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Remembering Bhai Puran Singh
Randeep Wadehra

Bhai Puran Singh was born in a Hindu family as Ramjidas on June 4, 1904. Although he could not finish even his school education, he was well read and became a writer, thinker and environmentalist. But his most valuable contribution is the institution of Pingalwara that looks after the poor, the diseased and the physically and mentally challenged. Unlike Mother Teresa, Puran did not have global support and funding but his service to the downtrodden has been glorious. He was awarded the Padmashri and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Last fortnight, Reeta Sharma, anchor of Punjab Speaks (PTC News), did well to devote a full show to this great humanitarian.

Bhai Puran Singh did not have global support and funding but his service to the downtrodden through the Pingalwara has been immense

June invariably conjures up some of the saddest images on television. Operation Bluestar still causes animated media discussions. Prime Time on the Day and Night News channel had panelists from the Damdami Taksal, the All-India Sikh Students Federation and the Shiromani Akali Dal. The fourth panelist was a retired senior Indian Army officer. Several issues were discussed; importantly, whether a memorial should be built to those who died fighting the Indian Army. Predictably the Damdami Taksal representative was all in favour of the memorial, while the AISSF and SAD representatives were not as insistent. However, the Army officer, himself a Sikh, asserted that according to the Sikh traditions only those should be honoured who die honorably for a just cause. There was no riposte. What struck one was the absence of loud rhetoric and hate-filled verbiage. There were differences in the panelists’ opinions but these were aired in a civilised manner. It is this culture of meaningful, sane and low-decibel debate that the Day and Night News has introduced into Punjabi television and has become a template for other channels. Panelists don’t play to the gallery. They simply make their points in a reasonable manner and listen patiently to the counterpoints from others.

The Bhatta Parsaul incidents found resonance in Khabarsaar. The talk show discussed the issue of land acquisition and its effect on farmers. One of the points raised was that farmers in Haryana and Punjab got far better deals (Rs 1 crore per acre and more) than their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, hence triggering off competing aspirations, which in turn resulted in violent confrontation between the state government and the farmers. But, have the huge compensations helped the Punjab and Haryana farmers in any manner? One of the panelists pointed out that most of them wasted money on non-productive investments like big cars and glitzy lifestyle, with many youngsters even getting addicted to drugs, alcohol etc. The point is that no mind was applied by the government authorities concerned in order to ensure that the farmers invested their crores prudently. A structured approach could have helped, wherein the farmers were provided with expert guidance on how to invest the money, with an element of compulsion introduced to prevent profligacy. But, then, in a country where licences for mass production of vehicles are doled out even before plans to build roads reach the drawing-board stage it would be too much to expect such foresight from babudom. Another panelist averred that industrialisation – especially acquisition of agricultural land for industry – would "create inequality". This talk of equality is really an echo from the socialist past. Equality is both unnatural and a disincentive for progress.

The factor of inequality generates competitive impulses in the society that impel the individuals to work hard and progress. However, it must be ensured by the state that redistribution of natural resources – whether land or others – is equitable. It was gratifying to notice that every panelist on the show got to put across his views without interruption and the anchor, SP Singh, kept his interventions to the minimum, thus enhancing the debate’s quality.