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Ghadar connection of Kala Sanghian village |
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Power cuts irk residents Unavailability of forms leaves students in lurch From Schools and Colleges
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Ghadar
connection of Kala Sanghian village
Public
memory is often short. It eulogises heroes, only to forget them after
some time. But when people forget the freedom fighters — those who led
them to the path of freedom when they were labouring under the foreign
yoke, it’s a matter of collective shame. Kala Sanghian is a non-descript village, about 12 kilometre from Kapurthala. Sadly, not many know that the village was home to Baba Harnam Singh Kala Sanghian, a freedom fighter who spent more than twenty years of his youth in different jails of the country. His property, including household items like bowls and tumblers, and the cultivable land he owned, were also auctioned by the then ruler of Kapurthala to appease the British. Baba Harnam Singh was born in 1887 in Kala Sanghian at the house of Sardar Sunder Singh Jatt. After helping his father in cultivating the land till the age of 21, the Baba, whose name was Ram Chand at that time, got recruited on February 8, 1909, in the 26th Punjabi Army that had its headquarters at Kohat Cantonment, now in Pakistan. In 1914, Baba Harnam Singh got hold of a copy of Ghadar newspaper published by the Ghadar Party from San Francisco, USA. This newspaper, with its inspiring writings, stirred in him patriotic feelings. He had a keen desire to join the Ghadaris in the USA in their struggle against the British. The
Ghadar Movement in 1913-15 was a confluence of three streams of India’s
national movement at that time — the Punjabi peasants who were
employed as workers in the USA and Canada, the itinerant revolutionaries
who were either banished from the native land or had gone into voluntary
exile to avoid harassment at the hands of the British and the
pro-British Indians, and the students who were waging a struggle against
the British might. The Ghadar Party chalked out a programme to launch the struggle in India by establishing bomb factories, attracting students, villagers and troops with the use of revolutionary literature and collection of arms, looting of treasuries, and elimination of European officers and their loyalists. In 1914, with the start of war in Germany, most of the army from India was sent to Hong Kong. In those days Baba Harnam Singh came in contact with Kartar
Singh Sarabha, Vishnu Pingley and Banta Singh Sanghwal — the main
revolutionaries of the Ghadar Party who used to visit the soldiers in
cantonment to motivate them for mutiny against the British. February 21, 1915, was fixed as the date for an armed rebellion in all cantonments throughout the northern India. Later, the date of rebellion was advanced to February 19, and Baba Harnam Singh, who got the intimation about the change in date of the planned mutiny on February 19 itself in his village, rushed to Ferozepore Cantt. However, on reaching there, he got the information that the British government had got a clue of their planning and it had tightened the security of the cantonment and taken arms away from the soldiers. The next day, after a meeting with Kartar Singh Sarabha in Ferozepore, Baba Harnam Singh returned to his village only to get arrested by the British on February 23. After the arrest, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at Andaman and Nicobar Jail. He was implicated in the Supplementary Lahore Conspiracy Case and punished under Sections 121, 121 A, and 131 of the Indian Penal Code. The judges wrote in the judgement: “We,
accordingly, find him guilty of conspiracy to wage war, abetment of
waging war and mutiny, and sentence him under Sections 121, 121A and 131
of the Indian Penal Code to transportation for life and direct that his
property be liable to forfeiture and that it be forfeited.” The
British did not send him to Andaman and Nicobar Jail, as the authorities
there refused to accept the prisoners from Punjab because they (the
authorities) were finding it hard to control the already jailed
Punjabis. However, his property was auctioned by the then ruler of Kapurthala and Baba Harnam Singh spent 20 years of his life in different jails of the country. After
India’s Independence, he was honoured with the Tamr Pattra by the then
President of India, Mr V.V. Giri, in 1972. Sadly, today, the sacrifice of this Ghadari has been forgotten. Till now, nothing has been done to restore the property of the family. Baba Harnam Singh died in 1978. After
pleading unsuccessfully with the successive state and Central
governments for the restoration of their property, Mr Surinder Singh,
the grandson of the freedom fighter, is a tired and disappointed man
today. He is even sadder when he finds that his grandfather’s
sacrifices have been lost in the oblivion of history.
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Cast in classical mould Classical music aficionados have a reason to cheer. The city may soon have monthly baithaks of classical music, in which state-level artistes would perform. According to Manu Seen, a city-based
sitarist, there is a need to make classical music popular among youngsters, who often go in for pop or Bollywood music.
“We are working out a plan to have monthly baithaks of classical music here. Though at the preliminary stage, we would confine the baithaks to musical performance only, the later stage may see us doing more on the theoretical
front also,” said Manu, who is an A grade sitar player with the AIR. He said it was imperative to wean away youngsters from noisy clatter that passed off as music. “Usually, people want to listen to music that seems catchy. But this catchiness is fleeting. After some time, the once catchy and peppy music seems stale and it loses its appeal. However, classical music touches our very heart. It may not catch our fancy in the first flush, but it soothes our frayed nerves and calms us,” he added. Manu said he and like-minded artistes were not averse to using light music compositions while initiating the beginners into classical music. There was no point in burdening the novices, at least initially, with those parts that seemed “obtuse” and “difficult”. Once the learners developed the yen for the classical music, they could master the intricacies, he remarked. The city did not have a dearth of classical music buffs, sallied the
sitarist. “Various organisations have been arranging music programmes. It’s only that sometimes these programmes don’t get the attention they deserve. Be it Shree Baba Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan, or the programmes organised by the Sangeet Kala Manch and Sant Nahar Singh Mahasabha — classical music has a special place in the hearts of the city folks. Each season has its special musical festival here,” he explained, adding that he would try his best to make classical music “trendy” among
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Power cuts irk residents After some respite for almost a fortnight, power cuts are back in the city. Cuts extending from four to eight hours are being imposed almost daily in all parts of the city, making life miserable for the residents. While the Punjab State Electricity Board officials claim that the cuts are being imposed as per the schedule and that the residents are even being notified through some dailies, the residents claim that most of the times, the cuts are not being imposed as per the schedule. This affects their daily chores and commercial activities, they rue. Ms Sukhwant, running a boutique in Model Town, said that she had many pending orders as the tailors could not work for more than three hours due to power cuts. Youngsters keen on watching the ongoing triangular cricket series being held in Sri Lanka are also very upset, as they say that whenever any match reaches its climax, the electricity goes off and they miss the best part of the match. According to the Punjab State Electricity Board Chief Engineer, Mr N.K. Arora, power cuts were being imposed for four hours in the city, and seven to eight hours in rural areas. He said the cuts were being imposed for one to two hours at a stretch as per the schedule, though sometimes half-an-hour cuts are added to these cuts. He pointed out that the demand was for 1,475 lakh units of power per day, while the power availability was 1,235 lakh units per day. He said that if these cuts were not imposed there could a major power crisis.
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Unavailability of forms leaves students in lurch Even as the last date of receiving the forms of students from government, aided and affiliated schools participating in inter-district cultural contests is over, the local Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) depot here is yet to get the booklets and entry form for the students of this region. These cultural contests are organised by the Punjab School Education Board. Students and teachers from hundreds of schools all across the district have been contacting the local depot office for quite some time but to no avail. The teachers said that they had gone through a press release issued by the board secretary, Mr Mahinderbir Singh, in some dailies where it had been stated that August 2 was the last date for sending the forms for the contestants in the junior category, while the forms for the senior categories could be sent by August 10 at Mohali. The schedule of the contests had also been mentioned in which it was specified that students from schools of eight districts in Jalandhar and Faridkot zones would vie with one another for different competitions scheduled to be held from August 22 to 24. The teachers said that since the forms were not available locally, many of them had asked the depot officers to enquire about the matter from Mohali, but to no avail. They said that they had written to the board officers demanding an extension of the date for filling of the entry forms so that their students would not be denied the chance to participate. The employees of the local depot, when contacted, confirmed that the booklets had not arrived even till Thursday. They, however, said that that they were getting at least 50 enquiries in this regard daily. Mr S.S. Bhullar, manager of the local PSEB depot, could not be contacted, as he was not available in his office.
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From Schools and Colleges MGN Public School, Adarsh Nagar, in collaboration with Oxford University Press, organised a workshop on “Teaching of English in Classes IX to XII” for teachers from 125 schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) last Thursday. Ms Renu Anand, a senior English teacher, was the resource person. She talked about various changes in the syllabi and the marking system to be followed in the senior classes. Mr R.S. Mehta, Principal, said that the workshop proved to be useful to the teachers who attended the programme. Toppers The Gurukul Institute of Competitions has honoured all its students who have achieved a top rank in various board and entrance examinations, including AIEEE, AFMC, IIT, DCE and AIPMT. The toppers honoured included Simran, Arun Banga, Ankur Verma, Ruhani, Vivek Bansal, Abhishek Sainani and Harleen Sandhu. Competition Saffron Public School organised a “Fun with numbers” competition last week to develop mathematical skills among children. Flash cards, charts and marbles were used to make the competition interesting and effective. The teachers said that the school had taken on to the innovative step to upgrade the practical knowledge of the students. Exhibition An exhibition was organised by the students of Dayanand Model School, Model Town, on Saturday. Students displayed models and charts made by them during summer vacation. A separate science exhibition was held in science laboratories where students displayed working models explaining the functioning of scientific principles. Ms B. Manuja, Principal, exhorted the students to put up such exhibitions more often. New
principal Mr Satish Kapoor, Professor of History, has been appointed as the new Principal of Lyallpur Khalsa College. Mr Kapoor has replaced Mr S.S. Chatha, who had reached superannuation. Mr Chatha was given a farewell party that was hosted by his colleagues on the campus on Wednesday. At Mohan Lal Uppal DAV College, Phagwara, Dr R.K. Mahajan has taken over the charge of Principal. On the occasion, Ms Promila Uppal, Chairperson, and other members of the managing committee, including Mr Surjit Sahdev, Mr Om Uppal and Mr Shiv Uppal, were also present. Academic session The DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology started its new academic session on Monday. A havan ceremony was organised in the auditorium. Mr C.L. Kochher, Director and Principal, welcomed the students and the staff. Mr Manoj Kumar, Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, apprised the students of the rules and regulations of the college and told them to adhere to those.
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