Sunday, February 18, 2001		Feedback

Makers of modern Punjab

TARLOCHAN SINGH, in his write-up "Makers of modern Punjab" (January 30) has rightly said that the nations that honour their heroes are able to work out an agenda for the future generation. The legendary artist Sobha Singh spent almost 40 years in Himachal Pradesh but the state governments just ignored his presence in the state during and after his death in 1986. He got several awards from the Government of India, but the Himachal Pradesh Govern-ment never honoured him.

Punjab Government has done well to form a high level committee to celebrate the birth centenary of Sobha Singh in a manner befitting an artist who brought HP on the international art map through his paintings.

Sobha Singh Art Gallery is a pilgrimage centre for artists and art lovers and a large number of visitors from all over the country and foreign lands visit this place. This generates income for locals and this area gets prominence.

Some suitable memorial or art and cultural centre named after Sobha Singh will help inspire budding artists of H.P.

SWAPANIL
Palampur

The write-up, though interesting, contained a few factual errors. One Rarewala had no blood relationship with the royal house of erstwhile Patiala State. In fact, he belonged to village Rara, in Ludhiana district from where a lady was one of the maharanis of Maharaja Bupendra Singh. Gian Singh’s family was close to that of the Maharani, and as such, he was taken into state service soon after he graduated from Mohindra College, Patiala and got one top appointment after another.

Two, PEPSU was the second, not the first state to have been placed under President’s rule. The credit (or discredit) for this goes to Punjab. If my memory does not fail me, it was the Congress ministry headed by Bhim Sen Sacher, which was dismissed and President’s rule imposed in the state.

Three, Gian Singh Rarewala joined the Congress for the first time in PEPSU. As a matter of fact I was instrumental in bringing him into the Congress fold. A Congress MLA Master Sham Sunder from Haryana region happened to be my friend. It was he who suggested this and asked me to talk to Rarewala. I was in state service and had a responsible post. So I could not meet him openly and in PEPSU territory. One day I learnt that Rarewala was to deliver a convocation address at Khalsa College, Gursar Sadhar, in Ludhiana district. I met him there. Then I arranged his meeting with Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya in New Delhi. He later left the Congress and rejoined Akali Dal. After the merger of PEPSU with Punjab, he joined Congress for the second time.

R.S. DUTTA
Chandigarh.

I wonder why the writer chose to call Kairon a "great Sikh". He was not a Sikh, not even a Punjabi. He was an Indian — an ironman of Punjab, as Sardar Patel was not a Gujarati but the ironman of India. Rarewala was only a sophisticated educated aristocrat, the maternal uncle of the Maharaja of Patiala and an Akali at heart. Sobha Singh was an artist. Artists have no religion. They belong to the whole society.

Kairon was a man of courage and conviction. The greatest contribution of Kairon was to make the dream of consolidation of holding a reality. He gave to the nation Bhakra Nangal Dam has done wonders in the area of power and irrigation. It was Kairon who made Punjab the granary of India. The prestigious PGI, too, was Kairon’s gift to the country.

Though an educated agriculturist, Kairon understood the importance of industry in the development of any nation’s economy and gave the country Faridabad, a mega industrial city which is today the pride of Haryana. On the national level, he gave a lot of support to Nehru who was badly shaken by the perfidy of China in 1962. However, he gave a raw deal to Kangra and Una which could develop only after they were transferred to Himachal Pradesh. Yet, Kairon’s contribution to the country is unforgetable. Of the trio talked of by the writer, Kairon alone is the maker of modern Punjab.

S.S. JAIN
Chandigarh

Whereas the writer dwelt at length on the significant contributions of the late Partap Singh Kairon towards building Chandigarh and the Bhakra Nangal Dam and setting up the township of Faridabad close to the national Capital, he did not mention Kairon’s significant contributions in the freedom struggle of our country and the setting up of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana. Kairon remained in British jails for eight years for the cause of the Freedom Movement. Punjab Agriculture University came into being due to the keen efforts and initiative of Kairon. The Government of India should release a coloured commemorative postage stamp in his honour under freedom fighters series.

NARINDER SINGH
"INTERNATIONAL"
Chandigarh.

Little hands that labour

This refers to the article "Little hands that labour" Thangamani (February 4).

According to the statistics available, children constitute one third of Indian population and over 50 per cent of them live under the poverty line and are not lucky enough to go to school even up to primary level. It is unfortunate that more than six crore children under the age of 14 are working as labourers and about 14 crore children are out of school whereas the Constitution says that free and compulsory education is must for all children up to the age of 14. To make matters worse, the government spends less than 1 per cent of the GDP on primary education.

Small children work in carpet weaving industry, glass work factories, bidi industry, match box and fireworks factories and other related industry in unhygenic conditions, besides working as household labour.

Moreover, continual exposure to hazardous and unhealthy working conditions results in children falling prey to various illnesses such as chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, asthma, posture-related spinal problems, skin diseases and eye defects, to name a few. These children face psychological disfigurement and violence.

Many of these children are brought to the cities by wealthy families to do household work and look after their children. They are subjected to physical and mental torture. Moreover, is also traumatic for these children. Although it is not possible to eradicate this problem completely, the least that we can do is to improve their plight by sending them to evening schools run by government or by educating them at home and persuading our children to be more compassionate and affectionate towards them.

The government should be more active and sympathetic to the plight of these kids. Social organisations and NGOs associated with the cause of children must create awareness amongst the parents to eliminate child labour.

The psyche of poor and illiterate parents needs to be changed by proper counselling. A national and state commission on child labour should be established to come out with suggestions to eliminate this menace. And the government, particularly the Labour Ministry, should take stern action against those who employ small children.

SANJAY KHURANA
Chandigarh

It is really disheartening to note that India has the largest number of child workers in the world. Thousands of children are working in various offices, factories, homes, restaurants and being exploited by their employers. The number of child workers is increasing even further in our country. Children have to work for the survival of their family members instead of going to school for study. Even 53 years after Independence the position of children in our country is far from satisfactory.

More than six crore children below the age of 14 years work in fireworks, carpet, bidi and matchbox industries. Continuous exposure to hazardous condition leads to their falling prey to various diseases, like chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, asthma, skin and eye ailments etc. Children working in various offices, shops rehris, dhabas etc., also face exploitation at the hands of their employers.

SUNIL KUMAR DOGRA
Chandigarh.

Mirza Ghalib

In his write-up "The Ghazal King and Mirza Ghalib" (January 28), Pran Nevile has observed that "it was K.L. Saighal who originally immortalised Ghalib through his rendition of the poet’s verses".

This is a hyperbolic statement. Are Ghalib’s verses so lacking in intrinsic merit that if Saighal had not sung a few of them, they would have fallen into oblivion?

Ghalib had unusual powers of imagination, intuition and expression. Instead of writings verses in a traditional style, he not only gave a new direction to Urdu ghazal, but also expanded its limits.

He expressed his lofty feelings in elevated language using unique imagery. Some of his verses have a touch of mysticism and talk about different aspects of life. It was a positive declaration of his style of writing poetry being unique, when he asserted. Hain aur bhi duniya mein sukhanvar bahot achhey/Kaihtey hain ke Ghalib ka hai andaaz-e-bayaan aur.

There is no doubt that lovers of poetry read his verses with keen relish and give vent to their feelings through appropriate couplets even after about 130 years of his death.

In fact, Ghalib’s divinely inspired kalaam, not Saighal rendition of a few verses of this peerless poet, has immortalised him.

BHAGWAN SINGH
Qadian

The writer has done real justice to both Mirza Ghalib and K.L. Saighal.

I am a student of Urdu and have been teaching this language for a quarter of a century. I have observed a few mistakes in the couplets of Mirza Ghalib.

I quote the correct version in the bracket

H.K. Lall
Chandigarh

Apropos of Radhakrishna Rao’s "Dealing with the death wish" (January 21), one feels sad to learn that suicides are increasing year after year in India. It is a poor reflection on our way of life.

Those living in a dreamland fall an easy prey to it when they face the shocking realities of life. I consider it to be more a problem of educated society which is why its rate is alarmingly high in Kerala. With education, people become more self-conscious, start dreaming and set very high goals for themselves but often do not assess their potential correctly and end up unsuccessful. With failure comes frustration and depression and life becomes difficult and suicide seems to be the only way out.

The intervening period, i.e. one between failure and when the individual starts contemplating suicide, is quite crucial. It is then that other people can play a vital role and save a life. They should come to emotional aid of the individual, assure him of their support, encourage him to improve himself and make him hopeful for the future. Besides, this help/counselling from psychiatrists should be easily available. At present one does not find a psychiatrist in a government hospital.

As far as suicides among young children are concerned, it is a failure of parents. Too much or too little freedom, incorrect identification of children’s interests, not recognising children as thinking individuals and always suspecting them, all add up to a point where children contemplate, even commit suicide.

B.M. PURI
Solan

Naresh, in his article titled "Living in sync with nature" (February, 4), has in a way described the perils of living the unnatural way.

The modern man is today caught up in a vicious cycle of rushing to his job in the morning, rushing back to his home in the evening, rushing to meet his associates on weekends and even rushing to entertain himself.

Forced to live amidst artificially created surroundings, he has lost contact with nature. This has cost him dearly. Not only is he suffering from physical troubles, he has also slowed down in carrying out cognitive tasks. His reaction time, concentration span and memory have started declining as a result of his obsession with routine, monotonous tasks.

Whatever be the complexities of life, we should take them in their stride, shed abnormality in behaviour and proceed to live life in a normal way. A new, fresh and wonderful vista of life shall open for us if we make nature our ally and live the natural way.

SURINDER K. MARWAHA
New Delhi