per cent

"This is despite the fact that the state mops up sub-stantial revenues off the budget in the shape of RDF, IDcess and VAT share of municipalities which are peculiarto Punjab only. If we account for these also, the own taxrevenue to GSDP ratio is expected to rise by another 1per cent", say senior officials.

The constant increase of VAT collections has been abig reason for a smile lately. On an average the collec-tions have been annually increasing by 11.8 per cent,bringing Punjab to the top three performing states on thiscount, even as other states like Haryana ( 3.5 per cent),Maharashtra ( 2 per cent ) Gujarat ( 8 per cent) trailed far

7

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LRevenue receipts go upLSteady rise in VAT collectionsLFiscal deficit under control


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behind.The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the state

is expected to increase from Rs. 2,59,223 crore in 2011-12to Rs. 2,96,007 crore during 2012-13, which would trans-late into 14.19 per cent, whereas the national GDPrecorded a growth of 13.27 per cent during the corre-sponding period.

Similarly, the per capita income of the state has beengrowing promisingly. At current prices, the per capitaincome of the state increased from Rs 78,594 in 2011-12to Rs 89,345 in 20012-13 showing an increase of 13.68per cent, while at the national level this increase has been11.67 per cent.

The fiscal reforms under the Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management Act, 2003,, which was lateramended in 2011, have helped the state improve on itsfiscal deficit as much as on GSDP-debt ratio. The ratio

that used to be 40.24 in 2007-08 has come down over theyears to 31.39, as told in the memorandum submitted bythe state government to the 14th Finance commission.

Yet the debt burden remains significantly higher thanmany other developed states as a result the 12th financecommission had bracketed Punjab among the debt-stressed states.

It remains a stark fact that in spite of many upswingsin the economy, the state's fiscal health needs to regainits lost verve and vigour, that used to be its bulwark inthe seventies and early eighties..

The turning point for the state economy, in fact,came around in the mid-eighties when militancy struckin a big way and violence started ravaging the state. Itwas in 1985 that for the first time the state slumped intorevenue deficit and has never been able to come out of itsince then.

In the subsequent years of the prolonged Presidentrule, which remains unprecedented among the states, theeconomy took a strong bashing. The tax collection wentfor a spin. The industry and the entrepreneur took a safeflight out of the state. In the frightened circumstancesthere was no endeavour, whatsoever, to mop the re-sources for a persistently dwindling economy.The state

L The Raghuram Rajan panel reporthas ranked Punjab fourth amongthe seven most developed states inthe country.

L According to the RBI, Punjabamongtop three investment destinations

9Punjab AdvanceOctober-2013

slumped into a fiscal mess of sorts.While the economy got increasingly derailed during

the violence-ridden decade of the eighties and earlynineties, the silent and stifling burden of debt startedmounting on the state. With the passage of time it onlybecame more and more overbearing.

Today, if there is a solitary factor that could be a chal-lenge for the state to handle it is the monumental debtwhich the state needs to handle by the horns. The state'sproblem has been compounded by the indifference of theCentre to help bail out the state.

While the state's repeated requests to grant some con-cessions on debt relief have been turned down, the Cen-tre's not-so-supportive attitude is also reflected by thefact that a high-powered committee under the chair-manship of Secretary, Expenditure, Union Ministry ofFinance, which was constituted three years ago to assistthe debt-stressed states, failed to submit any report onthe matter. The committee held three meetings with stategovernment officials from time to time to explore ways toget Punjab out of the fiscal distress, but at the end gave nosuggestions and instead left it to the 14th Finance Com-mission to do the needful..

Why has the debt been mounting on the state ?If the overbearing burden of the militancy times trig-

gered it in the eighties, it kept increasing exorbitantlywith the Central Pay Commission recommendations thatput added burden on the state in the subsequent timeswith steep hike in salaries.

The mounting debt burden in absolute terms led to avicious cycle of interest payments, large borrowings toserve the debt, compression of capital expenditure andhence impacting the state's growth rate.

The onerous burden of militancy for more than 12years, which was practically a proxy war unleashed onthe country by a hostile neighbour, paralysed the stateeconomy decisively. Later, the Centre didn't fully waiveoff the special term loans given to the state during theperiod of militancy, which amounted to almost Rs 5900crore. But a long-term fall-out of militancy has been thatin subsequent years it saw a steep hike in expenditure onthe state police.

Punjab today has one of the highest police per lakhpopulation in the country, as a result the police and jailexpenditure as percentage of revenue receipts is muchhigher in the state when compared to many other states.

In 2011-12, 11.4 per cent of revenue receipts wasspent on police and jails, which was significantly higherthan what the states like Karnataka (2.8 per cent), Gu-jarat (3.5 per cent), Tamil Nadu (4.1 per cent) and

Centre penalising Punjab, yet economyon the upswing:

-SukhbirDeputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is confi-dent of Punjab being flooded with development worksand the economy looking up in the days to come. In afree-wheeling interview a confident Sukhbir said thestate's investment implementation of Rs 2 lakh crorewas a whopping 79 per cent when compared to the all-India average of 57 per cent.

A talk with Deputy Chief Minister SukhbirSingh Badal;

Do you think Punjab has been facing any fi-nancial crunch ?

A. Not really. Certain vested interests have been target-ing the state, trying to bring it a bad name by circu-lating half-baked facts and sometimes even distortedfacts.

There have been reports that Punjab failed togive salaries to its employees on time ?

A. Punjab has never defaulted in payment of salaries orpensions. A couple of days here and there is no re-flection of crisis of any sort. It happens in our day today life as well. Sometimes we have big money athand to spend, sometimes we are short of it and mayneed to borrow. What's wrong in it.

Is it right that Punjab has been borrowing


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Haryana (5.3 per cent) did. Such high spending on inter-nal security is a historical baggage that the state inher-ited from the troubled times.. No other state has such anonerous obligation to bear as a legacy of horrid times.

Along with heavy indebtedness, another factor thathas been worrying the state is that the state's share inhorizontal distribution of central taxes kept decliningleaving it with a very poor share in the Central coffer.From 2.45 per cent in early nineties the state’s share hasplummeted to 1.38 per cent under the 13th Finance Com-mission puttung Punjab in a big disadvantage.. Thoughthe reasons given for low devolution of funds are changein the criteria adopted by the Centre for the purpose, thestate has requested the Centre to take a second look at itand modify the criteria to help Punjab overcome the fi-nancial constraints.

Contrary to the advice of the 13th Finance Commis-sion, when the Centre implemented the pay commissionwith retrospective effect from January 2006, the state hadto pay Rs 3000-3500 crore to its employees

" The implementation of the recommendations of paycommission and additional dearness allowance have beenthe primary reason of the rising non-Plan revenue deficitof the state", say senior officials.

According to the memorandum to the 14th Pay Com-mission, the state's economic condition worsened as theCentre gave no assistance to the state for the implemen-tation of the recommendations of the 5th State Pay Com-mission, which involved an annual liability of Rs 3000crore and of Rs 7200 crore for payment of arrears.

Giving details the memorandum says that a low pri-mary deficit indicates that a significant part of fiscaldeficit is due to high interest burden. Since 2009-10, pri-mary deficit to GSDP ratio is constantly below 1% whilefiscal deficit is more than 3%.

The memorandum pointed out that state governmentemployees and pensioners were the largest united pres-sure group in the state. When the Central Governmentannounces additional dearness allowance to its employ-ees, the state has to follow suit.

In spite of a few bottlenecks , the state's economylooks all set for a turn-around with Deputy Chief Minis-ter Sukhbir Badal's single-minded and focused approachto make Punjab a leading state in the country. Recentsteps to mop up additional resources by raising VAT by0.5 per cent, effecting one per cent increase in stampduty, effecting 10 per cent cut in non-essential non-planexpenditure are some of the measures which would go along way in infusing renewed vigour in the state's economy.

heavily ?A. There is nothing wrong in borrowing so long as the

state is investing the money in building infrastruc-ture, and that is what Punjab has been doing. More-over, Punjab is no exception to it. Name me just onestate that does not borrow to run its government.

Why is Punjab in the firing line for this ?A. Simply because, as I told you, certain vested inter-

ests want to dent the image of the state. In fact, theCongress-led UPA government needs this sort ofcriticism The debt to GDP ratio of India is embar-rassingly low at 68.05 per cent while ours is 32 percent. We are ranked sixth in terms of improvement,ahead of Maharashtra, Haryana and even Gujarat.

But the fact is that the debt burden has beeninexorably mounting on Punjab?A. The UPA government at the Centre is responsible

for that after the sixth pay commission's recom-mendations for steep hike in salary and pension billsof Punjab. In Punjab, the average salary of a consta-ble or lowest rank officer is Rs 29,000 while in Delhiit's Rs 18,000 and in Haryana 15,600. The maximumburden has come on us because of the 6th pay com-mission as the committed expenditure on salariesand pensions increased manifold.

You think Punjab is under financial stressdue to the Centre's lopsided policies ?A. Punjab in fact is being penalised for being a devel-

oped state. The central formula for devolution offunds is heavily loaded against us just because our percapita income is high and size of the state is small.The limit of central loans has been reduced from 3.5per cent to 3 per cent, while the funds transfer fromthe Centre has been 20 per cent of the revenue re-ceipts which is far below the other states. We re-ceived just Rs 4700 crore, while UP, West Bengal,Maharasthra and as recent as even Bihar receivedmore than Rs 150 lakh crore in 2012-13.

What promise do you see for the state'seconomy ?A. The state will be flooded with development works

in days to come. What has been far more hearten-ing is that Punjab excelled in investment imple-mentation of Rs two lakh crore which was 79 percent in the last two years as per the Assocham reportwith Punjab ranking at number three where as theall-India average was 57 per cent in this regard.

The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. ParkashSingh Badal, has urged the 14th Fi-nance Commission to recommend StateSpecific Grants of Rs 9639 crore besidesfully funding the Agricultural Diversi-

fication Plan worth Rs. 8775 crores and a Debt ReliefGrant to the tune of Rs 24, 813 crore for the state.

Making a forceful presentation, after submitting thememorandum, before the 14th Finance Commission ledby its Chairman Mr. YV Reddy at Punjab Bhavan, theChief Minister apprised the Commission that the Centrehad referred the issue of debt-stressed states of Kerala,Punjab and West Bengal to the 14th Finance Commis-sion and thus demanded Rs 24, 813 crore as Debt ReliefGrant towards outstanding Small Savings and Govern-ment of India (GoI) loans. He mentioned that the then


Badal demands debt relief grant ofRs 24,813crA Bureau Report

N

RBI putsPunjab in top 3T

he Reserve Bank of India puts Punjab among the threebest investment destinations in India during 2012-13.Quoting from the RBI report, the Punjab Chief Minister,

Mr Parkash Singh Badal, said these figures should serve as aneye opener to the Congress leaders who are never tired ofpainting a negative picture of their own state.

Punjab finished ahead of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gu-jarat, Bihar and West Bengal, to be one of the three most at-tractive investment destinations in the country, according tothe figures released by the Reserve Bank of India.

"The Congress should realise that Punjab has done it de-spite the adverse and ruinous policies of the Congress-ruledCentre against Punjab, such as denial of concessions granted toour neighbouring states and the refusal to provide freightequalisation."

Mr. Badal said a perfect law and order situation, an atmos-phere of peace and communal harmony, ideal labour relations,top-grade infrastructure, improved power scenario and an in-vestment-friendly industrial policy were some of the reasonsthat resulted in pushing Punjab up among the top three desti-nations in the country. "The Congress leaders see nothing ofthis and are busy trying to portray Punjab as the worst state inthe country. They should now try and contradict the report ofthe Reserve Bank of India, if they can," said the Chief Ministerin a statement here today.

"The Congress leaders in Punjab have been spending alltheir energies on running down their own state and its achieve-ments. They are out to defame their own state as a part of awell-planned agenda to stop investments from coming here.Their speeches and actions had adversely affected the invest-ment climate in the state in the past as potential investors de-veloped wrong and unfriendly notions about us, but weperformed creditably despite all this," said Mr. Badal

The Chief Minister asked the Congress leaders, especiallythe PPCC chief Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa, to read the ReserveBank of India report. Punjab finished among the three best in-vestment friendly destinations this year, with just 2 per cent ofthe total area of the country and 1.5 per cent of its total popu-lation, Punjab accounted for nearly 13 per cent of the total in-vestments made in the country during the period, says the RBIreport.

The Chief Minister said Punjab's performance was all themore creditable when one considers that India on the wholeslipped badly on the investment sector. "At the all India level,numbers confirmed the go-slow on investments." according tothe RBI report. "In the light of this, Punjab's showing is notonly heartening but also an indicator of better things to follow.Investments are the key denominators of growth and the trendindicates that we have turned the corner towards economicresurgence. I am not saying we do not face challenges. But wehave defied heavy odds to emerge as a front runner in the coun-try. I hope the Congressmen, who spend sleepless nights criti-cizing their state's economy will sleep peacefully and quietlynow," said the CM.


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12

Prime Minister, Mr. IK Gujral, had waived the entire spe-cial term loan raised during the militancy in Punjab.However Mr. Badal lamented that when it came to im-plementation, only the outstanding balance on that datewas waived therefore he impressed upon the Commis-sion to grant a ‘Special Term’ loan and interest alreadypaid by the state amounting to Rs 2694 crore at currentprices.

The Chief Minister gave a brief account of how thestate had been given a step motherly treatment by theCentre despite being the ‘Sword Arm’ and ‘Granary’ ofthe nation. Likewise, the state also faced the brunt of par-tition. Besides our people paid a huge price during Indo-Pak wars. Subsequently we faced long years of militancyand Punjab remained under long spells of President’s rulethus no additional sources were raised and substantial re-sources were diverted towards fighting militancy pushingthe revenue surplus state into a vicious debt trap.

Mr Badal reiterated that Punjab fought the nation’swar and thus sought the restructuring of the balance out-standing debt and a moratorium on the payment of in-terest, considering the strong financial position of thestate prior to militancy.

Pleading to recast the Federal Structure in true sensewhich was gradually shedding its character to pave theway for a unitary form of Government, the Chief Minis-ter urged the Commission to make comprehensive rec-ommendations for decentralization of the planningprocess besides evolving fair and justifiable formula forsharing of resources. He said the states should be allowedto decide their own plan priorities as per their local needsadding that funds should be given in a “untied” manner.Thus Mr. Badal underlined the need to recommend allgrants, including Plan grants, be distributed only on thebasis of Finance Commission recommendations.

The Chief Minister bemoaned that by and large thestates' expenditure in development had been rising whiletheir share in revenue was declining whereas the sce-nario in the Centre was absolutely opposite as it was ac-cumulating far more revenue than actually incurringexpenditure on development. Therefore he requested theCommission to fix the share of states in central taxes at 50per cent and also to bring cess, surcharge and royalties to

the shareable pool. To substantiate his claim, Mr. Badalcited that since the Fifth Finance Commission, state’sshare in central taxes had been reduced from 2.450 percent to just 1.389 per cent now.

Ridiculing the Centre’s discriminatory approach fordevolution of funds amongst the states, the Chief Minis-ter said over the years such formulas had been against thefiscal interests of the progressive and better performingstates like Punjab. Due weightage should be given to theGross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and to the propor-tion of SC/ST population, which was the highest amongstthe states in the country.

Referring to the industrial tax concessions given toneighbouring states by the Central Government, theChief Minister said that this discriminatory policy haddealt a severe blow to the state’s economy resulting instoppage of fresh investment and flight of capital fromthe state. He asked the Central Government to grant taxconcessions to Punjab, at par with those granted to theneighbouring states, to compensate the state for the lossessuffered by the flight of industry. Mr. Badal also soughtRs 3000 crore for promoting industry in Punjab by cre-ating new and upgrading the existing infrastructure inthe form of Industrial Focal points, Integrated TextileParks, Food Parks, SEZs etc. In addition to this, we needRs. 500 crore to build and strengthen infrastructure inthe border areas to make use of the increased trade withPakistan.

Outlining the state’s Agricultural Diversification Planof Rs. 8775 crore, the Chief Minister said that it was allthe more important now with the Centre mulling to doaway with the MSP regime. Therefore he said that thestate was left with no other alternative but to go for di-versification of agriculture through promoting its alliedsector like dairy farming, piggery, fisheries, bee-keepingetc besides motivating the farmers to cultivate less waterintensive and highly remunerative crops. Mr. Badal in-formed the Commission that to bail out the farmers inthis hour of crisis and to save agriculture, the State gov-ernment was investing nearly Rs. 6000 crore per year forproviding electricity to the agriculture sector. Termingthis initiative as a step towards the National Food Secu-rity he said that the Centre should share at least 50 percent of the investment.

Summing up the marathon deliberations, the Chair-man of the Commission Mr YV Reddy said that he washighly impressed by the meticulous presentation of theFiscal scenario in the state presented by the government.He assured the Chief Minister that the Commissionwould thoroughly examine all aspects of the Fiscal con-solidation in a holistic manner.

L Growth rate better than national levelL Revenue receipts go upL Steady rise in VAT collectionsL Fiscal deficit under control

12

besides Amritsar MayorBakshi Ram Arora andsenior government func-tionaries reviewed thestatus of the ongoingprojects worth Rs 730crore as well as new proj-ects worth Rs 1309 croreenvisaged for the holycity. A total of Rs 2039crore has been set asidefor the holistic develop-ment of Amritsar.

Among major deci-sions taken it was de-cided that the Bus RapidTransport System (BRTS)would be implementedby February 15, 2014, ata cost of Rs 469.54 crore.Work on the project,which will put 150 spe-

cialized buses into service in the city, will start by May 16next year.

The Deputy Chief Minister was apprised that the mu-nicipal solid waste project for the city, would be takenup for execution by December-end and that it would beexecuted within one year, by December 29, 2014. Thisproject involves a cost of Rs 72.49 crore out of which aprovision of Rs 20 crore has been made in 2013-14.

The Indoor Stadium, which will come up as part ofthe Sports Complex at Ranjit Avenue will cost Rs 40 croreand work on the same will start in November this yearand be completed by May 29, 2015. Similarly work onimprovement and beautification of the road from Hall


The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Mr SukhbirSingh Badal, is leaving no stone unturned inthe completion of development projects inAmritsar. At a special high-level meeting a vis-ibly involved Deputy Chief Minister reviewed

the projects, fixing deadlines for the completion of allongoing as well as new development projects in Amrit-sar.

The meeting, which was attended by State BJP Pres-ident Kamal Sharma and Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi

Developmentbooms in

AmritsarA Bureau Report

N


Development

Gate to the Golden Temple Plaza Complex costing Rs25.30 crore will be started by November 30 this year andcompleted by November 2014. Work on construction ofplaza at the Harmandir Sahib is in full swing and work tillthe first floor will be completed by Diwali in Novembe.The total cost of this project is Rs 78 crore.

The Deputy chief minister was also apprised thatwork on the new exhibition centre in Amritsar wouldstart by November 30 this year and that the projectwould be completed by November 29, 2015. Anout Rs 70crore would be spent on this project out of which Rs 10crore had been earmarked for the same in 2013-14.

Another major project about which Mr Sukhbir SinghBadal was briefed at the meeting included the new Cen-tral Jail which will come up in Amritsar at a cost of Rs179 crore. As much as Rs 60 crore has been earmarkedfor this project during 2013-14. The project will be initi-ated by November 15 this year and completed by March29, 2015.

The Deputy CM was briefed that the ongoing con-struction of Heritage Village under Punjab HeritageTourism Promotion Board would also be completed byNovember 2013. He also reviewed the ongoing construc-tion of Gobindgarh Fort and expressed satisfaction overthe work. He said conservation work of Ram Bagh Gar-den Phase-II and Surface Parking was at on advancedstage of completion.

The Deputy CM also disclosed that the state Govern-ment would hand over the keys of 130 dwelling units byDecember this year to slum dwellers.

Giving information of ongoing road projects, Mr.Badal said that the Amritsar-Ajnala Road from KitchluChowk to Mirankot, four-laning of Amritsar-Sohian-Fatehgarh Churian Road, 4 laning of Amritsar-Majitha-Fatehgarh Churian Road, Amritsar- Pathankot- Kandla-Batala Road would be started soon and would be com-pleted by June 2014. Mr. Badal said the beautification andimprovement of chowk Shaheedan on Amritsar-TarnTaran-Sarhali-Harike Road was in the final stages of com-pletion and would be dedicated to the people in Decem-ber this year. Mr. Badal also informed that the work ofwidening and strengthening of GT Road from BhandariBridge to Guru Nanak Dev University, beautification and4-laning of Amritsar-Tarn Taran-Sarhali-Harike Roadwould start next month. He said that all clearances forROB at Amritsar-Tarn Taran-Sarhali-Harike road havebeen issued, where the work would also begin soon.

Briefing about the upgradation and modernisation ofGuru Nanak Auditorium, the Deputy CM said that thisworld class auditorium would be dedicated to Amritsarresidents by October next year.

Gurpurb

greetings

Born on October 9, 1574, Guru Ram Dasji isthe Chauthi Patshahi or the Fourth Guru ,who established the city of Amritsar.

Sri Guru Ramdas ji kept alive the tradition of the firstthree Gurus. SriGuru Ramdas jiremained Gurufor a short period.After obtainingland for the pur-pose, he foundedthe town of Ram-daspur (later Am-ritsar) whichcontinues to bethe centre ofSikhism tilltoday. He dug a tankwhich becamethe principalplace of pilgrim-age. Traders andartisans were invited to settle in the town so that itsgrowth could be rapid. In due course it became thelargest commercial centre in northern India. ThePhrase "Ramdas Sarovar Nahate, Sab uttre paap ka-mate", "I bathe in the tank of Ramdas and all my sinsare washed away" came to be associated with the tankdug at Amritsar.It was a landmark in the life of the community, be-cause the Guru established a central place that wasquite distinct from that of the Hindus and the Mus-lims. Since then Amritsar is for the Sikhs what Meccais for the Muslims. All this indicates that the Guru had a distinct sense ofhis mission and did everything to establish it as a sep-arate religious system and entity.

14


he "Progressive Punjab-Investors' Meet"got off to a flying start with DeputyChief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal rop-ing in Infosys, who agreed to explore thepossibility of setting up a 100-acre cam-

pus at Knowledge Park in Mohali.Bengalaru was the first halt of Sukhbir Singh's plan toachieve an industrial revolution in the state. The itiner-ary will now take the Punjab delegation to Taiwan (Oc-tober 6 to 10), Delhi (October 17) and Mumbai (October23) to woo industrial giants for setting up their units inthe state.Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said Punjab had fixedan investment target of Rs. 10 lakh crore in the next twoyears. Mr. Badal said he would personally meet and apprise theCEOs and MDs of top Indian and Taiwanese industrialunits about the incentives being offered to the industryby Punjab. He said as Punjab’s industrial policy had re-ceived a massive response from the industry sector, thestate would launch a sustained campaign to showcase thefacilities being provided to industries to usher in a newera of development. He said the Punjab Governmentwould provide all clearances online from November this.Describing Punjab as the easiest investment destination

in the country, Mr. Badal said the state was on the verge

of realizing its dream of an Industrial Revolution. Besides,90 per cent of its power-surplus dream would soon be-come a reality with three units of its under-constructionthermal plants becoming operational by December-end."After that, the power tariff rates in the state will auto-matically come down," he added. According to Infosys Chairman N.R. Narayana MurthyInfosys will send a top level team to Punjab to evaluatethe establishment of a 100-acre campus at the KnowledgePark in Mohali. The company's senior vice-president and head of admin-istration, facilities and infrastructuire U. Ramdas Kamathwill visit Mohali later this month and take a quick deci-sion on the establishment of the campus The Deputy Chief Minister assured the Infosys chief thatthe Punjab government had ready land available in theKnowledge Park at Mohali and that it would give all nec-essary clearances required by the company within 15days. “You will see that my government works evenfaster than you”, he added.Dr Murthy said if the company created a campus in Mo-hali, it would work towards having a capacity of 25,000employees. He said for this the company needed at least2.5 million square feet of built-up space. The Infosys headsaid while around 70 acres were needed for this purpose,a 100 acre plot would be ideal as it would allow for a fur-ther expansion to 40,000 employees at a later stage. Heassured the Deputy chief minister that once the companyestablished a new facility it would start off with 5,000employees immediately and increase the capacity instages with full capacity being reached between five toeight years.

Sukhbirscripts

renewed

industrial boost

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T

Infosys may set up campus in Mohali


The nature's fury has spelt havoc in Shri MuktsarSahib district and its adjoining areas. The floodsravaged the region and left 41dead, the like ofwhich Shri Muktsar Sahib has never seen. In-tense water-logging on the sprawling agriculture

fields has added to the woes of the farmers as standing cropsover an area of nearly 4.10 lakh acres stand destroyed.

Normal life has been completely derailed as about13,000 houses were washed away leaving hundreds of peo-ple shelterless. An estimated 500 head of cattle perished inthe unprecedented floods.

The floods may have lost their fury, but they have leftin their wake a vast expanse of stagnant water. With thedrainage system insufficient to drain out the giant pools ofwater, water-logging has added to the woes of the resi-

dents.The calamity has assumed the proportions of a deephuman tragedy.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Badal undertook extensive surveys of theregion to gauge the gravity of the situation seeking inter-vention of the Centre to bring relief to the marooned peo-ple..

Officials estimated that relief works to the tune of Rs233 crore were needed urgently to put life back into gear.Officials said while infrastructure of the PWD and theDrainage Department had been badly damaged and neededimmediate repair, farmers lost their crops on 1.3 lakh acresin Sri Muktsar Sahib district , 56,000 acres in Fazilka, 50,000acres in Ferozepur and 45,000 acres in Faridkot, 39,000 acresin Kapurthala and 33,000 acres in Tarn Taran due to floods.

The high-powered state-level committee set up by ChiefMinister Parkash Singh Badal to find a permanent solutionto waterlogging and drainage of water from south-west parts

Floods, water- logging wreak unprecedented havocin the region Floods, water- logging wreak unprecedented havocin the region

41 dead, 4.10 lakh hectares of crop destroyed, 13,000houses washed away

A Bureau Report

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Muktsarmarooned

17

Floods


of the state will submit its report within 30 days.Giving this information while chairing the committee

meeting, Principal Secretary, Irrigation, Sarvesh Kaushalsaid: “Earlier, the drainage system was designed to evacuateseepage water only but now it will be planned to evacuatesurface water, pond water and escape water released fromcanals also."

BS Dhaliwal, technical adviser said, "This committee hasbeen entrusted to prepare an exhaustive surface and un-derground drainage infrastructure master plan for water-logged areas of southern Punjab for identification of theextent of problem, causes of the problem, remedies, coordi-nated action plan and costs in the state. The committee mayget help from remote sensing system of Indian Space Re-search Organisation (ISRO) and GPS-based contour sheetsto design the drainage system in the region."

He asked the departments to identify sheet flow andcauseway flow places on the topography for the natural flowof water by gravity. "The committee is collecting data andrequired information in specific format from all depart-ments concerned so that final reports could be prepared asearly as possible. I had directed Panchayati Raj departmentto revive village ponds. As per PAU research report, pond

water is fit for agriculture and todevelop schemes to use thiswater for irrigation." addedDhaliwal.

JS Samra, CEO, NRAA said,"Waterlogging is result of seep-age from Rajasthan feeder andSirhind feeder canals. Detailedmaster plan would be made inwhich besides revamping ofdrainage system, cropping pat-tern, irrigation methods, aqua-culture, adaptation of animalHusbandry and others will betaken up. Finding of this com-mittee will also be helpful forsome other states in the coun-try."

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said water-logginghad assumed the proportions of a deep human tragedy, re-quiring out-of-the-box long term measures for a permanentsolution.

“The problem is no longer limited merely to saving crop;the entire affected area has become a massive socio-eco-nomic devastation and unless a matching comprehensive re-habilitation and reconstruction initiative is undertaken, thecrisis can have a spill-over into social stability, economicfrustration and law and order for decades to come," said Mr.Badal.

Mr Badal had a meeting with Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh to seek the intervention of the Centre for reliefworks.

Mr Badal demanded that the relief works in the regionbe declared the national project. He was appreciative of thesympathetic hearing and assurances given by the PrimeMinister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on the demands put forthby him during the PM’s Chandigarh visit.

He sought the Prime Minister's personal intervention tohelp the state in this hour of crisis. The Chief Minister saidit was unfortunate that the Centre had taken so long towake up to the gravity of the situation and was still forcingthe much-needed central relief and rehabilitation measuresto get bogged down in technicalities and superfluous norms.

The Prime Minister had also assured him that the com-pensation given to the victims of the natural tragedy wouldalso be suitably hiked to facilitate the distressed people inthis hour of crisis. Mr. Badal said all these matters werepending with the Government of India (GoI) and added thatthe Prime Minister’s intervention would be of great help instreamlining these projects. “I am thankful to the PrimeMinister for assuring me of a positive outcome of all thematters raised before him”, he added.


Floods

The 14th Finance Commission led by its Chair-man, Mr.Y.V. Reddy, visited the flood-affectedareas of Sri Muktsar Sahib district tio have afirst hand information about the massive dev-astation caused to public installations, stand-

ing crops and houses, to enable the Commission to giveits recommendations to the Government of India (GoI)for evolving a time-bound action plan to check recur-rence of such calamities emanating from the chronicproblem of water logging in the region.

Prof Abhĳit Sen, Agriculture Committee Chairmanof the Planning Commission of India (PCI), said hewould soon recommend to the PCI Chairman to deputea high level team to assess the extensive damage causedto crops, houses and physical infrastructure, especiallythe roads and power grid stations, due to the recentfloods in the area. He said the PCI was fully seized of thewater logging problem in the Malwa belt as it had al-

ready sent a team led by its Member and expert on waterresources, Prof. Mihir Shah, who had submitted a de-tailed report to tackle this problem on a permanent basisexpeditiously.

Prof. Sen said it was an established fact that the re-cent flooding in the region was also an outcome of water-logging. Prof. Sen apprised the Chief Minister that theMihir Shah Committee would revisit the flood-affectedwater-logged areas to take stock of the entire situationin this context so that tangible steps could be taken toavert such situation in future. Expressing solidarity withthe flood affected victims, Prof. Sen said that the Gov-ernment of India was at their beck and call in this hourof crisis.

The Chief Minister thanked the Chairman of theCommission Mr. YV Reddy who termed the water-log-ging crisis as an unusual phenomenon and assured himthat the Commission would do its best to bail out thestate government from this piquant situation within theambit of its functioning. Mr. Badal said that over the pe-riod of time the centuries-old drainage system was grad-ually crumbling and it was the need of the hour torevamp it for which the Centre should come forwardwith massive financial assistance to ultimately relieve thepeople from the pangs of water-logging since long. Heurged the Commission to impress upon the GoI to senda team of experts on hydrology and drainage to addressthe problem of water logging efficaciously besides re-vamping the entire drainage system in the state accord-ingly.

Chief Minister said he personally invited the Com-mission to visit these areas to keep them abreast with theground realities and said that the ill effects of the recentfloods due to water logging would have future implica-tions for at least one decade. .

Later talking to media persons at Jhabelwali, theChief Minister said that the Commission had been en-lightened with the hardships faced by the people of area

due to water logging and he hoped that it would certainlyhelp the state to overcome the menace of water logging..Earlier the commission accompanied by Chief Ministervisited the damaged 132 KV Power Grid at village SaraiNaga and 220 KV Power Grid at Sri Muktsar Sahib.

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L Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal requests Prime Minister ManmohanSingh for long -term measures to tacklewater-logging

We will bail out Punjab, says Finance panel chief

Punjab has demanded punishment of those

guilty of the massacre of innocent Sikhs in1984, asserting that this would be the greatestconfidence building measure to ensure justicein the aftermath of communal violence.

Representing Punjab in the 16th National Inte-gration Council meeting held here under the chair-manship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, thePunjab Information & Public Relations Minister, Mr.Bikram Singh Majithia, pointed out that the failureto punish those guilty of the 1984 massacre of Sikhsin the national capital and rewarding killers withhigh offices was not the best way to promote peace,harmony and national integration. He said the fail-ure of the system to deliver justice even after 30 longyears had caused deep resentment and led to a dan-gerous alienation. He said such issues needed to beaddressed with utmost seriousness by the NationalIntegration Council which by its very definition wasthe perfect forum to bring about the emotional inte-gration of our people by assuaging their hurt senti-ments. Underlining the need to create an atmosphere

in which people havefaith in the sincerity,sensitivity and impar-tiality of the politicalleaders, Mr. Majithiaemphasised the need ofa sagacious leadershipand an effective policeforce. Besides this, thepolitical leadership alsohas to rise above narrowvote bank politics and tobe representative of allcommunities and guardagainst alignment withsectarian forces, headded.

Mr. Majithia also highlighted the aspect thatPunjab was proud to be one of the few states, whereno communal or caste riots had taken place after thepost-partition trauma of 1947. He said in the last twoyears hundreds of people had been killed in commu-nal clashes and thousands injured in almost 20 States,no incident of communal violence had beenrecorded in Punjab.

19

N.I.C.


A Bureau Report

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L Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia with Financial Commissioner

(Revenue) N.S. Kang & Media Adviser to Deputy CM Jangveer Singh at the NIC

meeting in New Delhi.

L Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Minister is seen with Leader of the Oppo-

sition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.

Majithia for punishment to the guilty of

’84 anti-Sikh riots


Drugs War

In Fazilka more than 250 families have crossed overto the neighbouring parts of Rajasthan after thePunjab police launched a campaign against drugpeddlers. In the border belt of Amritsar about 750 persons, identified as drug suppliers, are

absconding.It is against such a backdrop that a war on drugs has

to be fought in the state. Now, in an unprecedentedcrackdown on drug peddlers and drug suppliers this year,the Punjab Police have arrested more than 7500 personsin the state and have registered about 6530 cases.

The police campaign has shaken the menacing tenta-cles that the drug abuse and narcotics have been sinkingdeep in the state. There is a rattling on the ground, spark-ing a hope that if the police campaign persists for somemore months, it might bring relief to the beleagured fam-

ilies, for whom drugs have spelt doom and destruction.Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who is cred-

ited with the initiation of the anti-drug drive, soundedthe alarm bells for the police realising that the menacehad started eating into the vitals of the state.

Last month, he issued a terse and firm direction to allthe district police chiefs to get cracking on drug dealersmore stringently and deliver the results within a month.

According to a study, the report of which was pre-sented to the team of the 14th Finance Commission, drugaddicts start at the age of 13, and more alarmingly, the re-port found that half of the addicts were women.

Another serious dimension to the problem is the in-ternational links of the drug peddlers as was recently il-lustrated with the arrest of five persons in FatehgarhSahib, who used to supply synthetic drugs overseas.

While the Punjab government has asked the IndianCouncil of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct an epi-demiological study carried out on the drug abuse prob-lem in the state, Badal directed the police officers to

By Ajay Bhardwaj

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It’s War on

drugsSukhbir warns SSPsagainst laxity7500 put behind bars* Many cross over to Rajasthan*

It’s War on

drugsSukhbir warns SSPsagainst laxity


strike at the root of the drug trade and not be contentwith just arresting drug peddlers. “You must investigatethe forward and backward linkages”, he said adding“there must be a zero tolerance towards drugs”.

The Deputy Chief Minister patted the police for theirrelentless campaign, but cautioned them against the factthat though there had been a quantum increase in therecovery of narcotics, it should not make the police forcecomplacent. He warned that the drug peddlers were stillactive at the grassroot level and had been trying to in-duce the youth into drugs.

He asked the SSPs and the police commissioners toconduct a micro analysis of the problem at their respec-tive places and

break the chain of supplies, sale and resale. He alsodirected senior police officers not to go easy on politicalleaders if they were found to have any links with drugpeddlers. He said he had been receiving ground reportsabout it and would watch the police officers to swing intoaction and break the critical chords.

Director-General of Police Sumedh Singh, on hispart, reassured the Deputy Chief Minister to launch amore vigorous anti-drug campaign and promised to weed

out all police personnel found colluding with the drugpeddlers.

The DGP assured Sukhbir of carrying out an in-housesurvey of the police force to identify those hand-in-glovewith the drug traders and bring them to book. Sukhbirsaid that the weeding out of ‘rotten eggs’ had to beginfrom the higher level.

He said besides intelligence and other sources, he hadbeen regularly getting feedback from formal and infor-mal channels regarding the problem of drug addiction inthe state and any SSP not performing in this area wouldhave to lose command of the district.

“We must smash the supply chain also”, he saidadding “I vowed to the people of Punjab to eradicate thismenace and I had also prayed to the Almighty to give mestrength to win this war against drugs. I am committed tofulfilling my commitment to the people of Punjab."

The first part of the police campaign that ended inAugust saw 6,000 persons behind the bars with morethan 92 quintals of poppy husk being recovered in dif-ferent parts of the state, besides 71 kg of heroin, 31 kg ofsmack and 29 kg of charas.and 469 kg of opium.

The second phase beginning in September was ratherfar more aggressive as it saw 1340 cases being registered

L Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal addressing a meeting of police officers. On the right is Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, IPS on the left is ADGP (Training & ) S.K.

Sharma, IPS


Drugs War

in the first fortnight with around 1500 persons being putbehind bars.

The flooding of prisons with drug peddlers has led toa new problem of their accommodation. Almost all thecentral jails in the state have started bursting at the seamsdue to the overwhelming presence of prisoners.

The prison authorities confirmed that their task ofmanaging prisoners had become onerous. More so, be-cause many addicts could not cope with the withdrawalsymptoms.

In the second phase of the campaign, Jalandhar citymade a massive success recording the largest number ofFIRs ( 186) in a month and taking 188 persons into cus-tody. The police in Patiala and Ferozepur also arrestedmore than 100 drug dealers in the same period.

Amritsar topped in the list of seizures with more than22 kg of heroin being seized, clearly indicating that Pun-jab was paying a heavy price for being a border state. Infact, as the Deputy Chief Minister pointed out the entireproblem had its genesis in the state being on the nationalborder with Pakistan.

That's why the memorandum submitted to the 14thFinance Commission mentioned how Punjab had be-come a gateway for opiates smuggled into India fromPakistan and Afghanistan.

The memorandum said: " There is an urgent need tocontrol the rising drug addiction in Punjab. This shouldinclude education of parents and other stakeholders tohelp addicts reject illegal drugs, conduct wide awarenessprogrammes and invest in research into the developmentof medication and build a strong curative mechanism".

While suggesting establishment of drug de-addiction

centres and rehabilitating the addicts through youth de-velopment activities, the state government demandedthat the Finance Commission should sanction Rs 100 crfor the above-mentioned interventions.

Punjab-UN MOU on drugcontrolThe Punjab Government has inked a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) with the United Nations Office on Drugs andCrime (UNODC). for initiating joint drug control efforts

The MoU was signed by the regional representative ofUNODC Ms. Cristina Albertin and Principal Secretary Home Af-fairs & Justice Mr. DS Bains in the presence of the Punjab ChiefMinister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal.

Expressing deep concern over the issue Mr. Badal categori-cally said: "The state government is fully committed to launchinga big war against drugs and seeks the serious involvement ofUNODC in weeding out the drug menace from the state."

He further said that he would shortly call on the Prime Minis-ter seeking his personal intervention to check the cross-bordersmuggling of poppy husk into Punjab from Rajasthan, where itwas being openly sold in the market like other essential com-modities.

The Chief Minister asked the representatives of UNODC toadopt a comprehensive approach focusing on all aspects relatedto drug abuse in sync with the state government to evolve a re-sult-oriented action plan.

L Deputy Chief Minister SukhbirBadal delivered a stern warningagainst police- politician nexusin drug peddling and asked po-lice officers to break the drugsupply lines.


The Punjab NRI Affairs Minister, Mr. BikramSingh Majithia, has exhorted the NRI youth todevelop strong bonds with their homeland byfrequently visiting and exploring the variousopportunities available in different fields. He

said they should also analyze the different facets of life inIndia and the progress made by the country in variousfields of economy, industry, education, science & tech-nology, communication & information technology, cul-ture to further share it with their families andcountrymen.

Interacting with 27 youths representing eight coun-tries and visiting their homeland the first time under‘Know India Programme’ of the Union Overseas AffairsMinistry, Mr. Majithia said: "Our country has taken rapidstrides in different fields to ensure the overall develop-ment of the country. We have a major advantage of hav-ing the largest young population of the world and effortsare being made to channelize the youth power so that

we can take our country into the next orbit on the over-all development front." He said a unique feature of Indiawas its cultural diversity and hard the working Indianshad carved a niche for themselves in every field andevery nook and corner around the globe. He appealed tothe visiting delegation to share their experiences withtheir families and fellow countrymen and explain tothem the progress made by India in different fields.

Earlier, welcoming the Minister and visiting delega-tion, Dr. Amarpal Singh, Additional Secretary, NRI Af-fairs, informed that the members of the visiting delegationwere of 18 to 25 years of age and had never visited Indiaearlier though their parents or forefathers had migratedfrom here. He said it was a three-week tour and they wereon a four-day visit to Punjab being a partner state in thisendeavour. He said they had visited Patiala, Amritsar, Ja-landhar, Kapurthala and Anandpur Sahib to experiencethe rich religious and cultural heritage of Punjab. He saidthe visiting delegation comprised of youngsters fromcountries like Surinam (two), South Africa (one), France(one), Fĳi (three), Trinidad & Tobago (four), Israel (six),Malaysia (four) and Mauritius (six).

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L Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Bikram Singh Majithia with 27 young NRIs from eight countries who were on a tour of Punjab under the 'Know India' programme.

NRIs must bond withhomeland: Majithia

NRIs


Agriculture

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh has askedthe Government of India to treat agriculture atpar with national defence and not to throw thefarmer at the mercy of the sharks in the freemarket economy.

Speaking at the Agriculture Policy Leadership Sum-mit- 2013, after receiving the ‘Policy leadership award’in agriculture from Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L Joshi,Union Ministers Oscar Fernandes and Tariq Anwar andeminent agriculture economist MS Swaminathan, insti-tuted by the leading national magazine ‘AgricultureToday', Mr. Badal said: “With 70 per cent of our peopleand 53 per cent of our economy still dependent on agri-culture, it does not require an economist to know thatfood security is as important as national security from ex-ternal threats. A hungry nation cannot defend itself.Therefore, agriculture must be given strong public sec-tor support in the interest of long term stability, growth,development and prosperity.”

Warning the country against an alarming agriculturesituation, Mr. Badal cautioned against what he called “theadvocates of the tyranny of free market economy” andsaid the economic planners must beware of fake dreamssold by free market sharks. These sharks are already

flourishing at the expense of the blood and sweat of thefarmers and farm labourers. Big companies are spend-ing millions of dollars on a misinformation campaignto brainwash the planners and the people at large inorder to win favour of policies aimed not only at theexploitation of the farmers but at the virtual ruin ofour domestic economy. There is a conspiracy againstIndia’s farmers and against our self dependence in agri-culture.”

Mr. Badal said not heeding the advice of farm-economists like Dr M S Swaminathan on coveringfarmers’ costs plus 50 per cent , will take us back toeconomic slavery. This is an extremely grave issue butunfortunately, I see it being treated with utter non-se-

riousness by those who matter, said Mr. Badal.The Chief Minster said apart from remunerative

prices for agricultural produce and assured markets, theCentre must undertake a major initiative to promote agri-culture-based industry, especially food, vegetable andfruit processing in Green Revolution states.

Earlier, the citation read on the occasion hailed theChief Minister as the architect of the modern agriculturein Punjab under whose visionary leadership and direc-tion the State Government had formulated and imple-mented a number of policies and programmes inagriculture, horticulture and livestock sector. His under-standing of agriculture and rural economy and his polit-ical acumen had further helped the state in launching aseries of initiatives to better management of farm re-sources and revival of farm economy by taking a slew ofpolicy interventions, marketing support programmes, di-versification and marketing linkages of farm produce andenhanced budgetary allocations. As a result the state hadachieved sustainably enhanced growth in diversifiedagriculture production, which had enhanced returnsfrom farming and impacted the rural economy of thestate positively.

Badal gets “Agriculture Policy Leadership”AwardChief Minister cautions against free market sharks

25

Agriculture


Punjab,s economy has been surrounded

by an air of negativity in media reports in re-cent times. But before pointing fingers we mustponder if it is justified to associate all the long-standing and deep-rooted problems with the

tenure of a particular government? What Punjab needsmost is an honest and an impartial analysis.

From the historic perspective, Punjab has been at thereceiving end as it has all the disadvantages of being aborder state. It has always been a predominantly agrarianstate, earmarked specifically as the food basket of the na-tion. The resources of the state were exploited with a onepoint programme of making the nation self-sufficient infoodgrains.

While India as a whole gained a lot from this exer-cise, the gains of the state's economy became smaller andsmaller because of deterioration in terms of trade. Dueto extensive and even overuse of its natural resources, theagricultural production of the state reached a point of sat-uration. Normally, a sound agriculture is the perfectlaunching pad for the development of the industrial sec-tor and consequently, the service sector in that order. Butsadly, when the time came for Punjab to embark on itsjourney towards industrialisation, it received a heavy set-back in the form of terrorism which ravaged the state forover a decade.

Due to turbulence in the economy all the prospectiveinvestments in the industrial sector shifted to the neigh-bouring states. The net outcome was a stagnant agricul-ture sector and a bulky service sector with the industry asa missing link. Theoretically, this type of situation istermed as a problem of hypertrophy, where the servicesector expands without the complementary growth of theproductive sectors. Undoubtedly, currently the economyis caught in the vicious cycle of debt, whose roots liesomewhere in the distant past. But looking at the recentpast, it can be seen that after 2007-08 trends regarding

government expenditure have changed for the better,perhaps due to the compulsion of following the practicesof fiscal responsibility. The development expenditure hasgrown and the non-development expenditure has dippedas compared to the average rate during 2004-08. Out ofthe development expenditure the social sector expendi-ture has also increased while the state debt as a percent-age of gross domestic product has gone down from about43 per cent in 2004-08 to 32.7 per cent in 2011-12. Thebiggest point of worry, however, has been the commit-ted expenditure of the state. The committed expenditurecomprises of administrative expenditure, interest pay-ments and payments on account of pensions. This seg-ment eats into the major chunk of the governmentresources. During the last two years, though, this hascome down from 42.9 per cent in 2010-11 to 42.0 percent of revenue expenditure in 2011-12.

Incidentally, Punjab did not get any special favoursregarding the conversion of debt under this scheme.While almost the total high-cost debts of most of thestates were converted to low-cost debts, this conversionwas less than 90 per cent in the case of Punjab. Accord-ing to a study of budgets of the states, 2012-13 by the Re-serve Bank of India, Punjab needs to grow at a rate of 14per cent per annum for the next two years in order topull itself out of the morass of fiscal crisis and this targetdoes not seem to be beyond our means.

At the same time the Central Government shouldalso extend a helping hand to pull the economy out ofthe current fiscal crisis. The case of Punjab should not beviewed with the same lens as that of the other states. Itneeds to be viewed in the perspective of the direct andindirect benefits it has showered upon the national econ-omy by contributing significantly in the national foodbasket and the direct and indirect costs it has borne inremaining an agricultural state for more than fivedecades.

The author is a Professor in the Department of Economics , PunjabiUniversity, Patiala

by Dr Anupama Uppal

N

Time for Centreto pay backPunjab's farm sector sacrificed for nation's food basket

Special article

Shouts of 'Jo Bole so Nihaal.......' rent the air in the Teja Singh Samundari Hall, Amritsar, as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was unanimously elected president of theShiromani Akali Dal for the second time in succession at the delegates session of the party. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was also the unanimous choice as patron of the party.The SAD convention demanded a genuinely federal structure in the country with greater autonomy to the states. The party also demanded justice to the victims of the massacre ofinnocent Sikhs in 1984. It also expressed grave concern over the pathetic plight of the beleagured peasantry in the country.


Agriculture

Punjab to hostglobal farm summit

Punjab will host the next Global Summit onAgriculture in February, 2014. This was an-nounced by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr.Parkash Singh Badal, at the inaugural sessionof the Global Summit on Agriculture in

Ahmedabad on September 9.Mr. Badal demanded that the Commission for Agri-

culture Costs and Prices (CACP) should be declared asstatutory authority to enable it to function with full au-tonomy for making recommendations with regard to

hike in the MSP of various crops so that the farmers couldget remunerative prices of their produce. At present, theCACP was merely a recommendatory authority whichwas working under the direct influence of the UnionMinistry of Agriculture, and the final say for the fixationof MSP lies with the Centre on the further recommen-dations of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

Addressing the delegates, progressive farmers, agri-culture scientists and experts from across the world at theinaugural session of the three-day summit the Chief Min-ister lauded the efforts of his counterpart in Gujarat Mr.Narendra Modi for organising this global summit on agri-culture to highlight and find tangible solutions to theproblems of farmers and agriculture in the country. Hesaid it was indeed a very noble initiative for which Mr.Modi deserved all praise. Mr. Badal said agriculture wasthe oldest source of livelihood in the world as majority of

the population in the developing countries and a sizeablechunk of the poor throughout the world depended onagriculture. In India also 53 per cent of the populationwas still dependent on agriculture..

Underlining the need to encourage Inter-State col-laboration among industrialists and entrepreneurs inagri-business, Mr. Badal believed that there should alsobe an inter-state collaboration for the promotion of agri-culture development in the country. He said the Punjabgovernment had introduced a new investment promo-tion policy and therefore he invited all entrepreneurs andfarmers to make huge investments in Punjab. He assuredall possible help and support to the interested entrepre-neurs looking for lucrative opportunities in the agro-pro-cessing industry.

Appreciating the summit, Mr. Badal said he wouldnot only be eagerly waiting to receive the recommenda-tions of the summit but would also follow them up metic-ulously. He said the summit would prove to be amilestone in setting up new parameters for the farmers tomaximize their profits by adopting emerging farm prac-tices on scientific lines. He hoped this platform wouldoffer some concrete solutions to the problems confrontedby farmers in order to improve their economic lot. Hesaid such a forum must encourage inter-state exchangeof farmers, experts, agriculture scientists, agriculture ex-tension workers for better understanding and sharing ofexperience in the latest practices and innovations infarming.

Mr. Badal said he represented a state, which wasknown as the ‘Granary of India’. Occupying just 1.5 percent of the total area of the country, the state providedabout 50 per cent of foodgrains procured by the Govern-

A Bureau Report

N

He said Punjab’s farmers had a record of pulling

the country out of the era of food shortages. But

in the process, they had sacrificed their vital nat-

ural resources.


No Punjabi farmerwill be evicted:Modi"No Punjabi or Sikh farmer from Kutch region will be dis-

placed from Gujarat at any cost." This assurance has given by

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to his Punjab counter-

part, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who was in Ahmedabad for the

inaugural session of the Global Agriculture Summit 2013.

This assurance came during a specially convened Panchayat

meeting of the Punjabi farmers from Kutch region.

Mr. Modi further said that in 1973 a Congress government of

Gujarat had issued a circular that if any farmer from outside

purchased agricultural land in that state, he would be de-

clared a non-agriculturist, adding that the crisis faced by Pun-

jabi farmers was based totally on this circular issued by the

Congress government. However, he said that some people

were trying to malign the image of the Gujarat Government

by spreading canards that his government had adopted a dis-

criminatory attitude towards the Sikh farmers from Punjab till-

ing land in Kutch.

Modi assured Badal that although the issue was sub-judice

but his government was committed to safeguarding the in-

terests of Sikh farmers in Kutch region adding that there was

no question of their eviction from Gujarat.

Modi apprised the Chief Minister that out of 784 families set-

tled in Kutch 245 belonged to Punjab, 88 were from Gujarat

and 451 from other states like Madhya Pradesh and Ra-

jasthan.

ment of India to ensure food security. He said Punjab’sfarmers had a record of pulling the country out of the eraof food shortages. But in the process, they had sacrificedtheir vital natural resources: water and soil fertility,which had resulted in the reduction of their farm incomesubstantially. Consequently; the agriculture crisis in Pun-jab had become very acute. He said the farmers wereunder heavy debt of Rs.30,000 Crore, every farming fam-ily on an average was under a debt of Rs.2.71 lakh. Thus,we needed major investments in diversification and hadalready asked for a package of Rs.5000 cr for the green-revolution states from the Centre, but it has providedonly Rs.500 cr. which is too little and insufficient.

Dwelling on the agriculture crisis in the country, Mr.Badal said the farmers were grappling with serious crisiswhich was becoming more and more grave with eachpassing day. He attributed growth in agriculture notkeeping pace with other sectors of economy as a majorfactor. He said earlier the share of agriculture in the na-tional income was 60 per cent with the same percentageof population dependent on it. Now, the share had de-clined to 13.7 per cent whereas the dependent popula-tion continued to be nearly the same. Thus, the increasein the national income had bypassed the farmer. He fur-ther said that the small and marginal farmers who com-prise 83 per cent of the total farmers were the hardest hitby this crisis. Mr. Badal bemoaned the declining incomeof farmers, the debts of the farmers were on rise consis-tently compelling farmers to commit suicides. Putting onrecord, Mr. Badal said out of 2,71,000 suicides reported inthe country till 2011, 4700 farmers and agriculturallabourers had committed suicide in Punjab.


Obituary

Passing ofan eraA distinguished farmeconomist from Moga departs

Prof. Gurdarshan Bhalla, who died at the age of85 at his son’s home in Pondicherry on Sep-tember 13, belonged to a village in Moga andwas one of the most accomplished writers onagriculture and labour economics. His sad de-

mise has created a vacuum for academics as his life andwork touched many people around him, and for the Pun-jabi academia a loss of a patriarch.

Prof. Bhalla did his doctorate in Economics in 1963from London School of Economics. He started his teach-ing as an Associate Professor at Carleton University, Ot-tawa and later taught in Panjab University from 1969 to1975 as a colleague of Prof. Manmohan Singh. He becameChairperson of the Commission for Agriculture Costs andPrices and later a member of the Planning Commission,Government of India. He was also a founder member ofInstitute for Development and Communication (IDC),Chandigarh.

His early work, 'Performance of India Agriculture: Adistrict-wise study' co-authored with his student Prof.Y.K. Alagh, a reputed economist, was published in 1979.In 1983, he published another seminal work co-authoredwith another student Prof. G.K. Chadha on Green Revo-lution and the Small Peasant – a study of income distri-bution among the Punjab cultivators. His recent worksincluded Globalisation of Indian Agriculture, Agricul-tural Development in India and China.

His knowledge on agriculture was profound. In one ofhis works he underlines the fact that in a globalisingworld, the real challenge for the Indian farming sector isto increase its competitiveness through large-scale in-

vestments in new technology and rural infrastructure.And, it should be done with a caution that it may notdismantle food security that has been built over fourdecades. Diversification to commercial crops not at thecost of foodgrains, was his prescription. Similarly, henoted on multilateral trade agreements on agriculturethat it will make research and innovations on cultiva-tion more costly.

Prof. Bhalla was a Marxist in his academic pursuits,but had a distinct flair for empirical methodologies. Histhrust for evidence-based research sometimes exposedhim to criticism of Marxist theorists labelling him as apositivist. Prof. Bhalla was rooted in academic dialogi-cal tradition that always took criticism as part of an evo-lutionary process. In his works he tried to employMarxists premises for interpreting reality rather than touse Marxism for interpreting Marxists!

The learned life of Gurdarshan Bhalla was integral tohis personal and professional pursuits. He was a well-in-tegrated human being. He was not bound by narrowconventions of society, academia and inter-personal re-lationships. He embraced knowledge as a humble beingto make a difference. He was liberal to the extent ofbeing anti-establishment. He was secular and people-ori-ented in his lifestyle. He gave voice to movement of theteacher’s and took positions on issues of larger public in-terest. He detested neutrality in public life and lived forothers. He created a spatial connect within his house toprovide a forum for like-minded friends, colleagues andstudents.

The writer is Director IDC, &Chairman, Punjab Governace Reforms Commission

By Dr Pramod Kumar

N Prof . Gurdarshan Bhalla

31

Agriculture


For over 40 years now, ever since the Green Rev-olution began, the nation has eulogised the Pun-jab farmer. Prosperity in the state ushered inthrough intensive agriculture has been talkedabout a lot. No wonder, the story of the bygone

era somehow remains transfixed in our memory, and thatperhaps is the reason why policy-makers, economists andscientists still continue to live in the past.

For nearly two decades now, Punjab’s underbelly hasbeen gradually caving in. Excessive use of chemical fer-tilisers has turned the verdant lands poisonous, watermining has dried the aquifers leading to the expansion ofthe desert, and chemical fertilisers and pesticides haveplayed havoc with the environment and human health.

With the input prices climbing year after year and theoutput prices remaining static, Punjab farmers became avictim of the same economic policies that projected themas the country’s heroes. Agriculture has turned not onlyunsustainable but economically unviable.

Over the years indebtedness has grown to phenome-nal levels. A recent Punjab Agricultural University re-port says that as many as 89 per cent of Punjab farmhouseholds are reeling under debt. The per farm familydebt stands at a staggering Rs 1,78,934. In other words,for every hectare of land holding, the outstanding debtis Rs 50,140. In my understanding, indebtedness hasgrown still higher in the last few years. One of the mainreasons being the push for more sophisticated but un-wanted farm machinery.

Take the case of tractors. Once a symbol of prosper-ity, tractors have now turned into a symbol of suicides.With every second farm household owning a tractor,more out of prestige than necessity, the resulting in-debtedness has grown.

Mainline agricultural scientists cannot think beyondcostly equipments and chemicals.

New equipments are being introduced with regular

Punjab agriculture at crossroads

frequency. Even the World Bank- supported ‘Conserva-tion Agriculture’ which is more or less centred on zerotillage brings its own set of farm equipments. Farmers arebeing asked to purchase laser land leveller; zero tillplanters, including the second generation ‘happy seedsand ‘turbo seeders’; rotary disc drill used for intensive soilworking and of course a range of costly herbicides. Andbefore you realise the importance of these equipments,you find over 150 fabricators and entrepreneurs de-scending on your farm. All such innovations add to thecosts of the farmer.

Farm incomes continue to dwindle. As per NSSO2003-04 estimates, the average monthly income for afarm family in Punjab does not exceed Rs 3,400. No won-der, younger generation is refusing to take up farming asa profession.

Increasing crop productivity and shifting to cashcrops is the only solution that is being suggested to pr-vide more income into the hands of farmers. Still struckup in the Jurassic age, some scientist-administrators havebeen seeking policy directions to remove small and mar-ginal farmers, and hand over Punjab’s agriculture to agri-business. Already efforts have been made, without muchsuccess, to usher in corporate agriculture through thebackdoor. For instance, ‘contract farming’ was one suchapproach although it is widely known that most of theprivate companies that entered into contracts have runaway, leaving farmers in the lurch. Some studies point tonearly 65 per cent of the farmers who went into ‘con-tracts’ with private companies saying they are so disillu-sioned that they would never like to burn their fingersagain.

Still worse, the progressive farming techniques beingdisplayed, and which form part of the crop diversifica-tion plan for Punjab, are all based on water guzzling crops(essentially hybrids and GM crops). Sugarcane farmers,who follow a system on cane bonding with the mills, ac-tually are drawing 240 cm of water every year, which istwo and a half times more than what wheat and rice re-quires on an average. Rose cultivation requires 212 inchesof groundwater consumption in every acre. On an aver-age, cash crops require five to ten times more water andthree times more chemical fertilisers than what is usedin wheat and rice.

Overdose of fertilizers, unwanted latestgadgets have pushed farmers into debts

By Devinder Sharma

N


Agriculture

What Punjab needs is a new model of agriculturebased on the principles of natural resource regeneration.Instead of bringing in the industry-driven 2approach,which is an extension of the intensive-farming systemsthat has led to the present crisis, Punjab needs to take aleaf from the world’s biggest sustainable farming systembeing laid out in Andhra Pradesh. Within a span of sixyears, AP has brought in 40 lakh acres under no-pesti-cides farming. It has set a target for increasing the acreageunder sustainable farming to 100 lakh acres by 2013. Sig-nificantly, farm incomes have increased, environmenthas become much clean, pest attack has come down, andthe health expenses too have come down drastically.

At a time when Punjab’s agriculture is at the cross-roads, it needs a radically different

approach drawing from the lessons of its recent past.Here is a five-pronged strategy that can sow the seeds ofrevival of Punjab’s agriculture:

• Set up State Farm Income Commission: Increasingfarm incomes remains the top priority. Like all other sec-tions of society, farmers too should have a monthly takehome package. Ironically, the minimum monthly incomefor a peon is Rs 15,000 where as farmers get only a frac-tion of this. Therefore, instead of providing him withmore credit, which increases indebtedness, farmers tooneed assured monthly income. This cannot come frombig retail (like Walmart/Tesco) which is wrongly be-lieved to remove middlemen and thereby provide moreincome to farmers. Like in the US/Europe, farmers needdirect income support.

• Introduce Non-Pesticides Management: To beginwith, pesticides on rice need to be phased out under atime-bound programme. The International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) in the Philippines has already acceptedthat ‘pesticides use on rice was a waste of time and ef-fort”. Knowing this, the Department of Agricultureshould be directed to work out an alternative farmingsystem using biological options. Punjab needs to aggres-sively pursue the NPM farming systems being promotedunder the National Rural Livelihood Mission by the Min-istry of Rural Development. This will also impact posi-tively the health mission that the state is grappling with.

• Restore Soil health and fertility: Over the years,Punjab soils have turned sick and the organic matter hov-ers around zero per cent. Indiscriminate use and abuse ofnitrogen fertilisers has also created a huge nutrient im-balance. All efforts to induce balanced application of nu-trients have failed to make any marked improvement.This must be supplemented by a state-wide campaign torejuvenate soils utilising the available biomass and theforgotten green technologies. It should be made manda-tory for fertiliser companies to ensure green manuring,

composting and use of panchkavya and jeev amrit infarming. Only a healthy soil can produce healthy food.

• Regenerate Groundwater: Considering the water cri-sis that looms large, Punjab must shift to farming systemsthat require less water. As a matter of principle, hybridand GM crops (which require much more water) shouldbe discouraged. Instead of pushing more farm equip-ments, the effort should be directed towards promotingSystem of Rice Intensification (SRI), which does not re-quire much standing water and also does away withheavy labour at the time of transplanting. Direct seedingof rice also saves a lot of water. In addition, water har-vesting and revival of village ponds should be given in-centives. Artificial regeneration of groundwater alongborewells and wells too need adequate allocation.

• Research Priorities: Punjab Agricultural University(PAU), once the seat of Green Revolution, needs to un-dergo transformation in its research approach. So far cropvarieties were being evolved looking into its fertiliser-re-sponse, photo-period insensitivity and the application ofchemical pesticides. From inorganic crop breeding, re-search focus should now shift to organic breeding wherevarieties are developed in response to the availability ofnutrients in organic form. These varieties have also to re-spond to climate change that stares ahead. Multiple crop-ping systems, incorporating dairy cattle, need adequateemphasis. Science must cater to the changing consumerneeds rather than remain driven by industry interests.

• Farm land Acquisition: No agricultural land,whether single-cropped or multi-cropped, should be di-verted for non-farm purposes. Even in the US, fromwhere we increasingly borrow our economic policies, allefforts are to ensure that farmers do not sell off theirlands for private use. The US has brought in a Farmlandand Grazing land Protection Programme that provideseconomic support to farmers for not diverting their landfor non-agricultural use. In the 2008 Farm bill, US has al-located $ 743 million (approximately Rs 3,500 cr) tofarmers over a five-year period 2008-2012 for conservingand protecting their farm lands. Budgetary allocationmust be made for improving and conserving farm lands,and coupled with monthly income package; it would pro-vide the right kind of incentive to make agriculture prof-itable. #

(The writer is a distinguished food and agriculturalpolicy analyst, and chairman, Forum for Biotechnology &Food Security, New Delhi)

The year was1914. Madras University had an-nounced the matriculation results.KumarPadmanabha Sankara, a 16-year-old youthfrom Ottapalam in Palakkad district of pres-ent-day Kerala, was not at all shocked to see

his score. He had failed in maths. His marks in the othersubjects were prodigiously high.

The teenager had to appear before the university au-thorities for a final decision about his result. He wrote tothe then Chancellor of Madras University, who was alsothe Governor of Madras Presidency, Lord Petland.

Lord Petland met the teenager and magnanimouslygave him the required grace marks. Thus the youngSankara passed his matriculation. After his graduationfrom Madras, he did his Masters from the University ofOxford and then stood first in the 1921 batch of the ICS.He thus became an Indian topper of the heaven-bornservice of the British period.

Incidentally, the famous freedom fighter Netaji Sub-has Chandra Bose, who was Congress president in 1938and 1939, stood fourth in the batch of 1920. He reportedat Hailbrey for training, but later resigned. Kumar Pad-manabha Sankara remained there and passed out.

He served in various positions during the British rule,including Administrator of Baluchistan in 1938-40 withheadquarters at Fort Sandeman. He became Independ-ent India's first Foreign Secretary from 1947 to 1952 andlater Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Kumar Padmanabha Sankara Menon, known as KPSMenon, had married Saraswati Amma (Anuji), the

daughter of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, who was the sec-ond Indian after Lord Sinha to become a member of theViceroy's Executive Council from 1914 to 1919 and hadresigned because of the Jallianwala Bagh incident.

The Viceroy's Executive Council had six civilianmembers at that time for the entire nation. KPS Menonhad six children and one of his sons KPS Menon (junior)joined the IFS in 1950 and became India's Foreign Sec-retary in 1987.

One of his daughters Malathy married a bureaucrat ofthe 1947 batch (Mr K.P. Menon) who was India's Am-bassador in Hungary and died in service. His son ShivShankar Menon joined the IFS in 1972 and becameIndia's Foreign Secretary. Today he is the National Se-curity Adviser.

He is married to another 1947 batch officer RamDatatrey Sathe's daughter, who was India's Foreign Sec-retary in 1979-80.

One sometimes shudders to think that had Lord Pet-land not been kind to the young man from Ottapalamnand had not passed him in his maths paper; how wouldIndia have got such diplomats?

33

Rumblings


Maths of anICS topper

by R.K. KAUSHIK, IAS

N

L After his graduation from Madras, he did his Mas-ters from the University of Oxford and then stoodfirst in the 1921 batch of the ICS. He thus becamean Indian topper of the heaven-born service of theBritish period.

Heritage

The Gobindgarh Fort, a legacy of Maharaja Ran-jit Singh, is all set to return in all its glory onNovember 20, when the Punjab State TourismDepartment declares it open to the public aftercompletion of its first phase of restoration.

Work is on in full gear putting the pieces together torestore the old magic charm of the historic fort built in1790.

Located in the south-west of Amritsar, the fort occu-pies a distinctive place in Indian military history and hasbeen a mute witness to many historic events.

Gobindgarh Fort is directly connected with the mili-tary history of Amritsar and the larger territory of Pun-jab, and with Maharaja Ranjit Singh (a significant Sikhruler of the early 19rh century) who named Gobindgarh

Fort after the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Thefort was envisaged to defend the sacred city of Amritsarand Sri Harimandir Sahib (the Golden Temple).

As per chroniclers, this Fort was called Bhangian DaKila (Bhangis was one of the twelve Sikh misals) as Guj-jar Singh Bhangi was instrumental in its construction.Later in 1805-09, it was rebuilt by the Lion of Punjab,Maharaja Ranjit Singh with the help of Jodh Singh. Thelegendary Maharaja strengthened the fortification of thefort in order to keep his treasures and treaties in safety.Splendid in architecture and design, the fort houses a spe-cially constructed Toshakhana in its heart which alsostored large amount of grains and provisions for the12,000-strong army. Architecturally, this fort was con-structed with brick and lime with numerous army bas-tions and iron gates with 25 cannons on the ramparts.The fort was constructed on a square pattern with a pa-rameter of 1500 sq mtr . It features two strong gates, fourlarge bastions and a well-defined rampart.

The imposing entrance of the fort is both regal androyal. It is named after Hari SinghNalwa the Sikh general who had terror-ized the Afghans and is called Nalwagate. The other end of the gate is knownas Keelar Gate and it is rumoured that inits close proximity existed an escapetunnel, connecting to Lahore. However,the army authorities say that they hadnot been able to locate any such tunnelso far. The imposing structure of the fortwith a gilded dome was surrounded by ahigh wall. It had eight towers. The moataround it was lined with bricks. Thehuge wooden door on the eastern sidemarked the main entrance.

The implementation of the conser-

Gobindgarh Fort to regain its glory

By Ruchi Kalra

N

vation, reuse and management plan forthe fort has been divided into threephases. Work for most of phase I hasbeen accomplished. One of the key ob-jectives of this phase is to give peoplean access to a substantial part of thefort, to re-establish its severed linkswith the city and its people and restoreit to public memory. The work includesconservation and adaptive reuse ofmany of the buildings within the fortcomplex through de-vegetation and re-moval of debris from the moat, creationof landscaped courts and improved ac-cess to the innermost enclosure of thefort complex, and redevelopment offour major open spaces.

The Soft Launch is proposed afterthe completion of the first phase ofconservation and revitalization of thefort. This phase would see two-acreparking at entrance of the fort, roadfrom entrance to the fort with land-scaping, construction of moat walls,raising of four gates, north western bas-tion, rampart walls and Toshakhana.

After the proposed launch, publicwill get an opportunity for a short tour/ walk in the fort complex, witness anexhibition (venue- Darbar Hall) and aSound and Light show. It will bethrown open for three days a week.During the Fort Walk public would be accompanied bylive performers including Nihang warriors on horses andBhands / Marasis telling the tale of rise of Sikh empire/Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The walk will take the visitors ona voyage that will start from the 'Mukh Dwaar', windthrough the Nalwa gate, 'Androoni Gate' and Darbar Hallto the Toshakhana.

The Bungalow on the circular plinth will house theArms and Armoury Museum. The Conceptualisation andDesign of the Arms and Armour Museum at GobindgarhFort involves the adaptive reuse of a historical structure,termed as the Colonial Bungalow, as a museum to show-case a collection of historical arms and armour from thenorthern regions of India, dating from the period be-tween the 18th- 20th century. The North-East Bastionwill be museum on the military history of Maharaja Ran-

jit Singh. It will showcase defence equipment incorpo-rated by the Maharaja in his army. A historical narrativeshowing defence strategy of the Maharaja in decimatingAfghan rulers and preventing invasion from uncertainwestern border will also be displayed. The North-Westbastion will be the museum on the history of Punjab andSikh Light Regiments of Indian Army.

In its material, construction, layout and the philoso-phy underlying its structures, Gobindgarh fort symbol-ises the martial spirit and military ideals of Punjab. Oncethe fort is opened to the public it will prove to be a touristdelight. It is anticipated that tourist inflow will increasemanifold with its opening.

A visit to Amritsar will not be complete without avisit to this lovely fort that is an exponent of Persian andSikh architecture.


Literature&Culture

37

Literature


Punjabi translation of the complete works ofShakespeare----37 plays and two books ofpoems---has been enthusiastically received by the Punjabi speakers from Australia toCanada.

With the readers permission, I shall speak more of thecollective background of the attempt, and less of my con-tribution.

In the early 1950s optimism about nationalist recon-struction was in the air. It could be felt in the idealiststrains of politics and the hopefulness of the commonman. The students, scholars and the academic celebritieswere honestly ambitious. In this atmosphere I joinedPunjab University College, Hoshiarpur, to do my M.A. inEnglish.

By chance or fortunately there was a constellation ofenviable students----B.S. Minhas (Planning Commission),B.N. Goswami (Admin & Art), Manmohan Singh (P.M.),Faqir Chand (physicist), P.S. Khabra (British MP), Y.S.Bains (Shakespearean critic); a little younger group ofAshok Vĳ (photo-electricity), S.S. Misha (Punjabi poet)and Jagmohan Joshi (UK Naxal leader). R.P. Bambah,with his world renown, had just joined as Lecturer inMathematics to inspire the academic community.

The above-mentioned future greats were symptomaticof bestirring times. With a pinch of exaggeration it canbe said that Punjabi Shakespeare is a delayed response tothis hypnotic atmosphere.

The students of the English Department, late Amarjit

Sandhu, Bhandari, me and late S.R. Gera (Urdu poet),translated Ben Jonson's Volpone into Urdu. It was playedin the Open Air Theatre of the college. I may say one ortwo things about it. The contemporary Englishmanthought Jonson to be a greater dramatist than Shake-speare. A mixed cast was probably a new thing in the col-lege. Along with the student cast G. Mathur, Reader inEconomics, lent his acting hand to the performance. I wasin the leading role.

In the inspired days Miss A.G. Stock, acting head ofthe English Department, directed and produced two playsof Shakespeare, Macbeth and Hamlet. I was a three-partactor in Macbeth: wounded soldier, murderer and Sey-ton. In Hamlet I was promoted to be Laertes. Directionis an exasperating job. My teacher R.K. Kaul, congratu-lated me for being the only one in the teacher-studentcast not to be tongue-lashed by Miss Stock. I have giventhese details to convey that I have spent 20 years in trans-lating the complete works of Shakespeare because I had20 years to prepare myself for the job.

During my studies for M.A. I had translated Macbethinto Punjabi. My enthusiastic friends kindly listened tome for two hours. Even today I am grateful to them fortheir okay of my translation. I had earlier written twoplays 'The Tragedy of Hansun and 'Parents'. I was nothappy with my dramatic verse. They have not been pub-lished and will remain so.

I may be excused for making one or two points. Thedramatic verse of Shakespeare's times became extinct in

Punjabi hues of

Shakespeare

By Prof. Surjit Hans N

A collective background work of20 years to translate completeworks of William Shakespeare


Literature

the 17th century itself. The only exception is Shelly's play‘Cenci’ (1819). Twentieth century efforts by T.S. Eliotand Sherwood have not borne fruit. I knew this in mystudent days. The ideal of dramatic verse is to vie withspoken rhythm of popular speech and yet be able toachieve classic versatility. Speed, pace and emphatic vol-ume should be no problem. The translators of Shake-speare, unaware of the over-arching importance ofdramatic verse, chose one of the metres available in thenative language. Their effort is laudable, but such a trans-lation would not be stage-worthy. What Eliot and Sher-wood struggled to discover, would not be foundreadymade in Punjabi or Hindi.

There are probably historic reasons for the inventionof a metre but, as yet, they are not known. In the lastquarter of the 18th century 'bait' in Punjabi got invented,and eminently used by WarisShah. Why has it lost its vitality inthe present ?

Seyton, I am such at heart,when Macbeth, I behold---Seyton, I say !---This push willcheer me ever or dessert me now

V. 272. 19-21The Punjabi translator and its

working can be seen in the Punjabiversion of the article in Jagriti. Theknowhow is probably too elaborateto be conveniently conveyed to theEnglish reader.

I had to practice Punjabi dra-matic verse for a time resulting inwriting of the Pushtan trilogy---apsychological history of three gener-ations. Jiona Maur is a play about mygrandfather's time embodying the so-called traditional mind and environ-ment. The second is Nauhari (service)when Maur's elder son joins theBritish army; the youngster is a free-dom fighter. The post-Independencegeneration is dealt with in Sahib, the burgeoning indus-trialist with loss of ideals. The trilogy was published in1968. I added the fourth generation play Harĳan aboutthe Naxal response.

During my seven-year stay in England, I had the op-portunity of getting acquainted with the English drama.I joined the Royal Shakespeare Club. I am sorry a num-ber of newspapers have mistakenly reported that I wasacting in the company. The members were favoured intwo ways. They were informed of the coming dramaticperformances before the public, they could buy tickets,

too. Secondly the play was performed for the benefit ofmembers only a day before it was open to the public. Theidea was that the members should be able to respondwithout being overwhelmed by the reviews. Only liveperformances would let you feel how acting is immenselydependent on the rhythm, pace and articulation of thedramatic verse.

I saw two versions of Macbeth. One kept Macbeth'spoetic nature intact, the other reduced him to a criminalonly. I think it was Paul Schofield who underwent thisdirection and resigned later. One could feel redeemed tohave witnessed Dorothy Tutin as Rosalind in As You LikeIt. Peter Brook's Troilus and Cressida was an achievementof the 20th century.

Luckily in the period the RSC used to hold WorldTheatre festivals---just like DramaOlympics. A Japanese company madethe dolls act; then strings were pulledby stage-hands. One could see the levelof craftsmanship when the dollthreaded a needle.

The Italian ‘A Servant of Two Mas-ters’ was a union of circus and drama.A master complains of tasteless food;his plate gets thrown on the table ofthe other master; equally his plate isairily transferred for the enjoyment ofthe first. Only this particular com-pany could perform the play.

A Czech play was performed likea ballet because it was set to music.An actor's gesture, his movement,department could not go beyond thenotes. Yet the actors had to conveyspontaneity.

A black American company hada play about racial discrimination.Incidently, the spectators werefewer than usual. This did not dis-appoint the cast; it became expres-

sively more vigorous on the contrary. The audience itselfconveyed the message of the play. For the first time inmy experience, the managerial staff asked the audience tooccupy the seats nearer the stage. I didn't change mine.Reason ? During a performance the actors necessarily spiton the seats in front of the stage.It would have been dis-graceful if I didn't take interest in Shakespeare despitethis.

A Zula performance of Macbeth, called ‘Umabatha’ inZulu, was the last straw. In it dialogue, dance, song andfighting had such seemless transitions that the playlooked and sounded one rounded whole. The whole of

39

Literature


England was swept off its feet. Reviewers were unani-mous that the English stage hardly reached such heights! As a Punjabi wrathful peasant declares before an en-counter----does the other think we are dead ! I reachedfor my pen.

In the development of a language, popular participa-tion matters the most. In the 15th century English Mid-land, a locality started the use of auxiliary 'do' and 'did'.Earlier, it was 'not goes' and 'not went'. In the lastdecades of the 16th century '--tion' ending for abstractnouns displaced the Latinized form. The whole of thecountry appeared to be making the English language.

A language hardly develops with the 'service' of in-dividuals. Service and martyrdom are highly praisewor-thy and ambitious. But they are also pointers to failure. Itis business and exchange which ensures the success of lit-erature and language. Between 1592 and 1603 the detailsof English drama are: 280 plays were performed; in 1629London had 17 playhouses, while Paris had one play-house.

During the period, England exported wool to thewhole of Europe as a results of earlier 'Enclosure' move-ment. Only in the richest country of Europe hordes ofbeggars could be seen. A dialectic of development.!

Shakespeare knew of the future greatness of the Eng-lish drama. According to Zassius How many ages henceshall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn,and accents yet unknown.....Julius Caeser III. z. 111-13.

At this stage I should inform the reader of the busi-

ness success of the Publication Bureau of Punjabi Uni-versity, Patiala. A proud privilege, Rishis in ancient Indiahad seen the Saraswati flowing. Later some of them sawits dry bed. But none of the sages had seen it drying. Justlike this the officials of the university witnessed theprogress of the Publication Bureau but none was aware ofits becoming the only self-sufficient Publication Bureauin the country. Only self-sufficiency could ensure thepublication of 39 volumes of Punjabi Shakespeare.

The Head of the Publications Bureau, late HazaraSingh, had Ph.D. degrees both in Punjabi and Hindi. Hepreferred the responsibilities of the Publication Bureauto academic assignments. With his efforts in the year1971 the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcast-ing gave Punjabi University the first prize in printing.

The Publication Bureau of the university has playedthe most important role in making Punjabi Shakespearea reality,

After the economic support of the Publication Bu-reau, I should acknowledge the academic support re-ceived by the project of Shakespearean translation. ProfY.S. Bains is an acknowledged authority in Shake-spearean textual criticism. Textual criticism is deemed tobe the highest value in literary criticism. My readersprobably do not know that the English do not like theEnglish to mess up their Shakespeare. It was his being anAmerican Canadian academic, that made his entry in therarified field possible. During my translation of Shake-speare, I left all my doubtful difficulties to his betterjudgement.

An example of popular, friendly support for PunjabiShakespeare was late Principal M.S. Johal, Resistrar ofGuru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and later Secre-tary to the Vice-Chancellor of Punbjabi University, Pa-tiala. He proof-read the translation of the Four Tragedies.It is rare to find such a well-placed proof-reader of a pub-lication.

After the collective support I may mention my per-sonal conntribution. I was not rich enough to buy theArden editions of Shakespeare's plays and poems in onego. Nor was I sure if it was possible. I am ever-lasting be-holden to friends for their generous help in making mycollection. They are lake S.K. Batra, late K.S. Purewal,R.S. Dhillon alias Dhiro, Ranjit Dhillon, Deputy Leader ofLabour Party in Ealing Council, and Prof Y.S. Bains.

Punjabi Shakespeare was lucky enough to benefitfrom the patronage of five Vice-Chancellors----Prof J.S.Puar, Dr J.S. Ahluwalia, Mr N.S. Rattan and Dr JaspalSingh. Such a long spell of fortune is uncanny.

For me the publication of Punjabi Shakespeare wasalso an occasion of sorrow. How I wish if Ba'ji, MissStoch, Kaul Sahib and M.S. Johal were alive.

Prof. Surjit Hans


Book Review

The book is about the eternal quest for ahome.This is what drives the protagonistDave (short for Davinder) from place toplace. Throughout the novel, he is trying tosettle down in a place which feels like home.

He moves from Chandigarh to America, comes back toChandigarh, relocates to Delhi, goes back to Chandigarhagain, immigrates to Canada, then comes back toChandigarh again. But this quest continues as he does notfeel at home even in his hometown. Ultimately, it is in analien land--Canada---that Dave is finally able to set up a"home"

Strangely, home for him has nothing to do with geo-graphical boundaries or the concept of a homeland. Hispersonality is such that he can feel at home only in aplace where no one cares about him and where he caresfor no one.

This is NRI author Amarjit Sidhu's first novel andseems to mirror his own life's journey. He is unable tomaintain a creative distance from his central character.Both seem one. And since the author has created Davein a slightly exaggerated version of himself, he ensuresDave is wealthy, well educated and conforms to society'smorals and ethics. But this is also peppered with an arro-gance that can sometimes be seen in those who have itall. "Dave has no desire to mingle with the ordinary", as-serts the author, "he is born to please, he is not self-cen-tred."

Like the author, Dave’s life too is coloured by thesame experiences. He too is a “turbaned” Sikh who haslived in different parts of the world -- America, Canada

and Delhi at the timeof 1984 riots. Twice,he was “almostpicked up” by CRPFmen who thought hewas a Sikh militant since he was “wandering aimlessly”.Like many Sikhs post-1984, Dave also hates the Congressand Gandhis and makes it quite clear.

He makes his political affiliations obvious too. Afterall, in 1984, it is an RSS man who saves him from “theHindu mob that was escorted by cops” during the “engi-neered carnage”. Even “Doordarshan, the state-ownedchannel,” says Dave, “had little to offer besides the usualnews glorifying Mrs Gandhi and her family”. Later, it wasthe BJP government that “understood” what the Sikhshad suffered during the 1984 turbulence.

There is a gallery of other characters too in the novelbut they serve no real purpose. No one matters to Dave;he doesn’t relate to his parents or friends, and even staysaway from any romantic liaisons.

An ordinary read, with patches of brilliant realism.Not a great piece of literature but nevertheless, a good so-cial commentary.

Homealone, always

No Way HomeBy Amarjit SidhuPenguinRs 299, 252 pages

By Raman Kumar N

41

Fiction


Savita Devi is in a fix today. It is the day her onlyson, Sukhdev, is getting married, but she is moreworried about her 15-year-old daughter. Shouldshe let her go through what she herself had un-dergone more than two decades ago? Will Reena

be another Savita?While Savita oversees the arrangements, dressed in a

faux silk orange sari, wearing gold-plated silver jewellery,she is torn apart by the conflict that is eating into her.Reena is the youngest of her three children. BetweenSukhdev and Reena is Rani, 19, married into a nearby vil-lage and with a one-year-old daughter.

Savita arranges marigold flowers at the main entranceof the house, and her mind darts back to her own wed-ding, 23 years ago, when she too was 15. Her father wasa rich farmer in Sisana, a village near Sonepat. She wasnever sent to school, nor were her brothers. Most of thegirls in the neighbourhood used to wonder how, in spiteof being a girl, Savita wasn't made to feel unwanted. Theythought of Savita's life as that of a princess in contrast totheirs, where they had to cook, clean, sweep and do theother menial tasks – and were served leftovers after themales in the family were fed.

All was fine till Savita turned 15 and a bride could notbe found for her eldest brother who was 25. The familywas worried. They had three more sons to marry off in avillage where most girls did not survive beyond a fewweeks. The elders had suggested a way out – bride barter.Savita was to be given away in order to buy a bride for

BrideBarterA short story

her brother.“How I wish they had understood what they were

getting me into,” Savita muttered to herself, still arrang-ing marigold flowers. Just then, Reena came runningwith two pairs of earrings in her hands. “Ma, which oneshall I wear tonight?” she asked, visibly breathless andexcited. “Ma, tell me, na. You are only worried aboutBhai. You don't care about me. It's not just his marriagetonight, it's mine as well … Ma! Ma!” she almostscreamed.

Marriage! The very mention of Reena's marriagejolted Savita back to the present. She smiled at the 15-year-old's innocence, and selected a pair for her thatmatched well with the wedding sari she was going towear tonight.

O god! Savita thought. How similar their lives were –- getting bartered at 15 so that the elder brother couldget a wife, the same innocence, the same excitement …and the same pink sari. Like the 23t-year-old sari, 23-year-old memories came back to Savita. Within a week ofthe elders embarking upon the bride barter plan, thingswere fixed for both Savita and her brother. There was thisfamily from the neighbouring village that one of herseven uncles had found – they needed a groom for their19-year-daughter and more desperately, a bride for theson, Ramesh, who had turned 38.

And that is how 15-year-old Savita became SavitaDevi. “Why do they fix devi to a woman's name aftermarriage? Is it because it gives everyone else a licence toextract sacrifices out of her?” she had asked her mother ayear after her marriage. The excitement had waned bythen, and she was beginning to understand what she hadbeen pushed into.

Did her mother also feel the dilemma Savita was feel-ing today, to be giving away her young daughter to get a

(This story has been nominated forthe Laadli Media Awards.)

By DIVYA. A N


Fiction

wife for her son? Have all the other women who havedone this felt equally torn between their son's happinessand their daughter's future?

“Ma, Reena is almost ready for the haldi ceremony.Where shall I make her sit? With Bhaiya in the aangan orin the room inside?” This time it was Rani's voice thatbrought Savitha back to the present.

Making Reena sit outside, in the aangan, would ex-pose her. Sukhdev's marriage was the main show, hermarriage had to be kept discreet. “Is this a question toask? I hope you remember what happened during Rinki'swedding last month. Her poor parents had to spend anight in jail and call off the wedding as well. Now, whowill marry that unfortunate girl?” she almost snapped atRani.

Then, cooling down a bit, added, “These days, the col-lector has become very strict against marrying off minors.And, what about those nari sanstha women? Uff, theyhave to get into everybody's family problems and givebig lectures. As if we don't know! Aren't we concernedabout our own children? They should step into our shoesand realise how it feels to see your grown-up son remainwithout a wife till so late in his life. And we are poor peo-ple; we can't buy brides from Assam and Kolkata by pay-ing lakhs of rupees”.

Rani understood her mother's predicament. What ifher daughter had to be given away in case a boy from thefamily couldn't find a bride? What would she do? She hadno answer. Fortunately, her own marriage had happenedin normal circumstances. Although once, when she was14, it looked like the family would marry her off, butafter the intervention of her schoolteacher, they agreedto wait till she turned 18. Despite that, she was marriedoff a year earlier and delivered her little one a monthafter her 18th birthday.

Could some schoolteacher convince her parents, es-pecially her father, not to marry off her younger sister atthe age of 15 to facilitate Sukhdev bhaiya's marriage?“First you kill girls, and then, when you don't find bridesfor your sons, you sacrifice the ones that survive”, She al-most shuddered at her own conclusion. Her in-laws alsowanted her to abort the foetus when they found out shewas carrying a girl. But since doctors had advised againstit, saying it would be unsafe for Rani, they had relented.

Just then, Reena came out dressed in a yellow salwar-kameez. Savita smiled at her and took her inside for thehaldi.

Inside the other room, Ramesh was busy sipping teaand talking to the guests about how happy he was. Today,

he would heave a sigh of relief after fulfilling the re-sponsibility of marrying off all his three children, espe-cially the two daughters, he was also happy that he didn'thave to spend a pie as dowry on Reena's marriage, as op-posed to Rani's marriage, when he had to pay Rs 20,000hard cash to the groom's family.

“Yes, Ramesh babu, you are lucky,” remarked Kam-lesh, his distant cousin who had come from the neigh-bouring village. Girls of marriageable age were so few inKamlesh's village that his two sons were married to thesame girl. He had no daughter in the family to barter.

Listening to all this made Savita cringe. But she could-n't think of a way out either. She had tried to convinceSukhdev's in-laws that she would marry both her son anddaughter on the same day but would delay the girl'sbidaai till she turned 18. But everybody had laughed ather idea.

Sukhdev's mother-in-law had responded: “Behenji,you know well that I am getting old. Since we are givingaway Rekha, I need someone to help me in daily house-hold chores. And what is it that you don't know. Our sonis already 29. It's time we should see the face of ourgrandchildren.'

That was the fear which was topmost on Savita's mind– the pressure to bear progeny as soon as you enter yourin-laws' house. She herself had conceived two monthsafter her marriage. She remembered how she used to beso scared of Ramesh for what he did to her body everynight. And when she mustered up courage one day andconfided in her mother, she had said: “He is your hus-band. Now, don't talk such things to anyone ever again.”

Did her mother not understand her? Was she so hard-ened by society that she couldn't think about her daugh-ter's feelings? Savita had always wrestled with thatthought.

The final moments were nearing. After the haldi rit-uals, Reena took a bath and came out of the bathing areain a pink petticoat and blouse – shivering, coy and blush-ing. Savita's heart skipped a beat. No, she couldn't let thishappen. Giving away a daughter to buy a daughter-in-law was fine – at least, it was better than buying a bridefor money – but giving away a small girl to buy happinessfor her aging son was not.

And who would know it better than me. I have my-self suffered it; it would be a big shame if I would do it tomy own daughter now. Clutching the pallu of her sari,she decided. She will talk to Ramesh and save her daugh-ter. She will insist on delaying the bidaai. And if thatdoesn't work, she will inform Reena's teacher.

Punjabi 'Qissa' topAsian film

Director Anup Singh’s Punjabi film 'Qissa' was voted the bestAsian film at the 36th Toronto International Film Festival onSunday. It was the first time that any Punjabi film had enteredthe world’s top film festival. A jury from the Network for thePromotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) voted Qissa as its choice

for the NETPAC Award for World Asian Film Premiere.The jury comprising Jay Jeon (Korea), Intishal Al Timini (Abu Dhabi)

and Freddie Wong (Hong Kong) said, “The NETPAC Award for the bestAsian film at Festival 2013 goes to Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, for its sen-sitive portrayal of the issues of identity and displacement that affect peoplenot only in India, but in all parts of the world and for brilliance of cinematiccraft and the choice of metaphor that has been employed to tell a movingstory that is bound to provoke thoughts, spark debate and give its viewers anintense experience.’’

Reacting to the news of the award, Anup Singh said, “Today is my wed-ding anniversary and my wife had just tucked away a bottle of champagneinto the fridge when I had the phone call from my producer.’’

“My producers, my cast — Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Rasika Dugal andTillotama Shome, and the international crew of this film all gather with meto give thanks to the people of Punjab who so lovingly and generously sup-ported us in the making of this film.”

'Qissa' which was the first-ever Punjabi film to enter the Toronto In-ternational Film Festival, is the story of a Sikh refugee Umber Singh who isdisplaced from his village near Rawalpindi by the Partition of India in 1947.As Umber Singh tries to rebuild his life after displacement to India, the lossof his home and identity unleashes forces within him that turn him againstothers and himself and his family.

According to Anup Singh, who is based in Switzerland, the film has beenin the making for 12 years.He says the film resonates with the the life jour-ney of his family.

With his slow but perfect Punjabi, Irrfan Khan has brilliantly played therole of Umber Singh in the film.

Many films chosen by Toronto film festival audiences have gone on tosweep the Oscars, including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire which, in-terestingly, also featured Irrfan Khan in the role of a police inspector.


With the determination andbravery of Jhansi ki Rani, she startedwalking towards her husband. I willdo it, come what may. She is mydaughter, she needs to be protectedfrom this atrocity. Even if Rameshkills me today, I will do it, she re-peated to herself as she proceeded to-wards the courtyard, where he wasnow receiving the guests.

She was just about to step outside,when she heard whistling andsinging from Sukhdev's room. Thewould-be groom sounded overjoyedat the prospect of finally finding abride. She stood there for a moment,trying to look inside from the win-dow slit. The twenty-seven-year-oldwas dancing like a teenager – freshlyshaven, his new clothes strewn allover the cot, spraying perfume on hisarmpits.

Savita froze. O god! What was Igoing to do? I have to think about myson also. How can I ruin his happi-ness? She went back to the room andstarted helping Reena with drapingthe pink sari.

This short story came out ofDivya’s experience of travelling tovillages in Haryana to report onwomen-centric issues

____________________________Bride Barter’ by

Divya A was first published in Out ofPrint an online magazine for writingconnected to the South Asian sub-continent. The story is reprintedwith the permission of the journaland the author. Out of Print may beread athttp:// outofprintmagazine.co.in.

Divya A is a Delhi-based journal-ist, who is working with The IndianExpress. Prior to this, she has workedwith The Times of India, and thestory is inspired by one of her report-ing assignments.

Films

Irfan Khan as Umber SinghIrfan Khan as Umber Singh

Jagjit Singh, just the name of this ghazal maestro wasenough to excite his legions of fans.There was amagic in Jagjit Singh's voice, he held the audience inthe palm of his hand as he regaled them with ghaz-als intertwined with jokes, anecdotes and improvi-

sations.The Ghazal king who's voice acted as a soothing balm

to his countless fans died on September 10, 2011 in Mum-bai. Born to a Sikh couple in Sri Ganganagar on February8, 1941, Jagjit received early education in Khalsa HighSchool, Sri Ganganganagar. But the singer shifted to Pun-jab where he did his graduation from DAV College, Ja-landhar. This is from where his journey into the ghazalworld began.g

The death of Jagjit Singh came as a big loss to his col-lege friends, classmates and other associates who recalledthe time they spent with him at DAV College in Jaland-har..

"The recess time in the college used to be a treat forus because during this time the then principal of the col-lege, late Suraj Bhan, after reading instructions for thecollege students, used to request Jagjit Singh to sing inthe recess," recalled Ram Prakash, a retired engineer,who was a year junior to Jagjit Singh.

He said it was Suraj Bhan, who encouraged JagjitSingh's interest in music.

It is also learnt that Jagjit Singh chose DAV College,Jalandhar, since the principal of the institution waivedhostel and tuition fees for talented musicians.

Jagjit Singh made the common man's drawing room adarbar. Yes, he brought the ghazal out of the confines ofthe silver screen and aristocratic mehfils into the warmthof the middle class home.

The ‘King of Ghazals’, whose career boasted a reper-toire comprising 50 albums, has sung in several lan-guages, including Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Nepali.

In 1976, he came out with his first album The Unfor-gettables, a collection of semi-classical Indian music. Thealbum, which broke many records, was a departure fromthe prevalent style of ghazal rendition.

Following that the singing duo comprising Jagjit andhis wife Chitra Singh, released successful albums includ-

ing Ecstasies,A Sound AffairandPassions. Jagjitalso gave voice to classic numbers like “Kal ChaudhavinKi Raat”, “Honthon Se Chhoo Lo Tum”, “Woh KaaghazKi Kashti”, “Chitthi Na Koi Sandesh”, “Tum Itna JoMuskura Rahe Ho”, “Yeh Daulat Bhi Le Lo, Yeh ShohratBhi Le Lo”, “Tumko Dekha Toh Ye Khayal Aaya”, “JhukiJhuki Si Nazar”, “Hoshwaalon Ko Khabar Kya” and“Kiska Chehra”.

Jagjit Singh, who started his journey in the film in-dustry as a music composer with Prem Geet in 1981,composed some hit music for films like Arth and SaathSaath in the 80s. But he did not have a good opinionabout today’s Bollywood music. “It lacks profound po-etry and soulful tunes," he added.

Jagjit Singh acknowledged Pakistani legend MehdiHassan to be his inspiration and felt that the ghazal sce-nario in India was degrading as it lacked good song-writ-ers and passionate singers.

According to poet Nida Fazli:“After Mehdi Hasan, ifanyone knew how to present the misra, it was JagjitSingh.”

"It seems Ghalib bequeathed to him not just the store-house of his writing, but also the temperament of theghazal." said poet director and lyricist Gulzar.

At the birth of his son Vivek (Baboo) in 1971, JagjitSingh said:“We were not well off then, but I felt as if Iwas the richest man in the world.”

The loss of his son in a road accident was a turningpoint in his life. He felt as if life’s very purpose had dis-appeared. He stopped singing for one month, but then hetook up the tanpura and began his riyaz again.

Horrifyingly enough, Jagjit had to shoulder yet an-other tragedy when Chitra’s daughter Monica, from anearlier marriage, committed suicide.

Jagjit Sigh could have become an embittered lonerwith the cards life dealt him, but instead he chose to soarto new heights of artistry.

As Nida Fazli sums up the late singer's voice: "It hasthe sweetness of the mother, the beauty of a father’s love,the tenderness of a deep relationship and is like a sooth-ing ointment upon one’s wounds. It comes to you, andwithout taking anything, goes away.”

By Donald Banerjee N


Luminary

“Honthon Se Chhoo Lo Tum...”

The common man’s ghazal king

Jagjit Singh

Consistency pays. What better example couldone give to such steadiness than RonjanSodhi, the ace double-trap shooter from Pun-jab, who received the Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna, India's highest sports award, from the

President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 31. Many experts feel that Sodhi should have got this cov-

eted award in 2011 when he occupied the world numberone position. Yes, his achievements in 2010 were a goldmedal in the World Cup shooting a perfect 50-50 fol-lowed by a gold medal in the Asian Games the same year.His perfect score in the World Cup was a rare feat as heshot down 50 clay birds in as many shots.

Anyway this 33-year-old Ferozepore-born aceshooter does not put it in as many words, but he has beenquoted as saying: “I have been consistent for the past fewyears and all these talks that I should have got the awardearlier is really not important right now. Even though Igot it late, having one in the kitty will not hurt .”

Though Sodhi’s form in 2012 where he failed to makethe shotgun final was not anything near his stellar per-formances in the years before, the 33-year-old clinchedthe coveted honour by virtue of winning the Silver at theWorld Cup Final in 2012, beating Olympic medalists onhis way to the podium. He is the only Indian to win ahat-trick of medals at the elite season ending event.

Although Ronjan was third time lucky, it was noteasy sailing. In fact it was a close affair for the shot gun-ner as paralympics silver medallist H.N. Girisha andwomen's discus thower Krishna Poonia were also in thefray. His past performances must have come into play inthe end as the selection committee headed by PadmaBhushan and former billards world champion Michael

Steady Sodhi

traps

Khel Ratna

45

Sports



Ferreira unanimously recommended Sodhi for the pres-tigious award for the year 2012-13.

Sodhi was the first to be feted, getting a medal, cita-tion and cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh. The 33-year-old be-came the seventh recipient of the Khel Ratna award afterAbhinav Bindra (2001-02), Anjali Bhagwat (2002-03),Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004-05), Manavjit SinghSandhu (2006-07), Gagan Narang (2010-11) and VĳayKumar (2011-12).

Ronjan started out as a Trap shooter at an early agebut then switched to Double Trap to avoid a clash withhis younger brother Birendeep.

From a promising junior Ronjan very soon progressedinto the National Double Trap team alongside Ra-jyavardhan Singh Rathore and Moraad Ali Khan.

Ronjan’s big ticket shooting career took off in 2007 atthe Santa Domingo World Cup in 2007 where he won aBronze medal, his first big medal.

After that there was no looking back and at Belgradein 2008 prior to the Beĳing Olympic games, Ronjansmashed the world record en-route to Gold. Howeverthat was not enough for him to book a ticket to theOlympic games as the qualifying spots or quota placeswere over by then.

Ronjan was crowned Asian champion in 2009 andwas also a finalist at the Shotgun World championships.This is when he was conferred with the Arjuna Award.

Ronjan won a silver at the 2012 World Cup Final,thus achieving a hat-trick of medals at the elite seasonending competition. He is the only Indian to win threeconsecutive medals at the event.

Ronjan is a DSP in the Punjab Police and is married tointerior designer Ruchika Sodhi. They have a four-year-old son Suryaveer.

Ronjan Sodhi


Health

Fat gets accumulated in the hips resultingin increase in the angle between the hip

and knee joint. This exerts more loads on theknee. To make matter worse osteoporosis setsin after menopause increasing the fragility of thebones.

Symptoms:l Pain/ Swelling and restricted move-ment.l Crackling sound in the joint.l “Gel phenomenon” i.e. stiffness with

rest and inactivity that resolves within a feminutes ofactivity.

l Locking due to intra-articular loose bodies from de-generative pieces of cartilage sheinto the joint.

l Deformities e.g. bow legs.lPain increases just before rains as nerve endings are

sensitive to pressure i.e. respond to drop of pressurewhich occurs before rains. Patient with knee arthri-tis can predict rain.

Treatment:l Reduction in body weight is an extremely desirable

component in alleviating pain in knee arthritis. In-crease in body weight of one kilogram puts six timesmore load on the knee joint.

l Knee braces/ supports to provide stability to the joint. l Sports shoes, which can absorb impact shock. l Walking on soft regular surface with aid e.g. cane in

Knee arthritis–early cure can prevent knee-replacement

Knee arthritis sets in with advanc-ing age; those affected usually ini-tiate treatment with analgesics toalleviate pain. This is also supple-mented with cartilage rebuilding

drugs vis-à-vis glucosamine/diacerein. How-ever, the effect of these drugs tapers off aftersome time and may produce side effects e.g. Hyperacid-ity. As is the trend, individuals have a tendency to livewith pain post arthritis rather than taking appropriatemeasures in time.

Knee arthritis occurs due to degenerative changes inthe cartilage, bones, synovium etc. Cartilage becomesthin and roughens, synovium swells producing extra fluidthereby swelling the joint. Muscles weaken/ thin out andget wasted leading to a feeling of “give away”.

Due to these changes the space between the bonesparticularly on the inner side of joint decreases leading toreduction in mobility of knee joint. This results in crack-ling sound of the joint, locking etc.

Pain in knee arthritis is due to inflammation of thesynovium, from diminished blood flow, stretching of thenerve endings, small fractures under cartilage etc.

Obese females are more vulnerable to knee arthritis.

One knee to chest

By Dr Ravinder Chadha N

Straight leg raise Hamstring

stretch Calf stretch

47

Your Stars


the opposite hand.l Hyaluronic acid injections dramatically alleviate the symptoms of pain,

stiffness etc. Mechanism of action is by cushioning of the knee joints, byanti-inflammatory role and stimulation of production of Hyaluronan.These injections are available in pre-filled syringes and recommendeddose is one injection per week for three or five injections.

l Individuals having knee pain, difficulty in walking/ jogging should switchover to non weight bearing activities like cycling, swimming etc.

Exercises— Muscles and ligaments hold the knee together therefore it ismandatory to stretch and strengthen the muscles on the front and back ofthigh vis-à-vis (Quadriceps and Hamstring).The following exercises are very useful:l Knee to chest: Sitting against the wall, place hands over the shin and bend

the leg toward the chest. Repeat ten times.l Sitting against the wall, lift the affected leg six inches above the floor and

stay for a count of ten. Repeat ten times.l Hamstring stretch: Lying on back, raise one leg and hold back of knee

with both hands. Pull the thigh and feel the stretch at the back of thigh.Hold for a count of twenty and repeat five times.

l Knee press: Place a pillow or a rolled towel under the knee. Press theknee downwards without moving the knee. Repeat fifteen times.

l Calf Stretch: While sitting, loop a towel around the ball of foot. Pull thetowel toward body while keeping the knee straight. Hold this positionfor a count of ten then relax. Repeat five times.Osteoarthritis of the knee If not managed early and properly can lead to

disability and depression. Treatment is effective if initiated during the earlystage of arthritis and exercise regime conscientiously adhered to. Total kneeReplacement is becoming

popular as most of the patients neglect the early signs of arthritis and tryto treat it with medication only. Working out, using it and staying activeseems to be the key.

These symptoms, of course, are exacerbated by excess weight that is soeasy to put on as the years go by. Age has an effect on unused muscles. As onegets older, muscles can get smaller and weaker.

Dr. Ravinder Chadha is a former physio-therapist of the Indian cricketteam and can be contacted at 2702929 and on email [email protected]

Knee press Calf stretch

Monthly Forecast forOctober’2013By: Dr. PremKumar Sharma(Astrologer,Palmist, Nu-merologist &Vastu Consult-ant)Email:[email protected] Url: http://www.premastrologer.com Contact: Panchkula: +91-172-2562832, 2572874Delhi: +91-11-26449898, 26489899Mumbai: +91-22-26398641

Aries: If you are in two mindsabout a situation, be patient for afew weeks and you will be able

to reach to a more accurate overview ofthe state of affairs. You shall manage tokeep up with others on the professionalfront through your own efforts. You arelikely to get the approval you have beenseeking so desperately. Good earningwill make you think of innovative waysto invest or put your dreams into action.There is a risk of losing the affections oflover, if you are not careful. Stars adviseyou to not to neglect family or romanticcommitments. Getting hooked to junkfood can play with your health. LuckyNo.: 7, Lucky Color: Brown

Taurus: Increasing work pres-sures and other issues may leaveyou with little time for loved

ones. You need to stop being compla-cent and make time for close friends andfamily. A financial crunch will need tobe tackled head on. Being a chooseyeater has its benefits, as it keeps you inshape. Someone close from abroad mayarrive and brighten the home front.Those on a long journey will be able tomake good time. Last week of themonth would be lucky for investment ina commercial property. Lucky No.: 9,Lucky Color: Red


Your Stars

Gemini : Family discussions willbe productive and you will be ableto build a consensus on important

issues. Some of you may be thinking ofstarting a home improvement project. Adip in performance at work is likely to benoticed by higher ups if you don’t stopbeing lazy. Those with a creative bent ofmind can feel a bit frustrated due to lackof recognition but don’t worry this phasewill soon pass. Financial constraints canforce you to let go a good bargain. Newinitiatives or business ventures are likelyto succeed. Social engagements will keepyou busy in the second half of the month.

Lucky No.:8 Lucky Color: Magenta

Cancer : If you are looking forsome lucrative and paying assign-ments, this may be your lucky

month. Good financial management maysee you more than comfortable on themonetary front. Some of you are likely toresume your exercise regimen to comeback in shape. Those new on the job mayfind it difficult to get the hang of thingsinitially, but this is nothing to get dis-heartened about. Despite delegating taskson the home front, supervision may berequired. You will make special efforts toremain politically correct. Lucky No.: 1,Lucky Color: Sea Green

Leo: Your acumen can find busi-ness traversing an upward path.If you need to take calculated

risks, make sure you hedge your bets.Those suffering from lifestyle diseasesshould not let up on precautions. Doingyour own thing at home without inter-ruptions seems difficult, so plan an alter-native venue. A close friend is likely togive you good professional advice. This isa good time to spend with lover andstrengthen your loving bonds. Success isforetold for students appearing in inter-views. Be discreet and restrained as youractions can be misinterpreted especiallywhen socializing. Lucky No.: 5, LuckyColor: Orange

Virgo: Be careful with finances,study the bigger picture andlong term trends before making

any investment decisions. Focus on

health especially in the first half of themonth else a neglected body ailment canaggravate. Your balanced approach atwork will endear you to seniors and sub-ordinates alike. A family member’s deci-sion may not be to your liking and cancause friction at home; exercise caution.Love is in the air and is likely to encour-age you to sally forth on the romanticfront. Lucky No.: 4, Lucky Color: White

Libra: Networking with thehigher ups will help you up-grade your profile and give you

new opportunities. Some of you areabout to discover the fun element of ex-ercising. Regular practice will pay richdividends for some in a professional com-petition. An excellent time with familyand friends is indicated. A journey to adistant place can get you all excited. Anew employee will meet all your expec-tations and take most of the workload offyour shoulders. Good advice will workwonders for a family member. It wouldbe better to invest in a commercial prop-erty than a residential one if planning outsomething this month. Lucky No.: 11,Lucky Color: Golden

Scorpio : Don’t make any com-mitments without verifying thefacts. Take a second opinion es-

pecially before investing your hardearned money in the stock market. Thosetravelling abroad are assured of a memo-rable experience. Your suspicions aboutlover will be unfounded and this willcome as a big relief to you. Your helpinghand to someone in need will be greatlyappreciated. . Shifting into a new house isindicated for some. Health needs care.Lucky No.: 5, Lucky Color: Violet

Sagittarius :Don’t give into emo-tional impulses in case of dis-agreements; state your views and

leave it at that. A family get-togethermay not prove as exciting as anticipated.Family will give you all the time in theworld to tie up the loose ends on thework front. A house or property is likelyto give less than expected returns. Singlesshould be cautious in their approach innew relationships. Don’t lax with your

health regimen and try to be regular anddisciplined on this front. Lucky No.: 2,Lucky Color: Red

Capricorn: You will need to cul-tivate an eye for detail if youwant to go places on the profes-

sional front. Your experiment with ahome remedy will prove successful. Anouting can prove expensive and may takesome fun out of it. Working women mayfind it difficult to balance both home andoffice. Good guidance on the educationfront can become a dire necessity forsome. Several opportunities for earningare likely to come your way; it’s time foryou to pick & choose. Lucky No.: 7,Lucky Color: Purple

Aquarius :You will be in an en-ergetic and enthusiastic mood.Your analytical skills combined

with a razor sharp memory will be yourbest assets. Postponing a huge invest-ment in real estate will be a step in theright direction. A chance meeting withsomeone from the opposite camp can sig-nal the beginning of a long-term rela-tionship. Avoid coming into the firingline of spouse or parents for bad conduct;be diplomatic in case of disagreementswith loved ones. A sibling or friend islikely to tattle on you, putting you in afix. Some malady is foreseen due tochange of season. Lucky No.: 7, LuckyColor: Pink

Pisces :Double check all the in-formation you come across asthere is a scope for miscommu-

nication. You will succeed in counteringpolitics on the professional front that isworking against you. A new acquisitioncan put you in the exclusive club. This isan excellent time, when friends or rela-tions can come and stay with you, andbrighten up the domestic atmosphere. Achanged routine will be good for overallhealth. This is also going to be a fruitfultime to remain alert to take the subtlehints of lover or spouse to progress inyour love life! :Lucky No.: 3, LuckyColor: Blue


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Gandhi Jayanti (Oct 2)The birthday ofM a h a t m aGandhi is cele-brated all overIndia withprayer meetings.

Dussehra (Oct 13)‘Ravans’ will be set on fire all over Punjab along withthe demon king’s son Meghnad and brother Kumb-

hakaran as Punjabiscelebrate Dussehraon October 13 sym-bolising the triumphof good over evil. Thefestival marks the cul-mination of navratraand the beginning ofthe 20-day-long waitfor Diwali, festival oflights, to celebrate thereturn of Lord Ram toAyodhya after killingthe demon king.

Id-ul-Zuha(Oct 16)One of the most important Muslimfestivals, Bakr-id, rightly called Id-ul-Zuha, observed as a festival ofsacrifice, falls on October 16. Mus-lims all over Punjab, particularlythe Malerkotla belt, will celebratethe festival by wishing each otherId Mubarak and exchanging gifts.

Maharishi Valmiki's birthday (Oct18):The birth anniversary of Mahrishi Valmiki willbe celebrated on October 18. The story of LordRama written by him is called Valmiki's Ra-mayana and is the first epic of Sanskrit literature.

Karva Chauth (Oct22)

One of the most significant festivalsin North India, Karwa Chauth is cel-ebrated by most married women,who keep a one-day fast for theirhusbands' longevity. This festival is popular amongHindu and Sikh women, and is predominant in statessuch as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan.

Coming events


Going down memory lane, I recall an interest-ing incident that unfolded on the campus ofChhat Bir Zoo soon after it acquired a chim-panzee on a barter basis. A number of jour-nalists had gathered to witness “operation

chimp” —-- release of the newly-acquired ape into itsnew home.

The vehicle carrying the big ape made its way intothe primate section of Asia's biggest zoo in Patiala dis-trict. As the cameramen clicked with their flash guns, thechimp covered its face with its big palms.

A number of zoo attendants had been deployed tocarry out the operation.

A tranquillizer shot saw the chimpanzee crouch back.Soon it got up and rubbed its eyes, giving a stare at thosepresent. Then it walked unsteadily in the small cage be-fore collapsing.

Six attendants lifted the unconscious chimpanzee. Itwas heavy. One of the attendants lowered the animal fora better hold. All this time the then zoo director, DrVinod Sharma, repeatedly told them to hurry up as hefeared the tranquilizer effect may wear off.

The attendant holding the right arm of the chim-panzee suddenly noticed a glint in the eyes of the ape.But before he could sound an alert, the chimp dug itsteeth into the attendant’s thumb.

The attendant screamed. He gave a punch on the pri-mate’s face and pulled out his bleeding thumb.

'Operation

chimp'

One incident happened in Varanasi when I was postedthere. I was returning after leave and had to pass throughthe Gorkha Training Centre to reach home. My train waslate and reached after midnight. The Gorkha sentry onduty stopped me for identity check. I produced my Iden-tity Card for verification. He took out his torch and firstinserted the cells which he had removed to prolong theirlife. He focused the torch on the identity card and thenon my face. He took his time ensuring that my identitywas valid.

Having satisfied himself that it was indeed my IdentityCard and was valid, he then informed me that I couldnot go as the Adjutant’s orders were not to permit anyone to enter after mid night.I told him that i had to go home as i had just returnedfrom leave and that my train was late. he agreed with mebut insisted that i could not go as per the Adjutant’s or-ders.I said “I am going and you can tell your Adjutant thatSahib has gone home despite my stopping him.”He promptly saluted and said, “Thik hai sahib.” and letme pass.

Humour in Uniform


All hell broke loose as the attendants dropped the an-imal and ran helter, skelter.

Everyone was for himself. Photographer Karam Singhdarted into the empty cage, meant for the chimp, andbolted it from inside.

I climbed up the enclosure housing the cages at aspeed that would have put even the monkeys to shame.Two more journalists followed me up.

From my high perch I had a clear view of the goingson. Two of the cameramen had rushed out and could beseen 200 metres away.

It was a trying time for the zoo director. He stood nearthe chimpanzee which was standing on its two legs witha dazed look.

He realised the danger the chimpanzee could pose tothe mediamen. Time was short as the effect of the tran-quilizer shot was dying.

Soon a second tranquilizer shot was ready. A perfectaim and the dart hit the thigh of the animal. The chim-panzee let out a cry, and moved towards the iron grill ofthe enclosure we had climbed up. It grasped the grill forsome time. But then slowly it spread out on the floor asthe tranquilizer began to take effect.

The second-time unconscious primate was carriedinto the cage which cameraman Karam Singh had madehis temporary abode.

“Operation chimp” was over.

The Last Word

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