Lyricist rooted to Puadhi culture
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 8
Puadhi is one of the rich dialects of Punjabi. It is spoken in a vast area of Ropar, Patiala and adjoining areas. Famous folk singer, the late Surjit Bindrikhiya, was a hardcore Puadhi. And that used to reflect from the songs he lent voice to. Budding writer Jasbir Mand, who is now settled in Japan, is also a Puadhi.

Another one is Bhupinder Singh Mataurwala, who is rooted to the culture of Puadh and has tried to make it popular through his songs. He hails from Mataur village which is a suburb of Mohali. He has authored five books - ‘Dil Di Hook, Sajarian Perra, Sandli Pauna, Sura Soei and Mehkadi Sham.’ His sixth book ‘Teri Jhanjhar Mere Geet’ is under print and will be released on November 18.

Surjit Bindrikhiya lent voice to the lyrics penned by Bhupinder Singh. Among these lyrics were - ‘Fulla Nalo Najak Bache, Kito Labke Liya Sarnava, Jugni, Nachhna Bhimbri Banke.’

Surjit Bindrikhiya remained associated with him from 1983 to 1990. And both organised several cultural evenings together. Bhupinder claims that Surjit was prompted by him to affix Bindrikhiya with his name. "Earlier Surjit was known as Surjit Sagar. However, I told him to affix the name of his village-Bindrikh- with Surjit", says Mr Bhupinder.

Bhupinder came into the limelight after his songs sung by Hardip proved to be hits in the 80s. Among these songs were ‘Hania Ve Hania, Pichhe Ronda Yar’ and ‘Thero Ni Thero Dil Dol Giya.’

After doing MA in Punjabi from the Panjab University, Bhupinder is employed as a senior auditor in the Audit Department. His wife, Ms Jaswinder Kaur, is a teacher. K.Deep and Suchet Bala have also sung songs penned by him.

"There is great influence of Bhagat Asa Ram Bainwan on me. He was a great ‘kissakar’ of our area. He is my folk hero", says Bhupinder. And then my uncle, Mr Joginder Singh Tabusam, also motivated me to write literature."

Chandigarh, November 8
Paddy production in Punjab has dropped below expectations which will reduce the share of rice in the Central foodgrain pool by about 6.70 lakh tonnes.

The Food Corporation of India, which is procuring the grain from the mandis, says there has been a decrease in paddy production in the state.

Officials say they are banking on the paddy crop from UP and Uttaranchal. The perception in the Food Ministry is that the rice stocks may fall short of the national requirement if the crop in these two states is not according to estimates.

On an average 17 lakh tonnes of rice is consumed in a month across the country besides 13 lakh tonnes of wheat. Officials are hoping that the crop from UP and Uttaranchal will bolster the rice stocks and meet the national requirements. The paddy crop in these states started arriving in the last one week or so. The officials said a shortfall of 10 -12 lakh tonnes of paddy can be covered. However, anything more than that can signal a shortage. “ We will assess the rice situation after three weeks from now and be able to give clear picture by then,” said a senior official.

Procurement in Punjab is about to end and the arrival of paddy in the mandis has been reduced to a trickle. As compared to last year’s figure, there has been a definite reduction in paddy production. About 122 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured in Punjab till yesterday against last year’s total procurement of 138 lakh tonnes. This year, experts believe, it will fall short by 10 lakh tonnes. This, in turn, means the output of rice will be reduced by 6.70 lakh tonnes as 67 per cent of rice output is expected from every quintal of paddy.

Explaining the shortfall in production, a senior functionary in the Punjab Agriculture Department said the area under paddy cultivation was less by 90,000 hectares this year. Moreover, inclement weather conditions at the ripening stage in October of the late-sown paddy also hit the crop. The official said some of the area under paddy had been diverted to horticulture, cotton and sugarcane.

Meanwhile, FCI officials said the contribution from Haryana to the Central food pool would fall. However, officials in Haryana did not confirm this, saying the overall production was up. This includes the basmati variety which is not procured. There is a huge demand for rice from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Rice is being transported to these states from Punjab by road. Sources said that last month 9 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat was transported to these three states and also to other parts of the country.

The left-out stocks in the FCI godown in Punjab was in the range of 7 lakh tonnes, which is close to the bare minimum. However, the work of shelling has started. Hence it has eased the demand.

Chandigarh, November 8
A Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting today recommended the promotion of four Additional DGP rank officers to the post of DGP.

The DPC headed by the Chief Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, cleared the names of Mr N.P.S. Aulakh, Mr R.S. Gill, Mr A.P. Pandey and Mr Mohd Izhar Alam for promotion. While Mr Aulakh is from the 1972 batch, Mr Gill is from the 1973 batch and the other two officers are from the 1974 batch. For Mr Aulakh, who is at present on Central deputation and working as Special DGP, BSF, it will be a proforma promotion. The other three will be given regular promotions in the cadre.

A formal order to promote these officers will be issued once the Chief Minister approves the promotions within a few days, confirmed sources in the government.

With this move, Punjab will have seven DGPs. Apart from the new promotions, the four officers working as DGPs are Mr S.S. Virk, Mr K.K. Attri, Mr G.S. Aujla and Mr P. Lal. The last officer will retire on November 30.

Batala, November 8
Police dogs have sniffed out killers of police constable Kuldeep Singh, resident of Bhalae Chak village. The SSP, Batala, Mr L.K. Yadav, in a press note issued here today said Santokh Singh, father of the constable, had lodged a complaint that his son had been murdered.

In the complaint he had stated that on November 3 his son, who was posted in Amritsar, came home. He along with his son and a relative had gone to the fields. They returned while Kuldeep Singh stayed back. When he did not return till 9 p.m. a search was launched for him. His body having injury marks was found near the canal passing through the village.

After the matter was reported to the police a sniffer dog squad was summoned when a bathroom slipper was found from the spot. The dogs picked up the trail of the killers and reached the house of Daljit Singh.

Further investigation revealed that Daljit and his family had an old feud with Kuldeep over a piece of land. They had murdered him near the canal bank with sharpedged weapons.

The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC. Iqbal Singh, Bachan Singh, Dalbir Singh and Dilbagh Singh, all residents of Bhalae Chak village, co-accused in the case, have been arrested. Daljit Singh is still at large.

Patiala, November 8
Punjabi University campus, which stole the show on the opening day of the three-day youth festival, continued its winning spree on the second day also. Its contestants won top positions in group shabad, classical instrumental (non-percussion), classical instrumental (percussion) and semi-classical events, while they scored the second position in classical vocal, and light vocal competitions.

According to a press note issued here today, Punjabi University started its campaign with Bhairavi winning top spot in classical instrumental (non-percussion) event, with Gursharan Jit Singh of Government College, Ropar, finishing the second.

Nazeer of Punjabi University campus got top position in classical instrumental (percussion) event followed by Veerpreet Kaur of Government College for Girls, Patiala.

Other Results: Elocution: Trannum Bhatia (Government Mohindra College, Patiala) 1, Gurpreet Kaur (GCG, Patiala) 2; group song (Indian): PU Campus 1, Government Rajindra College, Bathinda, and S.D. College, Barnala 2; poetical recitation: Gursewak Singh (Lincoln College of Law, Sirhind) 1, Mohineet Kaur (GCG, Patiala)2; light vocal: Tejinder Pal Singh (Govt. Brijindra College, Faridkot) 1, Sangram(Govt. College, Mohali) and Damanjeet Kaur (P.U. Campus) 2; debate: Qudrat (Modi College, Patiala) and Mohineet Kaur Boparai (GCG, Patiala) 1, Kusum Dua (Govt Ranbir College, Sangrur) 2; classical vocal: Tejinderpal Singh (GRC, Bathinda) 1, Sarabjit Singh (PU Campus) 2.