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The Badal government keeps issuing statements while the state of the Punjab state keeps deteriorating.
Indian Supreme Court refuses to stay an order of the Punjab & Haryana High court which struck down the state-law of reserving 50% seats for Sikhs in SPGC-run educational institutions
Washington D.C. - Among recent items of real bad news about Indian Occupied Punjab, which will effect the future generations of Sikhs, (like the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay a judgment of the Punjab/Haryana High Court which denied 50% minority rights for Sikhs even in SGPC-financed educational institutions, the Center’s plans to dig another barrage Ravi-Beas link canal to steal some more Punjab river water for non-riparian Haryana & Rajasthan states, the horrible state of primary education and pollution of underground water and rivers in the Punjab, poor condition of the Punjab canal network, and the looming huge power shortage in the coming summer) there is also a small news item which looks like good news from the Sikh Homeland. The Badal government in the Punjab, has ‘steeled its spine’, so it seems, to reject the brazen demand of non-riparian Rajasthan to supply an additional 20,000 cusecs of canal water, free of charge, in February and March through the Rajasthan feeder, over and above the 8.00 MAF of Punjab river water that ungrateful Hindu-majority state has been receiving, free of charge, since the 1960’s.
According to media reports, the Punjab government has decided to reject the Rajasthan government’s demand to supply 20,000 cusecs of canal water, for irrigation purpose through the Rajasthan feeder, over and above the existing allotment of Punjab river water which flows into Rajasthan. (Tribune: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080226/punjab1.htm#2 ) A request by the Rajasthan Irrigation Department to the Punjab government, was followed up with a letter from Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in which she demanded additional supply of canal water, during February and March, for the rabi crop. The Tribune newspaper report quoting ‘sources’ said that the Punjab government had decided to write back to the Rajasthan government that it could not spare additional water as Punjab was itself facing problems in meeting its irrigation requirements through canal water in absence of adequate rainfall in the region during this winter. Except for light rainfall near the Shivalik foothills, there has been no rainfall in the countryside with the result that the level of water is also low in the various dams. During the coming summer availability of water from the dams for irrigation will therefore be less this year. Over the years Punjab had also been saying that the flow of water in the three rivers (Ravi, Beas & Sutlej) had come down by 3 MAF over the years and even the BBMB (Bhakra Beas Management Board) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) was aware of this fact. Keeping the above circumstances in view, the Punjab state government had decided to refuse, according to the media, Rajasthan’s demand for additional water. This is a correct decision. It is a good decision. It is hoped the Badal government will keep the welfare, nay survival, of Punjab’s future generations in mind and remain steadfast in its refusal to the intrigues of the bigoted BJP rulers of Hindu-majority Rajasthan state. A non-riparian state which receives 8.00 MAF (million acre feet) of Punjab river water, FREE of charge, but refuses to allow Punjabi farmers to buy agricultural land in Rajasthan. Mr. Badal should be leaning on his BJP allies, in the Punjab, to pressure the ungrateful BJP-run government of non-riparian Rajasthan to allow Sikh farmers to buy land in Rajasthan, (currently denied by law) in areas watered by Punjab’s river water which that non-riparian state has been importing for over four decades.
Media reports claim that the Punjab government is trying to make a stand against another intrigue by non-riparian ( http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/home/khalistancalling/2007/november07.aspx ) state of Haryana which had submitted a secret concept paper to the Central Water Commission (CWC) for constructing a second barrage to capture additional Ravi-Beas waters. The Punjab government was not told about Haryana’s concept paper by that state or the central government as they should have. The Punjab government has now let it be known that it has decided to oppose this proposed second barrage on the Ravi-Beas waters. Haryana had claimed in that concept paper, (which document was kept secret from the Punjab government) that the second barrage would stop leakage of water to Pakistan ignoring the fact that it would turn Ravi into a sewer which will further contaminate the already contaminated under-ground water, in fertile Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts, which is dependent on the Ravi river for recharge. There are other reports that the CWC (Central Water Commission) had found that there was no such huge leakage of water from the river systems to Pakistan – the raison‘ detre for the second Ravi-Beas barrage proposal. The Punjab state government is reported to be seeking the whereabouts of the CWC report prepared with regard to the leakage of water to Pakistan from the river water systems which showed that there was very little leakage. Hence, Punjab feels correctly that there was no need to construct the second Ravi/Beas barrage and link canal. Interestingly, the Badal government in the Punjab, which has been issuing statements, as is its wont, has not been taken into confidence by the Union government which is Haryana’s covert partner in this latest intrigue. The Union government CANNOT, under the Indian constitution, execute any barrage like project without the consent of Punjab which is the host riparian state. This is what the Punjab government thinks! But our inside sources in the water Resources ministry in Delhi report that the central cabinet, in a studied insult to the people of Punjab, has already accepted Haryana’s confidential concept paper (which was kept secret from Punjab) and has decided, without consulting Punjab, to grant Rs. 1, 500 crore, for the above-mentioned second Ravi-Beas Link barrage, calling it a national project. The Punjab government needs to ‘wake up’ before it is too late and the people of Punjab are faced with a fait accompli. A fact on the ground, of a barrage for the second Ravi-Beas link canal.
In another ‘judicial’ assault on the Sikh minority, captive in India since 1947, the Indian Supreme Court a few days ago refused to stay the unfair Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment, which held that Sikhs cannot claim minority rights in educational institutions in the Punjab even those run by SGPC with Sikh contributions. According to media reports a bench headed by Chief Justice
( http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/16/stories/2008021656540100.htm ) K. G. Balkrishnan (members Justices C.K. Thakker and R.V. Raveendran) issued notice to Sahil Mittal, a resident of Sangrur on whose writ, the Punjab & Haryana High Court had struck down the Capt. Amrinder Singh led state government’s notification permitting the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to give 50 per cent reservation to Sikh students in colleges run by it. It is disgusting, nay disgraceful, that Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who runs the SGPC as his personal fiefdom, would allow the SGPC to be represented by a dim-witted and dishonest attorney, like Advocate Harish Salve to appear in the Supreme Court on behalf of that Sikh body (SGPC) and present disgusting and childish arguments which sabotaged and ridiculed the Sikh case. Punjab Chief minister Badal should be ashamed that his carelessness will shut the door to education for many an average Sikh student.
A survey, conducted by the State unit of the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) last month, found that 100, 457 children in Punjab are not even enrolled for elementary education. According to a report in the prestigious English Language HINDU newspaper of 25th February, 2008, the survey revealed ( http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022555550300.htm ) that 30, 012 students in the age group of six to eight and at least 70, 445 students in the age group of eight to 14 were also not attending schools. Going by the age considerations, the officials were more concerned about the education of the children in the age of eight to 14 years because, minus elementary education, these students would not fit into normal schools. It has been pointed out in the Survey that a large number of students enrolled in schools under the special drive had quit midway. A large number of them, the survey said, might end up as daily laborers. With opportunity now denied to Sikh children in SGPC financed educational institutions one can see the depth of the damage the unfair Punjab/Haryana court judgment (and the lethargy of the Punjab government) will do to the SGPC-financed education of children who need it the most.
Another piece of bad news is the state of the power situation in Indian occupied Sikh Homeland of Punjab, where not even a single additional MW of power has been generated during the last ten years, according to the Punjab State Electricity Board Advisor, Padamjit Singh. He is reported in the media as having predicted that, “Power situation in the state during the coming summer will be one of the worst situations as the gap between demand and supply of power will exceed over 300 lakh units per day. From the month of June, the demand for power is expected to be over 1,800 lakh units per day while the Punjab State Electricity Board will be able to supply just 1,500 lakh units per day from all sources at that time. From June 10, PSEB has to compulsorily supply eight hours to agriculture sector for paddy sowing. As a result, the demand for power will increase considerably. During last winter, PSEB had to impose power cuts ranging between 6-10 hours per day in view of power shortage in the state.”
According to a ‘good news’ report the Punjab government has for the first time since independence in 1947, undertaken to revamp the dilapidated canal system in the state. According to a report in the Tribune an embankments along a 25-km stretch of the Patiala feeder, ( http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/26/stories/2008022651900300.htm ) which irrigates large parts of Patiala, Sangrur and Mansa districts, have been strengthened and 4-5 feet of silt has been removed from the bed of the canal in a short span of three weeks. The canal network in Punjab has been in bad shape for long. “Because of high levels of silt accumulating over the years and broken embankments, the water supply in the canals has been sharply reduced. As a result, the area under canal irrigation has come down from 42 per cent in 1990-91 to 28 per cent today. The farmers at the tail-end of the canals are the worst sufferers. They have to depend more on tube-wells, particularly in view of the increased cultivation of paddy. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Punjab government has formulated a Rs 3,243-crore plan to repair canals, check water-logging, control floods and recharge ground water.”
Let us hope the different political parties in the Punjab will unite, on the above mentioned vital issues, as they did when Captain Amrinder Singh – to his eternal credit - piloted the unanimous passage of ‘Punjab Termination of Agreements Bill, 2004’, in the Punjab State assembly, on 12 July, 2004 and had issued a government notification granting a minority status to Sikh students from the Punjab and the Sikh diaspora. The bigoted Supreme Court taking advantage of stupid arguments put forward by the dim-witted SGPC attorney, one Harish Salve, (who did not know or did not want to know his brief) has quashed the Punjab government notification on minority status for Sikh students. Such biased anti-Sikh reaction by the Supreme Court had been anticipated by this column. Readers are urged to take a ‘dekho’ at the Khalistan Calling dated 2 January, 2008, headlined, “Indian Supreme Court plans to ambush Punjab after the New Year” by clicking at: http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/home/khalistancalling/2008/january02.aspx Shame on the Indian Supreme Court!
It is about time every Sikh – a born FREE man - learned a few basic lessons from the successful struggle of the gallant two million people of land-locked Kosovo who have achieved their independence against all odds.
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