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The goodness of fruit False alarm |
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AFSPA and internal security
Being amidst film
celebrities
Punjab should not give up on its NRIs
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The goodness of fruit Punjab’s
sweet and sour affair with citrus fruit has been historical, but
kinnow has been its particular love for the past nearly five decades. It's sweet because it gave hope to farmers in the semi-arid areas of the state to have a viable cash crop, sour because the dream has not always been beautiful. Choice of plant varieties for varying agro-climatic zones of the state (even micro-level soil conditions), fluctuating prices, disease and weather vagaries have ensured the fruit remains an unsure venture, something a small farmer cannot risk. After the initial efforts by the state machinery and agricultural universities in the seventies, there has been little addition to the state-specific knowledge on cultivating the fruit. The inauguration of a ‘centre of excellence’ for citrus fruit in Hoshiarpur district last Thursday — under a pact India signed with Israel — is therefore a welcome development. Identifying new cultivars for kinnow as well as other citrus fruit and ensuring quality planting material is critical, in the absence of which many farmers' bitter experience ends up giving a bad name to horticulture. In growing fruit Punjab has lost the variety it historically had. Mango, guava, malta, ber, etc, have been gradually dying out for want of improvement in varieties and markets. Experiments with grape and banana raised hope but delivered little — again, not because they were bad ideas, but because of poor follow-up with research on adaptation. In the market-driven world production is only a small part of the business, whether it is industry or agriculture. In horticulture especially the value lies in processing and thereafter finding the right markets across the globe to overcome the seasonal price fluctuations, a major problem faced by Punjab's kinnow growers. Public-sector investments in two fruit and vegetable processing units in the state failed despite state-of-the-art machinery. The reason is governments cannot do business. The need thus is to promote private investment in agro-processing. Industry has been known to conduct research and educate farmers on the crops they need better than the public sector.
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False alarm IN a country where a large majority of rape victims shy away from reporting the crime, it's unfathomable to think that a woman can falsely accuse men of gang-rape. Yet as such a case has come to light in a Delhi court where Judge Virender Bhat was not only compelled to talk about the dignity of the rape accused but also make a significant ruling. Apart from directing the court staff to lodge a complaint against the woman, he observed that women making false rape allegations to settle personal scores needed to be prosecuted and punished. For too long India has believed that rape is too heinous a crime for women to cook up stories and fabricate false charges. Even the Supreme Court has held that no Indian woman lies about rape. However, in recent times as more and more women are accusing men, especially those with whom they have shared intimate relations, of the despicable act, the judiciary has been forced to ask pertinent questions. Not too long ago the apex court expressed its anxiety over the spurt in cases where women accused men of rape after the relationship went awry. It also asked: Can a failed consensual relationship between adults lead to the filing of rape charges against the man? No doubt, sexual violence is a harsh and dismal reality and a vast majority of Indian women constantly live under the shadow of sexual assault. Yet as a small percentage of women have begun to take advantage of the law often without or little provocation and are play-acting as rape victims, they end up not only hurting the accused but also the cause of genuine rape victims. If the perception that not all rape allegations are genuine continues to gain credence, it would defeat the very purpose of strengthening the laws against a crime as horrific as rape.
Post-Nirbhaya, the country witnessed an unprecedented outrage over sexual violence which led to tougher laws. A few misguided women can’t be allowed to disrupt the well-meaning initiatives and channel the discourse in an unwanted and unwarranted direction. By taking a tough stance, the judiciary is sending out the right signals.
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Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains. — Marilyn French
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A Press censor for the Punjab THE Urdu Press of the Punjab has lately raised the question whether a Press Censor is required in the Province and has practically given a unanimous and emphatic reply in the negative. In the first place it is pointed out that the necessity for such a course on the part of Government has not arisen. The attitude of the Punjab press has from the commencement of the war been nothing but helpful to Government, and every care has been taken to avoid doing anything that might cause the slightest or remotest embarrassment to Government. When Mr. Kennaway invited the Mahomedan journalists of Lahore to be careful in the event of any complications with Turkey, he told them incidentally that Government was completely satisfied with their attitude. AN interesting contrast between Municipal towns carrying out and neglecting sanitary precautions is pointed out by a Madras paper. Last week's death-rate in the densely populated city of Bombay was 24.47 per 1,000 population as compared with 24.63 in the previous weeks and 29.35 for the same time last year. The previous five years' average was 30.12. Thus it is clear that the death rate at this time of the year has steadily decreased from 30 to 24 per thousand population. This undoubtedly is the result of the sanitary improvement effected in the city and though this death-rate does not prevail throughout the year and sometimes goes up to 36, there is evidence that under favourable conditions of weather and sanitary precautions, the death-rate is brought down to 24.
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AFSPA and internal security On the November 3 night an army patrol deployed on a checkpoint in Budgam district fired on a Maruti 800 car in which five boys were travelling. This resulted in the unfortunate death of two boys and injuries to three others. The injured boys were evacuated to the army base hospital in Srinagar by the very patrol that had fired on the car. According to some eyewitnesses, the car when stopped skidded off the road. The army patrol version is that the car did not stop at the checkpoint and tried to escape. The police registered a case of 'criminal intent to kill'. The army, as it usually does in such incidents, ordered a court of inquiry. Somewhat unusually, however, the Defence Minister and the Northern Army Commander took responsibility for the incident, apologised and promised to take action against the patrol. 53 Rashtriya Rifles, whose patrol was deployed at the checkpoint, was moved out. It was replaced with another battalion. On November 12 a General Court Martial brought the Machil incident to an end (pending approval of the Army Commander) by recommending life sentence to army personnel, including a Commanding Officer (Colonel) and a Captain, after finding them guilty. These army personnel were involved in the killing of three civilians in a fake encounter in Machil four years ago. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called this decision as a ‘watershed moment’. A national daily editoralised it as 'a glimmer of justice' and went on to ask many questions, including “Is it (army) willing to accept the extent to which it has alienated the people of Kashmir and work towards redressing the sense of injury?” Implied in these statements is the accusation that (a) there is a widespread violation of human rights which till now has been overlooked by the army, and (b) the army is responsible for alienating the people of Kashmir. No one can deny that a few incidents of human rights violation (like Pathribal) continue to rankle. But such a serious accusation does not take into account the regular investigations and justice done by the army in human rights violations. Four years ago, I was given statistics related to human rights violations between 1990 and August 2011 in 15 Corps Zone (J & K Valley) by the Army HQ. These were (a) Total cases received and investigated — 1,485 (b) Cases proved false — 1,439 (c) Personnel punished in cases proved true — 96. These included four officers cashiered and awarded rigorous imprisonment, 31 officers and other personnel dismissed from service and awarded rigorous imprisonment, 17 personnel reduced to ranks and awarded rigorous imprisonment in military custody, and the remaining (including 32 officers) awarded forfeiture of service for promotion/severe reprimand/ severe displeasure and so on. The Army HQ should make such information public from time to time. The fact is that the army cannot compromise in its discipline or human rights violations. Within days of the Court Martial award in the Machil incident, Mr Chidambaram, who has been a Cabinet minister in many governments, called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) ‘an obnoxious Act’. This has reignited misgivings, public anger and resentment on the already demonised AFSPA at an inopportune moment. By repealing AFSPA we would be doing a great disservice to the army in the performance of its internal security role, and thus to the nation. Demanding army personnel to carry out counter-insurgency/ militancy /anti-terrorist operations without adequate legal cover will result in frequent challenge or disobedience of orders by subordinates and will make army operations in such circumstances ineffective. According to the army leadership, its application needs to continue because (a) the Pakistan army-aided proxy war with 30 to 40 active militant training camps in Occupied Kashmir continues in J&K, and (b) the army garrison/strategic assets spread all over J & K with logistic arteries passing through population centres remain vulnerable. These events when looked at holistically lead to the macro-level question on the role of the army in assisting the state governments in internal security duties. The protracted and excessive employment of the army leads to laws of diminishing returns. The reasons are (a) over-dependence on the army reflects lack of trust and faith in the capability of the state and central armed police and para-military forces (b) after a while, locals start treating the army as another police force (c) such deployments and prolonged duties have an adverse impact on the army's discipline, morale and operational effectiveness, and (d) during a war/war-like situation the army needs public support. It cannot afford to alienate the local population. In earlier days when there were no insurgencies, no militancy and AFSPA, the army was not allowed to be deployed for more than 10 days at a time. Any extension in its deployment had to be approved by the Ministry of Defence. The army now has been deployed for internal security duties in J&K and the North-East for decades. Despite an improvement in the security situation and the holding of elections several times in these states, neither the civil administration nor the army is prepared to take the risk of taking it off these duties or even reducing its deployment. In 1993-94, after the security situation in Punjab started improving, whenever we moved troops from internal security deployment to the cantonments, the Chief Minister and the DGP would try and dissuade us from doing so. Even army officers would protest sometimes. They had to be convinced that internal security was only a temporary mission. Unless we fade away when the situation has improved, the civil administration cannot assert itself and bring about normalcy. The fact is that when large numbers of troops remain deployed for decades in such situations, despite intense training and a stringent code of conduct, some aberrations are bound to occur. Although most desirable, it is almost impossible to maintain a zero error human rights track record in such deployments. The army must not remain deployed for decades and decades, as is happening currently. A reduction in the army deployment would be possible if we can revamp our para-military, central and state police forces: modernise them and improve their leadership, training and man management. But whenever the army is deployed, even for short periods, it will require a legal cover like AFSPA. The AFSPA contents, except for some minor tweaking, should not be discarded.
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Being amidst film celebrities I had joined the service three years ago and was waiting to join my ship. The organising committee assigned me the task of collecting funds from the film industry, government departments and the university office -- all by cheque. On the evening of ceremony I was at the entrance along with the reception committee members from the filmdom to introduce them with as many eminent invitees as I could recognise. Among those present were Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Jonny Walker, Shashi Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar and Abraham. Abraham with all his wit and humour was to act as the master of the ceremonies. The proceedings commenced with a brief introduction of some of the leading personalities by Abraham. He announced that it was Lata Mangeshkar’s first performance in public after her entry into the world of music. She sang two songs as the first performer of the evening. Her voice, scintillating tune and rhythm mesmerised the audience. Raj Kapoor’s humour and Dilip Kumar’s serious talk were a treat for those present. During those days the prohibition of smoking inside the cinema halls had not yet started. Film celebrities noticed so many sailors smoking expensive cigarettes. Film actress Nutan could not help asking, “How can junior sailors afford to smoke such costly cigarettes?” “Madam, these are duty-free items from ships. Each tin costs Rs1.25 only”. Nutan smiled and kept quiet. Comedy actor Johny Walker's performance was witty and humorous. He explained with simple gestures some household conflicts between husband and wife. Just before the conclusion of the event there was a surprise when a smart young lady from a princely state was invited to the stage. Wearing the traditional ghagra, ghungroos, Rajasthani headgear and laharia saree, she bowed and thanked the audience in chaste Rajasthani. There was a wild applause from the viewers.
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Punjab should not give up on its NRIs
THE Indian community's contribution to India has also been invaluable — from the workers who labour abroad to support their families and communities at home; the professionals who share the fruits of their skills for India's development; the entrepreneurs who bring investments into and promote exports from India; and, the community leaders who interpret India for the world and advance its interests abroad.” This is what the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), 2014 Punjab and Punjabi society is truly globalised — beginning with the earlier invasions of Punjab, 99 years of British rule, Britain's subsequent expansion eastwards and in Africa, post-War acceleration in globalisation forces and liberalisation of India which integrated Punjab even further into the global economy, especially through labour migration — and this is reflected in the numerous multi-layered transnational practices Punjabis engage in on a daily basis. These are, of course, all voluntary practices, many based around mutual love among families and friends but some also for profit. Among the diaspora, many Punjabis, individually or collectively, have set up welfare and philanthropic societies which have resulted in material gains for their fellow Punjabis in Punjab, whether in health, education or development of village infrastructure. Furthermore, many Punjabi entrepreneurs, based either in Punjab or the diaspora have made a commercial gain out of transnational linkages. Trade in foodstuffs, clothing and garments, jewellery, cultural products such as music and film among others has grown steadily over the years. As previously mentioned, these developments have occurred through voluntary initiatives and the Punjab government, along with the other state governments, has tried to foster an even closer relationship with its diaspora ever since the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was instituted by the Central government in 2003, nearly 12 years ago. The PBD was instituted, rather belatedly, according to many commentators, to celebrate the contribution of Non-Resident Indians to the Indian nation. Yet we now learn that the Punjab government has unilaterally decided to cancel this annual state level event which usually coincides with the Central government event (see The Tribune, “12 yrs on, govt abandons NRI conclave,” November 10) and replace it with a more informal, personal, some may say feudal, style of sangat darshan already in use for other political objectives. Only last January the Punjab Chief Minister was talking about organising an All-India Punjabi Sammelan. What has prompted this U-turn and how is it that the Punjab government has taken a step backwards when governments all around the world, including other Indian states, are stepping up their programmes to develop strategies to engage constructively with their diasporas?
Failure to engage This seems to amount to admission of failure. We can identify many reasons for Punjab’s failure in engaging with its diaspora and although not all of these are the fault of government initiatives, the government, especially the ShiromaniAkali Dal must share a large part of the blame. Let us first consider the characteristics of the Punjabi diaspora. Now well over a century old, it is a 2-million-strong heterogeneous mass, divided by length of settlement overseas, caste, religion, politics, profession and nature of links with Punjab. In countries where migration occurred a long time ago, Punjabis are now of fifth or sixth-generation vintage, with hardly any meaningful linkages to their ancestral homeland, except through occasional heritage tourism.
Interest in home country In countries where migration occurred in the post-Independence period, the first generation is fast disappearing, with a majority of Punjabis now born overseas and few taking an interest in Punjab except in their ancestral landholdings or houses which are endowed to them by their parents. The more recent first-generation migrants do retain strong links but again very few have an intention to return permanently. Thus many have relatively little genuine stake in Punjab, the largest interest being their ancestral landed assets or real estate, which have seen an astronomic rise in values relative to what was paid to purchase them. It is no wonder establishing ownership rights over their property — perhaps with a view to sell — is a foremost Non-Resident Punjabi concern. Punjab governments' failures in addressing this issue to the satisfaction of NRPs are too well known to be rehearsed again here. Besides the heterogeneity and stakeholder aspects, there is lack of a critical mass of enterprising diaspora individuals who have the potential to act as catalysts and game changers. Yes, of course, there is a thriving Punjabi diaspora entrepreneurial class but its size, structure and global reach remains highly limited, despite pretensions and close political and social connections with elites in Punjab. Some of these individuals do attend sammelans voluntarily with an inquisitive eye whilst others are cajoled or under moral pressure to do so.
Getting investors Although many of them can see beyond the rhetoric and the associated rituals, they do enjoy lavish state hospitality offered at these gatherings. These also do no harm in boosting egos and building further networks. The failure in getting these entrepreneurs to invest in Punjab is not unique to Punjab, it is in fact an All-India level failed story, although of different degrees depending on the state being considered. It is remarkable that less than 1 per cent of all inflows of Foreign Direct Investment into India since India began its reforms are accounted for by NRIs. Of course, NRIs contribute greatly in terms of remittances and through philanthropic giving and other ways as the Prime Minister's quotation given above suggests — but these are individual or family decisions and have existed ever since migration began and not necessarily anything to do with state policies. Turning to government actions, successive Punjab governments, more recently governed largely by the SAD-BJP alliance, have never really fully understood the Punjabi diaspora, by far the largest component of which is Sikh. Nor has a serious attempt been made to understand it — to identify its characteristics, its potential to contribute in different spheres, different ways of leveraging it etc. It is not surprising, therefore, that diaspora-outreach policies have had an ad hoc and incoherent character, with no minister or administrator serving long enough to develop expertise in engagement policies. What we have witnessed is a policy of revolving ministers and administrators when it comes to Non-Resident Punjabis (NRP) affairs.
Lack of govt support Even the highly successful NRP village-modernisation programme has been stalled due to lack of government support. There has been some progress in establishing local police stations which can handle NRI affairs, especially relating to property, family and marital disputes but NRPs still feel disappointment at their lack of effectiveness. Many other promises made at various sammelans have turned out to be sheer platitudes. Given that there is a compelling case for engaging constructively with diasporas — otherwise why would so many government would be doing it — it is difficult to understand the government position. Can we put this down to perhaps indifference, arrogance, ignorance or even denial among the political leaders? Or could it be that government policies are too Punjab-centric rather than global in orientation. It is difficult to believe these could be the reasons in this age of globalisation. Other factors at work too could have greater relevance. In an earlier era, Punjab-based political parties had their overseas branches and this was reflected in the nature of diaspora political discourses, for example in contesting gurdwara committee elections. But over time, their role and influenced waned and there came a sharp break after Operation Bluestar of June 1984 and anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of Mrs Gandhi's assassination in November, 1984. The support base for Overseas Congress waned, except among a small group of die-hards and the overseas Akali Party branches came under sustained attack from both Khalistani organisations and human rights bodies. This process continued in the post-militancy period, with new forms of political advocacy organisations emerging in the diaspora, especially with many embracing the liberal civil and human rights agenda.
Political mileage Ironically, political support for the BJP, ably supported by many wealthy Hindutva diaspora organisations went from strength to strength — as we witnessed during Narendra Modi's recent visit to the USA. Whereas the Akalis have largely surrendered in the diaspora, except for maintaining personal connections, the BJP prospers and successfully mobilises the youth. By way of contrast, a feeling of deep sense of alienation, disappointment and mistrust of Badals and Akalis is matched by deep affection and goodwill for Modi and the BJP, especially among the Gujarati diaspora. Given these political constraints, it seems as if the Akalis led by Badal have finally accepted this reality and thrown in the towel. It is a shame because future opportunities for building trust and exploring new ways of unleashing and realising the potential of Punjabi diaspora for mutual benefit would be more difficult to come by. Let's us hope there will be another U-turn soon, if only through learning from examples of regions and states which have successfully mobilised their
diaspora.
Migration matters
The writer teaches Economics at Coventry University, UK, and has published widely on Punjabi Diaspora
and the home land.
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THE ongoing film festival in Goa reminds me of a Filmfare award function I attended several years ago in Bombay. The colourful event was held inside the spacious hall of Regal cinema located between the Gateway of India and the Musuem in Colaba, South Mumbai. The organising committee had sought the Navy’s assistance to host the event. The first meeting was held on the Mint road which was attended by Abraham, Raj Kapoor and two naval officers. The Regal hall was finalised as the venue while tickets were distributed on donation. However, quotas were fixed for those from the film industry, the Maharashtra Government, the high court, Railways, media, university and the defence forces keeping in view the capacity of the hall. 
