2 Punjab Advance August 2016

Shaheed Bhagat SinghBirth Anniversary (September 28)

3Punjab Advance

C apt Amarinder Singh is a people’s Chief Minister. This was amply demon-strated when he ignored a throbbing ankle pain, to keep his date with the state’sunemployed youth. The event was the mega job fair in Mohali, where the

doyens of industry, experts and top government officials rubbed shoulders with the un-

employed.

The ‘People’s Maharaja’ posed for selfies with the successful candidates. A young phys-

ically challenged girl inadvertently landed her supporting rod onto the captain’s shoes as

she leaned on one side for a better picture of her receiving the appointment letter. The

Captain winced, but the smile on his face camouflaged the pain.

In keeping with his poll promise the Chief Minister set the ball rolling and by the end

of the day 27,000 appointment letters had been issued. The recruitment figure crossed the

50,000 mark in the first phase.

A couple of days before the Ghar Ghar Rozgaar event the state had signed 34 MoUs

providing employment to around 2.80 lakh youth at the Karobaar Mission, a platform that

links skill, employment and enterprise.

The salary packages provided in the appointment letters range from Rs. 1.25 lakh to Rs.

21 lakh per annum.

As part of its `Business First - Invest Punjab’ philosophy, the state government is cre-

ating a simplified regulatory environment wherein an investor will be given all the neces-

sary state-level approvals/clearances to start business on Day 1 on self-certification by the

promoter to comply with all the regulations. This will not only expedite the implementa-

tion of investment proposals but will also ensure a hassle-free business conduct regime in

Punjab.

Editorial

September - 2017

4 Punjab Advance September - 2017

Conten ts

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Jobs for allPunjab

Advance

LSEPTEMBER - 2017

LVOL-4 L ISSUE-7

www.punjabadvanceonline.com

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PartitionDown memory lane

Generating powerfrom water

Page-42

C.E.O. N Gurkirat Kirpal Singh (IAS)

Editor N Donald Banerjee

Designer N Kumar Jiv Chumber

Publisher N Information & Public Relations

Department, Punjab

Contact address N

PUNJAB ADVANCE,

Room No. 1, 5th Floor,

Punjab Civil Secretariat,

Chandigarh-160001Ph. : 0172-2740668punmedia2011@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors in the articles published in PUNJAB ADVANCE are their own. They donot necessarily reflect the opinion of Punjab Government or the organization theywork for. Editor reserves the right to edit,abridge or expand the articles submitted. In case of any dispute, legal jurisdiction will lie in Chandigarh basedcourts.

Published and Edited by Gurkirat KirpalSingh (IAS) on behalf of the Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab atRoom No. 1, 5th Floor, Civil Sectt., Chandigarh.

5Punjab Advance September - 2017

20

A Captain’s date with the troops

Watch yourgait

Page-44

18

Ludhiana getsair link to Delhi

32

Big scope fordata analytics

36

He gave Punjabi fictionthe first Dalit hero

40

Dhingra, first martyrto be hanged in UK

6 Punjab Advance

· Ghar Ghar Rozgaar Yojna a big success· 34 MoUs signed for 2.80 lakh jobs· CM hands over appointment lettersBUREAU REPORT

September - 2017

t was a dream cometrue for the vast num-

ber of unemployed youth whohad gathered at Mohali. The oc-casion was the implementationof the Ghar Ghar Rozgaar Yojnawhere 50,000 youth were to re-ceive appointment letters. CaptAmarinder Singh, the people’sChief Minister of Punjab, ig-nored his ankle pain and set theball rolling handing over ap-pointment letters to 25 personsand by the end of the day 27,000appointment letters, including3000 for government jobs, hadbeen given to the youth.

It was a grand sight: Doyensof industry and experts joinedhands with the state government

to make the mega job mela agrand success.

The happy youth took selfieswith the Captain, who an-nounced the signing of 34MoUs providing employment toaround 2.80 lakh youth, besidesimmediate recruitment of an-other 50,000 people across vari-ous categories in governmentdepartments and organisationsin the state.

The salary packages pro-vided in the appointment lettersranged from Rs. 1.25 lakh to Rs.21 lakh per annum.

He said his government waspromoting a congenial atmos-phere in the state, which wouldhelp boost the investment cli-

mate, thus paving the way forthe creation of enormous job op-portunities.

Experts were of the view thatthe Karobaaar Mission is theideal platform that links skill,employment and enterprise.

The Chief Minister recalledstarting his own Army career ata small amount of Rs 350 andseeing it grow over a period oftime. With their hard work anddedication, they would also gofar in their careers, he told theyouth, wishing them all successin their future endeavours.

He lauded private institutionsand government departments formaking the 21 district-wise jobfairs, organized as part of the

I

Jobs forall

Cover

7Punjab Advance

Mega Job Fair, a huge success,and announced that the next JobMela would be held in February2018.

Reiterating his commitmentto `Ghar Ghar Rozgar’ and`Karobaar’ for the state’s youth,

the Chief Minister the 34 MoUshave been signed by the Depart-ment of Industries & Com-merce, Punjab with variousindustries and industrial organi-sations, including CII, MohaliIndustries Association (Mohali),ASSOCHAM, PHDCCI, etc.

The Chief Minister calledupon employers to capitalize onthe opportunity being opened byhis government and urged themto invest in Punjab’s human cap-ital in the interest of the state’s

collective progress. The programme was at-

tended, among others, by HealthMinister Brahm Mohindra, Fi-nance and Employment Genera-tion Minister Manpreet SinghBadal, Technical Education

Minister Charanjit SinghChanni, Local Bodies MinisterNavjot Singh Sidhu, Higher Ed-ucation Minister Aruna Chaud-hary, Media Advisor to CMRaveen Thukral, PPCC Presi-dent Sunil Jakhar, MLAs BalbirSingh Sidhu and Gurpreet SinghGP besides Principal Secretaryto CM Tejveer Singh. A largenumber of Captains of industryand representatives of Universi-ties & Skill Training Agenciesattended the event.

Channi, in his introductoryremarks, lauded the Chief Min-ister for bringing together vari-ous educational institutions andcompanies on one platform tofulfill his promise of employ-ment for all. Expressing his grat-

itude to the Chief Minister forthe excellent initiative, Channisaid Captain Amarinder deter-mined to facilitate every youthin Punjab to stand on his/herfeet. He lashed out at the previ-ous Akali government for failingto ensure the welfare and devel-opment of the youth in the state.

Minister for Finance and Em-ployment Generation ManpreetBadal described it as a momen-tous event and a realization ofthe Congress poll promise to

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A successful job applicant takes a selfie with the Chief Minister at the Mega Job Fair in Mohali

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September - 2017

provide 5 lakh jobs every year inthe state. He said developmentof infrastructure was meaning-less unless the youth wereequipped to compete with theirpeers at the international level,which was only possiblethrough quality education. Helauded Captain Amarinder forhonouring his promises to thepeople of Punjab and assuredthat, under the Chief Minister’sleadership, the state would berestored to its pristine glory. TheChief Minister, said Manpreet,had transformed the atmosphereof the state, making it congenialfor industry, and these effortshad started bearing fruit on the

ground.The government has decided

to bring the Pollution ControlBoard under the Department ofIndustries for effective redressalof grievances of the industries,while, at the same time, main-taining a balance between theconcerns of environment and in-dustrial development. It has alsodecided to launch Startup@Pun-jab Mission next month to en-courage youth to start their ownenterprises and to strengthen theculture of Startup, Innovationand Entrepreneurship.

As part of its `Business First- Invest Punjab’ philosophy, thestate government is creating a

simplified regulatory environ-ment wherein an investor will begiven all the necessary statelevel approvals/clearances tostart a business on Day 1 on self-certification by concerned promoter to comply with all theregulations. This will not onlyexpedite the implementation ofinvestment proposals but willalso ensure a hassle-free business conduct regime in Punjab.

A District Bureau of Em-ployment and Enterprise willsoon be set up to extend all thenecessary assistance to theyouth in finding jobs or settingup their own enterprises.

T he government alsoplans to set up ModelCareer Centres at Mohali,Ludhiana and Jalandhar inpartnership with CII, besidesstrengthening the Ghar GharRozgar portal to facilitate jobsfor the youth. A plan is also onthe anvil to set up a Universityof Vocational Education tobridge the gap between aca-demic qualifications and vo-cational education and also between the industryand academia.State level placement drives twicea year through placement cells in the Departmentof Technical and Employment Generation willfurther augment the government’s efforts in em-ployment generation.

The Employers Meet saw enthusiastic par-ticipation from leading industry experts, includ-ing Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, IndiaCouncil for Research on International Econom-

ics; Krish Iyer, India CEO,Walmart; Shri Paul Oswal,Chairman, Vardhman TextilesLtd.; A.S. Mittal, Vice Chair-man, International TractorsLimited (Sonalika Group);Rajinder Gupta, Chairman,Trident and Sarvjit Samra,Founder & Managing Direc-tor, Capital Small FinanceBank, among other eminentindustry experts and leaders.

Apart from the Employers and Industry fromthe State, representations from select prominentcompanies included ITC Ltd, HindustanUnilever Ltd (HUL), IBM India, Axis Bank,Mahindra & Mahindra, Max India Ltd, ApolloHospitals, Startup Accelerator Chamber of Commerce among others. The event also had select invitees from the Sector Skill Councils,Skill Training Agencies and University representatives.

Vocational education

9Punjab Advance

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apt Amarinder Singh met steel magnate LakshmiMittal over lunch in London to discuss a project

for setting up a downstream Petrochemical industry in San-grur, apart from a slew of other ventures in the state.

This was their second meeting in two months and thetwo agreed to explore various initiatives to enhance the in-vestments of Mittal-owned ArcelorMittal – the world’slargest steelmaking company – in Punjab, an officialspokesperson said.

On the agenda for the talks was a proposal to set up aRs 20,000 crore petrochemical plant in Bathinda, where thecompany already has a petroleum refinery. The projects willhelp generate large-scale employment, besides raising rev-enues for the state. Mittal stressed the importance of petro-chemical industries as an important source of industrialgrowth and urged the Chief Minister for infrastructural sup-

port from the government. Captain Amarinder assured Mittal of all help in facili-

tating the development of infrastructure and other facilitiesin the state to facilitate business and industrial promotion.He cited various steps taken by his government to ease busi-ness and said the new industrial policy, set to be unveiledsoon, will give a big boost to industrial development in thestate.The two also took forward their earlier discussions onsetting up ancillary industries with investment ranging fromRs. 1 crore to Rs. 200 crore, as a joint private-public initia-tive, in Bathinda, thus giving a boost to the industrial de-velopment of the region.Besides the Rs 22000 crorecapacity expansion programme already initiated at theBathinda refinery, Mittal’s company has also embarked onthe process to set up a naphtha cracker unit to produce basicraw material for plastic manufacturing.

Mittal to expand investment

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh onMonday evening welcomed NRIs to invest in the state,assuring them of his government’s full support in ensur-ing a hassle-free business environment with all necessaryclearances for investment within a week of application.

During an interactive session with former Indian mar-keting and ad guru Suhel Seth and his biographer Khush-want Singh at the Mayfair Hotel in London, the ChiefMinister said corporates from India and other countrieshad shown interest in investing in the state and all effortswere being made to facilitate them. From the Tatas to the

Mahindras and the Ambanis, all the major industrial andbusiness houses in the country had offered to invest in Pun-jab, said Captain Amarinder, adding that things werechanging for the better.

The Chief Minister, who is credited with bringingMNCs into Punjab by getting Pepsi into the state as Agri-culture Minister way back in 1985, assured NRIs of all fa-cilities to ensure that they do not have any problem indoing business in the state. His government was ready towelcome and support them with the best of infrastructure,skilled labour and other facilities, he added.

CM woos NRIs

CCaptain Amarinder Singh with steel magnet Lakshmi Mittal in London

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arak, a resident ofPathankot, got a job

in Bains hotel in Pathankot dur-ing the job fair in Pathankot.Tarak, who had studied at thePathankot Industrial Training In-stitute (ITI) and completed hiscourse two years ago, said thathe had to struggle to completehis studies as his father became

jobless three years ago.“My dream has come true.

Although the salary is Rs 4,500per month, I feel that I can helpmy parents run the family. Myyounger sister is studying inClass XI. I want her to completeher studies without any prob-lem,” said Tarak, adding thatafter receiving the job letter, he

made the first call to his mother.Vikas, another applicant who

got a hotel job, completed hisstudy at the ITI in Pathankotarea and then started looking fora job. He had not got a job forthe last one-and-a-half year.

“I got a job for Rs 6,500. Ibelong to a very small family inPathankot. My father works as a

T BUREAU REPORT

A dream come truefor the jobless

A girl receives an appointmet letter from the Chief Minister

11Punjab Advance

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September - 2017

manager with a private companyin Jalandhar. I have a youngersibling. After completing mystudy, I was desperate to get ajob to help my family. I feel thatnow I can help my family in abetter way,” he added.

Jasmine Kaur, a student fromJalandhar, com-pleted her post-graduation inbusiness manage-ment in 2016. Shesaid that she hadbeen looking for ajob for the last oneyear and she at-tended the job fairat Lovely Profes-sional Universityon August 21. Shegot selected by Re-liance for an an-nual package of Rs2.20 lakh. Daugh-ter of an electri-cian, Jasminecame with herfriend HarneetKaur to take herappointment letterat the function.

“It is a dreamcome true for me. Iwanted to earn onmy own. My father alwaysasked me to focus on my stud-ies. I completed my studies fromChandigarh University, and thenmoved back to Jalandhar in2016,” she added.

Jagjot Singh, a resident ofRopar, completed his M Tech incivil engineering last year and

he got selected at the job fairheld at Chandigarh University(CU). His father is a farmer.

“I got a job in Delhi, with anannual package of Rs 4 lakh. Ifeel it was my sheer hard workthat I got this job,” he added.The maximum number of appli-

cants who got the job letterswere in the age group of 22 to28 years.

The Punjab government heldas many as 21 job fairs in 13days last month and around fourlakh people applied for variousjobs on a special websitelaunched for the ‘Ghar Ghar

Naukri’ programme by the stategovernment. Out of the totalfour lakh applicants who appliedfor the jobs, around 3.10 lakhgot selected for various jobs.

Those who got selected in-cluded 1.57 lakh graduate can-didates who have done their

degrees in differenttechnical coursesand 62,229diploma holders indifferent subjects.As many as 54,417candidates havedone post-gradua-tion in differentsubjects and38,221 applicantshave completedtheir degrees fromvarious IndustrialTraining Institutes(ITIs).

The applicantswho got selectedwere offered an-nual packages be-tween Rs 1.20 lakhand Rs 21 lakh bythe companies. Inthe first phase, ap-pointment letterswill be distributedto 50,00 applicants.

A total of 832 companiescame for the job fairs and se-lected the candidates. The majorcompanies which participated inthe job fairs include Maruti, Re-liance and Videocon. The localcompanies, including Pathankot-based Bains hotels, also recruited candidates.

The two girls are all smiles as theyu pose with the Chief Miniser

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Trade icons and

minent doyens fromacross Punjab and out-

side have hailed Capt AmarinderSingh’s efforts at promoting acongenial atmosphere to boostinvestments in the state throughhis Ghar Ghar Rozgar pro-gramme.

They called for a paradigmshift in the education sector thusskilling the youth according tothe needs of the industry. Theyalso called for promoting start-ups and young entrepreneursand providing regular and effi-cient labour.

Eminent economist IsherJudge Ahluwalia stressed the

need for private investment inthrust areas such as textiles andlogistics and called for morepublic-private partnership in in-frastructure building which wasthe key to creating investmentfriendly environment in thestate. Mr S.P. Oswal, Chairman

and MD, Vardhman TextilesLimited:My company has re-cruited Punjabi girls in the ap-parel industry. Their skill andproductivity is on a par withworkers in China.Mr. A.S. Mittal, Vice Chair-

man, Sonalika InternationalTractor Limited expressed his

views on ‘Role of Large Units todevelop ancillary units and fa-cilitate job’, He further said:“Cheap power to industry can bea game-changer for the industry,especially the sick steel units inMandi Gobindgarh which fall inthe large consumer category.Mr. Krish Iyer, President

and CEO, Walmart India pro-jected Punjab’s consumption ca-pacity as an immense scope forgrowth. He pressed Punjab gov-ernment to bring a retail policywhile speaking on the theme of‘Attracting global retailers toPunjab – and retail jobs’

He further said: “GST has

EBUREAU REPORT

Krish IyerIsher Judge AhluwaliaSP Oswal

13Punjab Advance

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September - 2017

created a borderless country. Lo-gistics and warehousing, alongwith retail, will drive growth, es-pecially in a food-growing statelike Punjab. The state shouldcontinue its focus on ease ofdoing business.” The companyhas opened five cash-and-carrystores in the state and plans toadd 10 more’Dr. PJ Singh, Managing di-

rector, Tynor Orthotics ex-pressed his views on the theme‘MSMEs as a growth engine foremployment’. He stressed on theneed to promote e-commerceand e-education to boost theeconomy and employment gen-

eration.Mr. Sandeep Jain, executive

director, Monte Carlo stressedon the need of promotion ofhomegrown brands and shortageof skilled labour while express-ing his views on ‘Creatingbrands for regional and globalsupplies from within the state’.Mr. Jatinder Jain, Manag-

ing Director, Kochar InfotechPvt Ltd answered the questionraised under theme ‘Can Punjabtap the IT and ITeS industry’.

Expressing his views on‘Food processing industries –unlocking the great potential’,Mr. Bhavdeep Sardana, Senior

Vice President & CEO, SukhjitStarch & Chemicals Limited,suggested Punjab government toset up clusters of specific indus-try besides ensuring backwardand forward linkages for thefood processing industry and en-couraging contract farming.Sarvjit Singh Samra, who

has set up the Capital Small Fi-nance Bank, said he had a pol-icy of recruiting local talent. Hisbank recently graduated frombeing a local area bank to asmall finance bank with 77branches. Samra said he wouldadd 30 branches this year and re-cruit 3,500 youth by 2022.

experts speak

AS MittalSandeep Jain Sarvjit Singh Samra

14 Punjab Advance

Donald Banerjee

Cover

· Memories of 1947 exodus come alive· Capt walks down memory lane with moist eyes

PartitionDown memory lane

jj mein aankhan WarisShah nu....’ the recital

of Amrita Pritam’s sad poem on theplight of women during partition andpiped songs of the freedom struggleprovide the ideal background score asone walks down memory lane through

rows of pictures, paintings and videoswhich serve as mementoes and mate-rial of the 1947 partition of the country.

Even the Chief Minister, CaptAmarinder Singh, could not hide hismoist eyes as he took a walk throughthe exhibition, calling it a memorable

experience. The world’s first Partition Museum

inaugurated by Capt Amarinder Singhin Amritsar stands as a tribute to thesacrifices of the millions of people wholost their lives and homes in the parti-tion of the country in 1947. It stands

“A

September - 2017

Chief Minister Capt Amrinder Singh welcomes Gulzar at partition museum

tall as a reminder that such sad eventsnever be repeated in any part of theglobe.

It was a sombre moment as theChief Minister unveiled the plaque ofthe museum – an initiative of The Artsand Cultural Her-itage Trust orTAACHT, at aspecial commemo-ration ceremonywhich scripted theobservation of Au-gust 17 as PartitionR em emb r a n c eDay. A minute ofsilence was ob-served after theringing of a bell atthe historic TownHall, where theMuseum has beenbuilt. The ChiefMinister dedicatedthe Museum, de-veloped in collab-oration with thestate government,to the nation.

In his speechfilled with memo-ries and emotionsof the sad chapterof Indian history,the Captain laudedthe efforts of LordMeghnad Desai ingiving shape to thefirst-of-its-kindmuseum, whichhad “recreated a very sad chapter ofour history.” The museum, along withThe Azadi Memorial in Jalandhar andsimilar initiatives, would help theyounger generation to know and understand their past and learn from it,

said the Chief Minister, adding that nonation could do well without learningtheir lessons from history.

The Chief Minister said that whilefor the younger generation, the parti-tion woes were mere statistics, but for

those who went through it had manysad and grim memories of those times.The museum, he said, would help theyoungsters actually see and experienceone of the greatest migrations in history.

He recalled his own memories ofthe partition, when, as a young boy,while coming back home from hisboarding school in Shimla in a train hehad pushed the curtain aside to seebodies lying at one of the stations. It

was a memorystill etched in hismind, he added.

The ChiefMinister also re-called the workdone by hismother, RajmataMohinder Kaur,who helpedrefugee girls togo back to theirhomes. He re-called how hermajor memory ofthose days wasthat many of thegirls forcibly sentback home werehappily settled intheir new homesacross the borderand did not wantto leave theirchildren and fam-ilies but wereforced to do sofollowing anagreement by thegovernments ofIndia and Pak-istan.

The PunjabG ov e r nm e n t ,

which has supported the constructionof the Museum, has already declaredAugust 17 as ’Partition RemembranceDay’. Seventy years after India becameindependent, hundreds of young menand women experienced, for the first

Punjab Advance 15

Cover

The inspiration for the museum came from the stories of Urdu writer Saa-

dat Hasan Manto, who is remembered as a brutally honest chronicler of the

violent divide. He belonged to Amritsar and his family home in Gali Vakilan

was among the 40% houses burnt down in the communal violence during Par-

tition.

This is revealed by Kishwar Desai, the driving force behind this first at-

tempt of a museum of its kind in India. “In the 50th year of Independence and

Partition, I started working on Manto’s stories for television. It was then that I

thought there should be a museum to Partition and it has taken me two decades

to translate this dream into reality,” says Desai.

Why Amritsar? Because it was reduced to an inferno at that time with half

the population fleeing across borders drawn by the Radcliffe Line. The city

was the transit point of the massive migration on both sides of the border.

September - 2017

Brain-child of Kishwar Desai

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time in their lives, the pain and suffer-ing their parents/grandparents hadgone through during one of the world’sbiggest exodus across the border. Asthey came face to face with many grimreminders of that painful history, onecould see a wave of emotions streamtheir eyes.

Earlier, addressing the gathering,Minister of Local Government,Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Archivesand Museums, Navjot Singh Sidhu de-scribed the Museum as the story ofhuman resolve and resilience, as wellas the indomitable human spirit. TheMuseum had revived history whichwas getting lost in the sands of time, hesaid, adding that Captain AmarinderSingh had created history by openingthe museum.

The event, which was marked by apoetry recital by Gulzar, who launchedhis newly translated book, ‘Footprintson Zero Line: Writings on the Parti-tion’. The occasion, was marked by aseries of events, including panel dis-

cussions with eminent experts such asUrvashi Butalia and the poet SurjitPatar, a short play on Partition by Ka-haniwala, and Sufi music recital by theHashmat Sultana sisters.Addressingthe gathering, the Partition MuseumTrust Chair, Lady Kishwar Desai,thanked the state government, led byCaptain Amarinder, for its support tothe development of the unique Mu-seum, dedicated to the spirit andcourage of the Partition survivors. Shealso expressed her gratitude to thosewithout whose donations the museumwould not have become a reality.

Advertising Guru Suhel Seth, whohas the Gallery of Migration namedafter his parents, described his contri-bution as a `befitting tribute from agrateful son.’ Padmashri V S Sahney(a Trustee of TAACHT), Chair of theSun Foundation, described it as a peo-ple’s museum, whose inauguration wasa solemn occasion.

Built in the long-neglected TownHall building at Katra Ahluwalia near

the Golden Temple complex, the Mu-seum is inspired by the stories of Urduwriter Saadat Hasan Manto, who be-longed to Amritsar and whose familyhome in Gali Vakilan was among the40 per cent houses destroyed in thePartition communal violence.

The Museum has put together me-mentos and material of 1947 shared byvarious people and is a walk downmemory lane, with its pictures, paint-ings and videos.

A wall-hanging reads that 9,423abducted women were recovered fromIndia and sent to Pakistan between De-cember 1947 and July 1948. 5,510women abducted women recoveredfrom Pakistan were sent to India.

A Hall of Hope brings one out ofthe Museum of misery, with paperhangings of migratory birds leadingthe way, and a Tree of Hope, craftedfrom barbed wire by designer NeerajSahai, standing out as a symbol ofhope for the people of both India andPakistan.

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu with producer Mahesh Bhatt, director Srijit Mukherji, actor Gauhar Khan andothers from the film’s team at Partition Museum, Amritsar

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From water pots that accompa-nied them on their journey to Indiato ancestral items they broughtalong, memorabilia collected fromthe families of those who crossedthe Radcliffe Line in 1947 are ondisplay at the Partition Museum.

Spread over 17,000 sq feet inAmritsar, with 14 galleries, themuseum documents the history ofevents that led to the Partition 70years ago.

"It's a people's museum be-cause all the memorabilia has beencontributed by families of thosewho survived the Partition," saidMallika Ahluwalia, CEO of themuseum. "Some shared their sto-ries, others shared memorabilia,including the kurtas they werewearing that day and property pa-pers."

Each of the 14 galleries depictskey events from 1900 to 1947 thatlead to the Partition and have asoundscape recorded by the sur-vivors, with contribution fromeven from across the border. Thereare narratives recapitulating thejourneys across the Radcliffe Line,with survivors recounting theirstories in their own voices.

There's a gallery dedicated tothe Boundary Commission, whichdemarcated the boundaries withinweeks of the decision, strugglingwith outdated maps and census.

The end note is the Gallery ofHope which contains profiles ofsurvivors such as Milkha Singhand Gulzar, whose stories have be-come part of history. "It is a trib-ute to their resilience—how someof them reconciled the traumathrough their work," saysAhluwalia.

Aankhon ko visa nahi lagta, sapnonki sarhad hoti nahi, band aankhonse roz main sarhad paar chala jaata hoon,milne Mehdi Hassan se… This poetry wasnarrated by legendary poet, Gulzar, to anaudience at Partition Museum in Amritsar.

The writer, while mapping memories ofpartition, unfolded a few of his literary cre-ations along with poet Sukrita Paul Kumar at‘Guftagu with Gulzar’ on Sunday.

Before sharing his literary creations, he took a walk around the museum, feelingthe pain of people, and said, “Likh likh ke main ye dard bhoolta raha, par aaj ye do-bara samne aagaya (I kept writing for years to subside my painful memories of par-tition, but today history came alive yet again). I was a kid of about nine-years, but Iremember everything. How our family got separated, how we were taken to refugeecamps. The ones who left their homes; us paar, ya iss paar; cultures have seen blood-shed.”

“There can’t be more perfect place for this museum. Coming here has broughthistory alive for me. One should learn that history cannot be changed, it just has tobe accepted as it is, irrespective of the fact that it gives us pain and tears till date,”said Gulzar, who along with Sukrita pointed out the wounds were grave, and film-making on this incident was not allowed. Also, till date cinema has not been able toshow a film where this chapter of history can be seen as it was.

Sukrita said, “Not only cinema, even our education system has failed to unfoldthe heart wrenching truths of Partition. Earlier it was needed to heal the wounds, butnow the archives should be brought out.”‘Bring tales from Pakistan to the museum’Gulzar suggested the trustee’s and the dedicated team of the Arts and Cultural

Heritage Trust (TAACHT) to also get the poignant tales from Pakistan to the mu-seum.

He said, “Jiye hain hum dard ke saath aur dard ko saath lekar (we have livedwith the pain and keeping the pain with us), now if we have a platform like this mu-seum, we should take out some chunks of our pain and hang it on the walls for gen-erations to read and feel.”

“Let’s try to get the stories from across the border as well. People in Pakistan alsofelt the tremors that we felt. Their stories should also be a part of the museum. In oneof my writings, I had stated hum logon ki duniya mein aam log kitne milte julte hain(People this side and that side have many things in common),” said the poet-writer.

Gulzar, while winding up the talk, said, “Pakistan ko main watan kehta hoon,par Hindustan mulk hai mera. (I was born there, but I belong here).”

“Desh, sarkar nahin hota, aur mulk hukoomat nahin hoti. Hukoomat aur sarkarto badal jate hain par mulk aur watan nahin badalte,” he quoted.

“One cannot change what happened and neither it is possible to be one again. Oneshould accept history positively and tell oneself that borders and siyasat have di-vided us but the waters, sunshine and air cannot be curbed, and the cultural exchangeshould not be changed,” he added.

No boundary for dreams: Gulzar

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t came as an Id gift fromCapt Amarinder Singh on

September 2, when an Air Allianceflight landed at the Sahnewal airport inLudhiana, connecting the industrialhub of Punjab with the Central Capital.

The 70-seater ATR 72-600 aircraftof Alliance Air — a subsidiary of na-tional carrier Air India — landed atSahnewal at 1.50 pm from Delhi with41 passengers in addition to four crewmembers. The flight took off againfrom Sahnewal for Delhi at 4 pm with48 passengers besides the crew.

The flight will operate four days aweek — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday

and Saturday. The price of 50% of thetickets (35) has been capped at Rs.2,079 under the ‘Ude Desh ka AamNagrik’ (UDAN) scheme that is aimedat promoting ‘flights for the commonman’. The Hindi word ‘Udaan’ means‘flight’.

While on Saturday the timingswere altered as it was an inaugural run,the regular flight will depart from Ter-minal 3 of the Delhi airport at 3pm andland at Sahnewal an hour later. ForDelhi, it will depart at 4.45 pm.

Sahnewal airport director ANSharma said, “The response was over-whelming, and we are hopeful of sus-

taining it. Deccan Air will also startflights in a month. There will be noflight in the morning as of now, keep-ing in view the visibility factor due tofog.”

This air travel facility will go along way in helping to boost develop-ment of the industrial city.

The resumption of domestic flightservice from Sahnewal Airport hasbeen hailed as a fulfillment of anotherpoll promise made by Capt AmarinderSingh during the run-up to the Assem-bly elections.

The flight service opened anothercost-effective and faster travel between

I

Ludhiana getsair link to Delhi

September - 2017

BUREAU REPORT

19Punjab Advance

Cover

Ludhiana, the industrial hub of Punjaband the national capital Delhi. The in-dustry and business community amongothers would benefit a lot with re-sumption of this four-day-a-week serv-ice, he added.

Flights from two other Punjabcities — Pathankot and Adampur — tothe national capital will also becomeoperational soon.

Capt Amarinder Singh was presentwhen the Punjab government signed amemorandum of understanding (MoU)

with the Centre and the Airports Au-thority of India (AAI) under theUDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik)project in June.

Amarinder lauded the initiativesaying it would give a boost to thelocal trade and industry, especially inLudhiana, besides helping the state ex-plore untapped commercial potential inborder areas to create job avenues.

The Bathinda-Delhi flight (Al-liance Air) is already operational.

About 1 lakh seats will be made

available under the scheme, wherein

50 per cent seats will be under fare cap

(concessional fare).

Requirement of viability gap fund-

ing will be shared by the Centre and

the state government.

Routes under UDAN, a regional

connectivity scheme, are selected

through a transparent bidding process.

During the first round of bidding, 27

proposals have been awarded.

T he Chief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh has written to Union CivilAviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Rajuto rename Adampur Airport domestic ter-minal as Sri Guru Ravi Dass ji airportkeeping in mind the sentiments of the Sikhcommunity, which revered the great

mystic-poet and founder of the BhaktiMovement.The demand had been endorsed by for-

mer MPs and MLAs of all political parties,both general and SC/ST categoriesThe Doaba region is all set to start

domestic flights from September 26.

September - 2017

CM for renaming Adampur airport

Air passengers at the Ludhiana airport

20 Punjab Advance

Cover

September - 2017

A Captain’s datewith the troops

ibri Cantonment (Gur-daspur): Years seemed to

whizz past in a whiff of warm breezeas Captain Amarinder Singh enteredthe 'Barakhana' (regimental dinner)with the troops of the 3rd battalion ofthe Sikh regiment on the borders ofPunjab. As the soldiers erupted in joy-ful euphoria, he wondered if he hadbeen transported back in time, to thosedays when he was an active soldier likethe rest of them.

His love for the army had led him

to join the force back then, and his lovefor the army was what motivated himto leave the comfortable confines of hishome to spend the night precedingIndia’s 70th Independence Day an-niversary in the dry and deserted plainssomewhere in the Western sector.

A soldier first and a soldier last ishow Captain Amarinder Singh loves todescribe himself. At the age of 75, theChief Minister of Punjab might not bea young soldier any more, but his heartstill beats for the Army, which contin-

ues to be his first and last love. That iswhy he chose to spend the night of Au-gust 14, 2017, with the men of the SikhBattalion, to which he belonged as amilitary officer.

For Captain Amarinder, it was likereliving history. Shedding his `neta’image for the first time in decades, heentered the mess looking as though hehad never been away. And why not?After all, in some ways, he had alwaysremained a part of India’s military es-tablishment, even though he had been

TBUREAU REPORT

Captain Amarinder Singh spends an evening with personnel of the 3 Sikh Regiment

21Punjab Advance

Cover

September - 2017

out of it for years now. As a militaryhistorian, he has continuously re-mained in touch with the Army, cap-turing its many facets in his highlypopular books. No wonder he felt hehad never been away, or at best that hehad come back home after a somewhatprolonged break.

It was a joyous occasion, indeed, notjust for the chief minister but for everyman at the camp station, which was tobe Captain Amarinder Singh’s home forthe night. The men had a pleasurabletime interacting with the Chief Ministerbefore they enjoyed a Pipe Band displayand a Bhangra performance, followedby dinner. Earlier, after a brief intro-duction about Captain Amarinder, therewas Gatka (combat training) display, aswell as a Battalion presentation, whichthe Chief Minister seemed to absorbwith full concentration.

“This is a special day in more waysthan one. Captain Amarinder has madeit a memorable occasion for us,” saidone of the soldiers who seemed to betotally in awe of the man who was partof the regiment much before he waseven born.

But the thorough gentleman that heis, Captain Amarinder gave all credit tothe men for making it a special occa-sion for him. “I will never forget thisnight. It has revived all those memoriesof the yonder when I was part of theforce. And at the same time, it has cre-ated many new memories which willremain etched in my heart and mindtill my last breath,” he said.

As dusk gave way to the nightstars, the 'Barakhana' turned into abustling centre where soldiers of the 3Sikh had gathered to felicitate the offi-cer and a gentleman.

Speaking to a national daily, CaptAmarinder Singh said that his heart isalways with the Army and that it wasan impromptu visit as he was alreadyvisiting Gurdaspur. “I came to knowthat 3 Sikh was stationed here and de-cided to spend this important eveningwith them. The last I visited this bat-talion was in 1964 when they were de-ployed in Kupwara. So I have come tothem after 53 years. It is so enjoyableto see the spirit of these boys,” he said.

Amarinder said that 3 Sikh hadoriginally been raised as the 45 Sikhsand they were raised by Capt ThomasRattray in 1846 at Lahore. A keen mil-itary historian, Amarinder said that thebattalion has ever since been known asRattray’s Sikhs. “I will never forgetthis night. It has revived all those memories when I was part of the Regiment,” he said.

Punjabw i l lobserve Sep-tember 12 asSaragarhi Dayto commemo-rate the battleof Saragarhi,fought on thisdate in 1897.It will be astate holidayand celebrated every year.

This was announced by Capt Amarinder Singh whileaddressing 3 Sikh soldiers with whom he was spendingthe Independence eve night.

The battle was fought by a small platoon minus of the36th Sikhs which battled against 8,000 tribals. The valiantmen fought for six hours and 45 minutes before all 22 fell.They chose death rather than surrender. They knew it wastheir last day on earth but refused to give up.

A state-level function will be held on September 12,2017 at the Saragarhi Gurdwara in Ferozepur, to mark the

o c c a s i o n ,which will bepresided overby FinanceM i n i s t e rM a n p r e e tBadal in theabsence of theChief Minis-ter, who willin London forthe launch of

his book on Saragarhi, as part of the Saragarhi Battle cel-ebrations.

Amarinder Singh had in April unveiled his latest bookcelebrating the role of Sikh soldiers and had also prom-ised to hold a literature fest on defence history and buildmemorials for heroes of the battle at Saragarhi. The booktitled "The 36th Sikhs in the Tirah Campaign 1897-98 --Saragarhi and the defence of the Samana forts" is a hom-age to the 21 men of the 36th Sikhs, who, led by HavaldarIshar Singh, laid down their lives fighting one of the great-est last stands of all times..

Saragarhi Day to be a holiday

22 Punjab Advance

PUNJAB DIARY

he Punjabgovernment

has nominated noted poetDr. Surjit Patar as Chair-man of the Punjab KalaParishad . The appoint-ment letter was handedover personally to the cel-ebrated poet at his resi-dence by the Tourism andCultural Affairs MinisterNavjot Singh Sidhu.Thanking the Punjab Gov-ernment for this honour,Dr. Surjit Patar said hewould initiate a people’smovement which wouldrender a yeoman’s servicein propagating Punjabi culture, folk arts and literatureworldwide.

Calling Dr. Patar a guiding light for the future genera-tion, especially the youth, Mr. Sidhu was confident that Dr.Patar would take the Punjab Kala Parishad to the farthestcorners of the state by the dint of his energy and positiveapproach. He also said that serious endeavours would bemade to associate 1 lakh art and culture lovers directly inshort time with the activities of the Parishad. He alsothanked the Chief Minister especially for the appointment ofDr. Patar.

The Minister said thePunjab Government hadplanned to constitute a‘Cultural Parliament’within the next month toensure that constructivedeliberations are held todevise strategies for popu-larizing Punjabi art andculture. He further said thatmodern tools of communi-cation such as internet andsocial media would beused to spread Punjabi cul-ture and art to every house-hold in the state.

Sidhu said as Punjabiart and culture is very

closely interlinked with school education, he would meet theEducation Minister Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary to chalk out modal-ities for linking school students with this great enterprise.

Accepting his appointment as the Chairman of the Pun-jab Kala Parishad, Dr. Surjit Patar assured the lovers of Pun-jabi art and culture that he would leave no stone unturned inpropagating the Punjabi culture as well as literature. He alsosaid that it would be his sincere attempt to organize musical,poetry and singing contests throughout Punjab to connectthe people with their great literary, cultural and artistic her-itage of the State so as to widen its base.

T

s a goodwill gesture onthe occasion of the

70th Independence Day, PunjabChief Minister, Capt AmarinderSingh, has recommended the re-mission of prison sentences of up-to one year for convicted prisonersundergoing imprisonment in jails inthe state.

The chief Minister's recommen-dation for the remission was ac-cepted and approved by PunjabGovernor V.P. Singh Badnore, whois vested with the powers to grant such remissions under theprovisions of Article 161 of the Constitution of India.

Remission of one year will begranted to prisoners who are under-going imprisonment from 10 to 20years. Likewise remission of 9months will be given to those withsentences of 7 to 10 years and 6months to those incarcerated for aterm of 5 to 7 years.

Prisoners, with sentences of 3-5years will be given a remission of 3months. Those with a conviction ofless than 3 years will get a remis-sion of 2 months.

These remissions would be however, not be granted to aperson convicted for heinous crimes.

ARemission for prisoners

Dr. Surjit Patar with Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu

September - 2017

Surjit Patar is Punjab Kala Parishad chief

23Punjab Advance

PUNJAB DIARY

he Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has setup a high-powered planning and monitoring

committee for the upgradation and overhaul of governmentmedical and dental colleges, which had been allowed to de-teriorate to pathetic levels by the previous government inthe state.

The committee will be headed by Medical Educationand Research Minister Brahm Mohindra, with former UnionMinister Preneet Kaur appointed as its patron. Advisor andformer chairman Medical Council of India and DirectorPGI, K K Talwar, has been named vice-chairman, while theVice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sci-ences will be its ex-officio member.

The Committee will submit its interim report by Octo-ber 31, 2017 and the final report by December 31, 2017.

The committee had been mandated to identifygaps/shortcomings, besides suggesting and monitoring steps

for improvement in the areas of infrastructure, equipment,human resources, patient care, specialist care, super-spe-cialty care, intensive care, trauma care, hospital manage-ment in its totality, teaching, research and any other aspectwhich is considered necessary to improve the functioningof the college and hospital to which it is attached.

The committee will also work out the feasibility of thePublic-Private Partnership model to augment patient care,teaching and research. It will draw out a short-term andlong-term comprehensive Action Plan for achieving theirholistic improvement.

At one time, Government Medical Colleges of Patialaand Amritsar were rated among the top medical institutes inthe country. However, over the years, these institutions havelost their sheen and their ratings among medical colleges inthe country have dropped.

TCM sets up panel on medical colleges

n Indian originHarvard doctor

has proposed state-of-the-art genome technology tothe Punjab government tofacilitate cancer treatmentfor patients in the state

The proposal was putforth by Dr Manoj K.Bhasin, Assistant Profes-sor of Medicine at Har-vard Medical School, US,at a meeting with theChief Minister, CaptAmarinder Singh.

The Captain assured themedical expert of all support from his government to takethe venture forward and directed the Chief Secretary to con-vene a separate meeting with him to further chalk out a com-prehensive plan for its implementation. He also asked theChief Secretary to involve the state government MedicalColleges at Patiala, Faridkot and Amritsar, besides the HomiBhabha Cancer Hospital at Sangrur and Advanced CancerCentre at Bathinda, for the purpose of Genome sampling.

The Chief Minister also gave in principle nod to Dr.Bhasin’s proposal to initiate a programme of meditation andyoga for the drug addicts in one of the drug addiction and re-

habilitation centres as apilot project. The pilot, tobe undertaken throughAyush, could be laterreplicated in other centres,depending upon its response and success, headded.

During the meeting,Dr. Bhasin apprised theChief Minister that he waswilling to develop the lat-est genome therapy totreat the patients afflictedwith cancer in Punjab,which had probably one of

the high incidences of this deadly disease. He said the newtherapy was based on the sampling of genome taken fromthe cancer patient and then characterized, stored and se-quenced to ascertain the nature and type of the cancer. Thetherapy could eventually prove to be quite affordable in can-cer treatment, he added.

Dr. Bhaisn also proposed a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and the upcoming Tata MedicalCentre in the Medi City in Mullanpur (near New Chandigarh) for the implementation of the genome cancertherapy programme.

AHarvard doc to help in cancer treatment

September - 2017

Dr Bhasin with the Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh

24 Punjab Advance

PUNJABIS OVERSEAS

asleen KaurJosan hasbeen selected

by the US government'sspace research organi-zation, NASA (Na-tional Aeronautics andSpace Administration),for the year 2030 mis-sion to the planet ofMars.

Jasleen Kaur willofficially be the firstSikh to go out to spaceand also be amongst thefew human beings to goto the planet Mars, on a project dubbed The Orion Mis-sion.

An earlier mission to Mars will take place in three

years from now, al-though this is a one-way colonizationmission where thegroup inhabiting Marswill not be returning toEarth. Josan is part ofthe two-way missionwhich is set to happenin 2030.

"It will likely takenine months to reachthere, three months tostay there, and then an-other nine months toreturn. So it's a 21-

month mission in total", said Jasleen Kaur. She shared that she and her family are more excited,

than nervous about the chance to go Mars.

J

Jasleen Kaur Josan

44-year-old Briton of In-dian origin, is being hailed

as a hero after he risked his life tocomfort a young victim of the terror at-tack in Spain in which a van ploughedinto pedestrians, media reports said.

Harry Athwal, from Birmingham,had been holidaying in Spain last weekwhen the attackers drove down LasRamblas, Barcelona, at speed, killing14 persons and injuring more than 100others.

Without considering his ownsafety, Athwal ran from the first floorrestaurant where he was dining to thepavement and cradled a young boywho had been struck by the van, TheMirror reported. He was seen comfort-ing the boy, with a photo of them going viral.

Athwal ran up to the boy as the terrorist’s van swervedmindlessly past, despite the bodies being thrown high inthe air and cries from police to stay back for his own

safety. Later, Athwal said he cast aside all

thoughts for his own safety at that mo-ment because the boy suddenly be-came in his eyes, his own son. Assuch, he could not leave him alone tosuffer, or to be mowed down again bythe terrorists should they reverse cal-lously.

“He was unconscious, his leg wasbent the wrong way, there was bloodcoming out of his head. I was check-ing for a pulse and he didn’t have one,”Athwal said.

“I thought he had gone. I wasstroking his hair and in floods of tearsbut I stayed with him... I was notgoing to leave this child in the middle

of the road,” he said. The project manager, who lives with wife Harjinder

and sons Diernn, aged 19, and Khye, 8, also told the dailyof how he had not even planned to visit Barcelona.

AAthwal hailed as hero in Spain

Jasleen Kaur for Mars mission

September - 2017

Harry Athwal

25Punjab Advance

PUNJABIS OVERSEAS

ellinghamin What-

com County ofWashington State inthe US saw racialriots on September4, 1907, when earlyIndian, Japaneseand Chinese workers were forcedto leave. A mob ofsome 500 localWhite people at-tacked them, scat-tered theirbelongings, andforced them out.

Sikh historianSeema Sohi, who got her doctoratefrom the University of Washingtonand wrote a book about these riots,‘Echoes of Mutiny’, says there areuncanny parallels between then andnow. However, the citizens ofBellingham are making amends forthe misdeeds of the past by erectinga red-stone ‘Arch of Healing andReconciliation’ and honouring theimmigrants — the Indians weremostly Sikhs — in their persistenceto defy racism in the US. The stonehas been brought from India and thearch will come up in April next yearon the lawns of the Bellingham Pub-lic Library.

This has been reported by the Bellingham Heraldnewspaper which incidentally had also reported the 1907riots. At that time the early Sikh immigrants were termedHindus and the banner headline of the daily on September 5, 1907, cried out, ‘Hindus hounded fromcity’, with the subhead saying, ‘Mob drives foreignersfrom lodging houses and mills’.

A committee has been set up in Bellingham to buildthe arch, and deep research went into the study of theseriots.

The tempo for the riots then had been built within thelocal white community with the coming of Sikh

immigrants, whichwas described as‘the turban tide’ andthe ‘dusky peril’with one news-sheetscreaming, ‘Hinduhordes invading thestate’.

However, over a century later comesthe healing projectin which all commu-nities have participated. It isbacked by deep re-search by whiteAmerican scholarssuch as Paul Engles-

berg and Johanna Ogden. Welcom-ing the project, political analyst andchronicler of the Ghadar Party, Har-ish Puri says, “This is a heartwarm-ing endeavour. The 1907 riots at Bellingham and the 1910 riotsagainst early Sikh immigrants pavedthe way a few years later for the for-mation of the Ghadar Party. The1907 riots by white hoodlums werethe first brush of Punjabi immigrantswith racial hatred.”

Puri adds that such efforts shouldbe made in India too to heal thewounds of Partition violence of1947 and the killings of Sikhs in No-vember 1984. “If this is not done,

wounds fester and result in continuing violence and ha-tred.”

The Bellingham Herald quotes Satpal Sidhu, a Whatcom County member and chairperson of the Arch Committee, thus: “We are celebrating that these peopledid persevere, and look where we are today.”

Englesberg adds, “We are hoping it makes peoplethink and reflect on the past.”

The Arch Committee is working to raise about $2 million. Most of that money will go towards a scholarship fund to help the children of first-generationimmigrants go to college.

B

Seema Sohi

September - 2017

Arch of Healing in US

The early sikh immigrants to the US who faced racial riots in 1907

PartA museum o

ition of memories

28 Punjab Advance

War Heroes

aragarhi is the incrediblestory of 21 men of the 36th

Sikh Regiment (currently 4th SikhRegiment) who gave up their lives indevotion to their duty. This battle, likemany others fought by the Sikhs, high-

lights the heroic action by a small de-tachment of Sikh soldiers against10,000 heavily armed Afghan forces.This encounter took place on Septem-ber 12, 1987 in the Tirah region ofNorth West Frontier Province (now in

Pakistan, which then formed part ofBritish India). In keeping with the tra-dition of the Sikh army, they fought tothe death rather than surrender.

The battle of Saragarhi is one of theeight stories of collective bravery pub-

S(Saragarhi Day is on September 12)

BUREAU REPORT

The battle ofSaragarhi

September - 2017

21 against 10,000

29Punjab Advance

War Heroes

lished by UNESCO. It has been men-tioned as one of the five most signifi-cant events of its kind in the world.

Saragarhi Day is celebrated everyyear on September 12 to commemo-rate the battle.

On the Samana Range of the HinduKush mountains in Pakistan, theBritish Army built a small communi-cations post at Saragarhi, to be housedby an equally small contingent of sol-diers.

Saragarhi, itself, was little more

than a small block house and a signal-ing tower. It was constructed to enablecommunications between Fort Lock-hart and Fort Gulistan, two significantBritish posts situated on either side ofSaragarhi, albeit several miles apart.

By the end of August, 1897, therewas a general uprising of Afghans, andby the beginning of September, Pash-tuns were actively attempting to cap-ture British Army positions.

All of the 21 soldiers remaining atSaragarhi were members of the 36th

Sikh Regiment of the British Army,and the contingent was led by HavildarIshar Singh.

On September 12, 1897, in an ef-fort to prevent any further communica-tions between Forts Lockhart andGulistan, 10,000 Pashtuns attackedSaragarhi, beginning at about 9 a.m.

Since Saragarhi was a communica-tions post, almost the entire battle wasbroadcast in real time by its signalman, Sardar Gurmukh Singh, which iswhy we today know what exactly hap-

September - 2017

pened there when the 21 Sikhs foughtthe 10,000 armed invaders.

Shortly after the attack began, Gur-mukh Singh signaled for aid to Lieu-tenant Colonel John Haughton at FortLockhart, but he was told that immedi-

ate help was unavailable. Undeterred,the Sikh soldiers committed to fightingto the last to prevent the encroachingPashtuns from reaching the other forts.

The Sikhs were trying to buy asmuch time as possible for the other

forts to be reinforced, and were willingto pay for that time with their lives.After two unsuccessful attempts at thegates, the Pashtun forces eventuallybreached the wall. Fierce hand-to-handfighting ensued.

30 Punjab Advance

War Heroes

September - 2017

Shortly before the end, Ishar Singhordered his men to retreat even furtherwhile he remained behind in defense.He, too, fell, during that charge, as didall of the remaining soldiers except for the he-liograph operator, Gur-mukh Singh. Gurmukhwas the last to die, afterbeing burned to deathwhen the Pashtuns set fireto the post. He is reportedto have repeatedly yelleduntil the end, the Sikh bat-tle cry, “Bole So Nihal, SatSri Akal,” meaning “Shoutaloud in ecstasy! True isthe great Timeless One.”

Although no Sikh sur-vived the battle, their sac-

rifice sufficiently delayed the Pashtunssuch that reinforcements were able toarrive at the Pashtuns’ ultimate target,Fort Gulistan, in time to stop its fall.

In addition to the 21 Sikh dead, re-ports of Pashtun losses range from be-tween 180 and 600, though it’s difficultto discern the true number accurately.

That said, it was probablyat least 180 as that is whatthe Pashtuns themselveslater reported as theirlosses in that battle.

For their sacrifice,each of the Sikh soldierswere awarded the IndianOrder of Merit, the highestaward for gallantry thengiven to Indian soldiers bythe British. In addition,Saragarhi Day is celebrated each year onSeptember 12 to commemorate the battle.

Standing ovation to martyrsThe fierce bravery of the 21 Sikhs sent ripples

across the world. The British Parliament haltedtheir session mid-way to give a standing ovationto the martyred 21 in September 1897. The Britishmonarch praised the men and said:

It is no exaggeration to record that the armieswhich possess the valiant Sikhs cannot face defeatin war.

-- Queen Victoria, British Parliament 1897

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Brigadier Inderjeet Singh Gakhal (retired) and Randeep Hooda,who is playing Havildar Ishar Singh in a movie on Saragarhi

31Punjab Advance

War Heroes

September - 2017

T h e Battle of Saragarhi is all set to find its way intothe popular cinema through Bollywood. Wellknown director Rajkumar Santoshi will be directing ‘Bat-tle of Saragarhi’ with actor Randeep Hooda playing thelead role of Havaldar Ishar Singh.

. Actor Randeep Hooda’s look for the movie has beenrevealed. The actor attended Punjab Chief Minister, Cap-tain Amarinder Singh’s book launch, dressed as his char-acter from the movie. Randeep wore a khaki uniform witha turban at the book launch. Entrepreneur, Harjinder SKukreja, posted a picture of himself with the actor andwrote, "First Look of Randeep Hooda from the movie onthe epic Battle of Saragarhi revealed at CaptainAmarinder Singh's book launch!" Randeep, 40, re-tweeted the picture and confirmed his look from themovie. Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, The Battle ofSaragarhi is a historical war drama set against the back-drop of 1897's Battle of Saragarhi, which took place be-tween British Indian Army (including 21 Sikhs) andAfghans. Randeep will play the role of havaldar IsharSingh in the film.

The shoot for The Battle of Saragarhi was supposed tobegin last year in October. However, a disagreement be-tween the director, Rajkumar Santoshi and the producersstalled the film.

The 40-year-old actor, who will be portraying the roleof Havaldar Ishar Singh in the film, told news agency PTI:"There have been lot of ups and downs. But that's a partof filmmaking. The theme of the film is 'Soora sopahchaniye, je lade deen ke het, Purja-purja kat mare,kabhu na chhade khet' (Only he is brave who fights forthe cause of the poor. He may be cut into pieces and maybe killed, but he should not leave the field)."

"This is the saying of Guru Gobind Singh that they donot abandon the post (battleground). Similarly, we are notabandoning the film. We are going to make it happen," headded

The Battle Of Saragarhi is based on the 1897 battlebetween British Indian Army and Afghan Orakzai tribes-men in the North-West Frontier Province.

Battle Of Saragarhi, which also stars veteran actorsRekha and Naseeruddin Shah, will release later this year.

Hooda to play Havaldar Ishar Singh

32 Punjab Advance

Career n Competition

he two main questionsthat trouble candidates

looking forward to making a careerin business analytics are, firstly,what is the future of this niche inthe Indian context and secondlywhich college/ institutions offersthe best opportunities to explore theworld of business analytics and in-telligence in India. Given the factthat even after post graduation, em-ployment isn’t more than stagnant,

it is obvious for students to turn toa more rewarding degree pro-gramme. A programme that gives agood return-on-investment in termsof a sure shot successful career ismost sought after. Colleges todayare trying to customize theircourses in order to meet the em-ployment opportunities in the cor-porate world. This is wherebusiness analytics comes in the pic-ture. Investigating and analyzing

performance of business in past inorder to draw conclusions whichwill help that particular businessgain mileage and grow profits infuture is business analytics.

Career Scope & Opportunities In recent times, there has been a

sudden rise in the demand of busi-ness analytics. The prime reasonbehind this surge is the data-drivenand techno-focused approachesthat majority of organizations have

T

Big scope for

data analytics

BUREAU REPORT

September - 2017

33Punjab Advance

Career n Competition

willingly embraced. But, for howlong is this scenario going to staybeneficial. Will it still be advanta-geous for a student graduating fiveor ten years from now? Future of abusiness or career is solely de-pended on market demand as wellas its own versatility. Let’s under-stand the requirements in context ofBA.

1. A deficit of professional busi-ness Analytics: The major rea-son for growth of businessanalytics and intelligence is thefact that since the whole con-cept of analytics revolvesaround data, it is very challeng-ing to successfully complete thecourse. Hence, there is ascarcity of expert analysts.

2. According to Forbes (2015):There was a 123.60% jump indemand for Information Tech-nology Project Managers withbig data expertise, and an 89.8%increase for Computer SystemsAnalysts. Does this ring a bell?It’s going higher by every singlepassing day, now is the time tograb every opportunity you have

to become an analyst.

3. Higher demand: Higher salaries- An increase in demand of pro-fessionals in certain area is di-rectly proportionate to the risein compensation in that sector.So, if you’re the one looking todivert the flow of money to-wards you, this is the time to bein analytics.

4. The Harvard Business Review(October 2012): Quoted some-thing very interesting - job of adata scientist is the sexiest jobof 21st century. Now, whowouldn’t want to be one?

5. The McKinsey Global Institutereport(May 2011): “By 2018,the United States alone couldface a shortage of 140,000 to190,000 people with deep ana-lytical skills as well as 1.5 mil-lion managers and analysts withthe know-how to use the analy-sis of big data to make effectivedecisions.”

6. So basically, analytics is anever-growing branch of study.

Huge database is available invirtual form which has createda need for more effective andaccurate data based decisionmakers, which surely points afinger towards exponentialgrowth in demand of businessanalysts.Business analytics courses in

india and who should opt for it?If you’re a person who is pas-

sionate about numbers and data,analytics is the career for you. It isa challenging task which requireshigh degree of conscious effortsand smart work in order to putthings in perspective. This data fi-nally aids the process of decisionmaking that encourages growth ofcompanies and organizations. Anideal candidate is expected to be astatistics degree holder and/or amathematics degree holder. Postgraduation or a master’s degree issure to add value to it.

An integrated master’s levelprogramme curriculum, consistingof business data analysis and business intelligence - is quite popular since there are no effectivefull time programs in place forbusiness analytics.

September - 2017

Some of the colleges, which have either inte-grated business analytics in their regularcourse or are providing certificate courses,are:

• MISB Bocconi, Mumbai• SP Jain School of Global Management,Mumbai

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),Kharagpur

• Narsee Monjee School of Management(NMIMS), Bangalore

• Aegis School of Data Science, Mumbai• IIM Ahmedabad• IIM Kozhikode• NIT Trichy• Great Lakes Institute of Management,Chennai

• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management,Mumbai

• Shailesh J Mehta School of Management atthe Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai

Colleges to look upto

Punjab Advance 34

New Rs 50 currency noteThe new Rs 50 banknote will be is-

sued shortly by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) under the Mahatma Gandhiseries. Banknotes issued under earlier se-

ries will remain legal tender, it clari-fied.With fluorescent blue as its basecolour, the new notes will bear the pic-ture of the iconic stone chariot at Hampi,Karnataka on the reverse. The new notewill measure 66 mm x 135 mm. The RBIhas stopped printing Rs2,000 notes andhas stepped up production of notes ofother denominations, including new Rs200 notes.

SC strikes down Triple TalaqWith its trial to give an end to the

issue of the Triple Talaq in Muslim com-munity, the five judges of five faith of theSupreme Court of India in its judgementon 22 August 2017 struck down the va-lidity of triple talaq by a majority of3:2.The court in its verdict also said thatthe practice of instant triple talaq was vi-olative of Article 14 and Article 21 of theIndian Constitution. It also goes againstShariat and the basic tenets of the Quran.The bench said that the practice violatesthe fundamental right of Muslim womenas it irrevocably ends the marriage with-out any chance of reconciliation. JusticeRohinton Nariman (Parsi), Justice UdayLalit (Hindu) and Justice Kurien Joseph(Christian) struck down the practice byterming it as unconstitutional. They saidthat the practice was against the teach-ings of Quran and hence it couldn't be apractice to be protected under the rightto religion.CJI JS Khehar (Sikh) and Jus-tice Abdul Nazeer (Muslim) upheld thevalidity of triple talaq.Besides, the CJI

Khehar also directed the union govern-ment to bring law to govern marriage anddivorce in the Muslim community. Hesaid to come up with the law in sixmonths.

First IVF calfIndia’s first calf delivered by a surro-

gate cow through In Vitro Fertilisation(IVF) technology carried out in a mobilelaboratory was born in August 2017 inIndapur, Pune, Maharashtra.The calf hasbeen named as Vijay.The purpose of pro-ducing surrogate calf was to protect in-digenous cow breeds in its original formwhich have been destroyed due to cross-breeding. The donor cow, Ratan, be-longs to the Gir breed, whose populationacross the country is around one lakhcurrently. Other than Ratan, the oocytesof three more donor cows, one Gir breedand two Khillar breed, were also col-lected in November 2016. The otherthree surrogate mother cows are due togive birth in the next two weeks.

Current NATIONAL

Khaira VC ofSri Guru Granth Sahib UniversityProf Sukhdarshan Singh Khaira has

been appointed Vice-Chancellor of SriGuru Granth Sahib University, Fatehgarh

Sahib. Disclosing this here today Dar-bara Singh Guru , Member Secretary ofthe Sri Guru Granth Sahib UniversityTrust said he was selected by SGPCpresident from a panel prepared by the

search committee formed for the selec-tion of the suitable person for the post.Khaira is working as acting VC of theUniversity and head of the Law depart-ment as well.

Fatehgarh Sahib leadsin Swach mission

In a major achievement for the stateFatehgarh Sahib District of Punjab hasachieved first rank in the country underregular monitoring of Mission Swachand Swasth of the Government of India.In order to make the country clean andhealthy by year 2019, the Department ofDrinking Water and Sanitation, GoI wascarrying out regular monitoring of thestates under Mission Swach and Swasthto promote a healthy competitionamongst all the states to provide potablewater and sanitation to the people. Based

on these daily monitoring, two districts

of Punjab viz. Fathegrah Sahib and Bar-

nala have bagged first and ninth position

under this mission. The best performer

districts would be felicitated by the

Prime Minister on coming October 2 at a

function in New Delhi.

Ludhiana gets air link to Delhi

Domestic flights from Ludhiana's

Sahnewal airport will start from Septem-

ber 2 under the Union government's Re-

gional Connectivity Scheme.The first Air

India flight of a 75-seater plane from

Delhi to Ludhiana will land at Sahnewal

airport at 3 pm. The return flight is

scheduled at 5 pm the same day.

PUNJAB

Career n Competition

September - 2017

Punjab Advance 35

Comedian Jerry Lewis is no moreJerry Lewis, one of Hollywood’s

most successful comedians, died at theage of 91 at his home in Las Vegas onAugust 20. Lewis's 10-year partnership

with Dean Mar-tin saw themstar in 16 filmsand achievehuge box officesuccess. He be-came the high-est-paid actor inH o l l y w o o d ,

chalking up hits such as The Bell Boy,Cinderfella and The NuttyProfessor.Other notable successes in-cluded The King of Comedy in 1983, inwhich he played a talk show host stalkedby Robert de Niro. The White House re-leased a statement praising "the extraor-dinary life of one of our greatestentertainers", adding that Lewis

"touched the lives of millions"NASA launches TDRS-M

NASA on 18 August 2017 launchedTracking and Data Relay Satellite(TDRS-M) to help astronauts at the In-ternational Space Station in communi-cating with the Earth. This USD 408million Boeing-made satellite was sentinto space through United Launch Al-liance Atlas 5 rocket that was launchedfrom Cape Canaveral, Florida. TheTDRS-M satellite will facilitate space-to-ground communication for NASA’slow-Earth orbit operations. It will ensurethat scientists, engineers and controlroom staff can readily access data formissions like the Hubble Space Tele-scope and the International Space Sta-tion. It will support critical spacecommunication into the mid-2020s. The7600 pound TDRS-M satellite is the lastof 13 such satellites that have beenlaunched since 1983 and is designed to

last at least 15 years.

WWI ship wreckage found

A team of civilian researchers led by

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on 18

August 2017 discovered the wreckage of

World War II warship USS Indianapolis

18000 feet below the surface in the Pa-

cific Ocean, nearly after 72 years. Oth-

ers have tried to locate the Indianapolis

before, but all efforts were vain. USS In-

dianapolis went missing after a Japanese

submarine drowned it in the final days of

World War II. The Indianapolis sank in

12 minutes, making it impossible for it

to send a distress signal or deploy life-

saving equipment. Most of the ship's

1196 sailors and Marines survived the

sinking, but surrendered to exposure, de-

hydration, drowning and shark attacks.

Only 316 survived and out of them, 22

are alive today.

Khel Ratna for Sardar SinghThis year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

Award will be given to Paralympics dou-ble gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia

and hockeyplayer SardarSingh who isa former Indiahockey teamcaptain for thespec tacular

and most outstanding performance in thefield of sports by a sportsperson over aperiod of four years.

Usain Bolt retiresUsain Bolt, the greatest sprinter of

modern times, retired from the Athleticsworld on August 13, 2017. But thefarewell ended in pain as he injured him-

self while running the last lap of themen’s 4x100m relay race at the WorldAthletics Championships in London.While running the final race of his ca-reer, the 30-year-old Bolt, after takingthe baton from his Jamaican teammateYohan Blake, suffered cramps on his lefthamstring as he tried, in vain, to chasedown his rivals in the race.Bolt wentdown on his keens with hands on hishead in dejection and was then lyingalone on the tracks for a while beforeBlake and the other teammates, JulianForte, Yohan Blake and Omar McLeod,gathered around him.The towering Ja-maican, who had dominated the sprintrace like nobody else, was helped to hisfeet. As he limped over the finishing line,the crowd applauded him. Since 2008,

when Bolt set his first world record, hehad not lost a championship race andcollected 19 gold medals in 100, 200 and4x100 meters.Los Angeles to host 2028 OlympicsLos Angeles formally announced its

bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics afteragreeing on a deal with the Olympic or-ganizers. This deal with Olympic organ-izers paves the way for Paris to host theSummer Olympics in 2024.With this LosAngeles will be hosting the games for thethird time since it first hosted in 1932. Itlast hosted Olympics in 1984.Games inParis, the French capital, marks 100 yearssince the last time it hosted the Games.Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924and had narrowly lost out to London forthe right to host the 2012 Games.

EventsINTERNATIONAL

SPORTS

Career n Competition

September - 2017

36 Punjab Advance

ugust 16, was the firstdeath anniversary of Gur-

dial Singh, who is known for givingimpressive messages in his story andnovel writings. The decorated authorgave Punjabi fiction its first Dalit hero,Jagseer, in his 1964 debut novel‘Marhi da Deeva’ (translated into Eng-lish as ‘The Last Flicker’.

“A Spartan who has taken it all inhis stride,” is how he was known in theliterary world.

From a carpenter to a novelist ofsubstance, Gurdial Singh had relied onthe ingenuity of a craftsman, to whombuilding blocks to create an organicwhole come naturally. Gurdial re-mained rooted in his hometown anddid not move beyond Bathinda wherehe taught in the regional centre of Pun-jabi University.

He started his literary career in1957 with a short story‘Bhaaga(n)wale’ which was published

A

He gave Punjabi fictionthe first Dalit hero

Luminaries

September - 2017

Remembering Gurdial Singh

BUREAU REPORT

37Punjab Advance

in ‘Punj Darya’ edited by MohanSingh. He rose to popularity with thepublication of his novel ‘Marhi DaDeeva’ in 1964 and later in 1989 a filmbased on the novel was released.

After receiving the SahityaAkademi award, he was the first livingPunjabi writer who was given the Jnan-pith Award, a top Indian literary award.In 1998, in recognition of his serviceto Punjabi literature and culture, hewas awarded Padma Shri, India's high-est civilian award.

Internationally aaclaimed Punjabifilm ‘Annhey Ghorey Da Daan (Almsof the Blind Horse) was alsobased on Gurdial Singh’sPunjabi novel with the sametitle written in 1976.

Indian Sahitya Akademigave him its highest honourby awarding him a fellow-ship.

His novels ‘Marhi DaDeeva’ and ‘Addh ChananiRaat’ have been translatedinto English as ‘The LastFlicker’ (translated by AjmerSingh Rode, SahityaAkademi) and ‘Night of theHalf Moon’ (translated byRana Nayar, Macmillan) re-spectively. The NationalBook Trust has also pub-lished an English translationof his novel ‘Parsa‘.

Apart from novels and short sto-ries, he also wrote three plays, twoprose works and nine books for chil-dren.

‘Marhi Da Diva’ and ‘AddhChanani Raat’ are published in Lahoreby Suchet.

Sukhdev Singh Sirsa, president ofthe Punjabi Sahit Akademi, said: “Hewas one of the last ones in the MunshiPrem Chand tradition of writing aboutthe downtrodden. He brought alive thestruggle of the working classes of ruralPunjab. He leaves behind a rich collec-tion of work. He was writing to thevery last."

Gurvinder Singh, filmmaker, who

adapted ‘Annhey Ghorey Da Daan’into a movie said: “I was amazed bythe structure of ‘Annhey Ghorey’ inwhich events take place in less than 24hours and a Dalit family is pushedfrom the village to the city. I foundGurdial Singh a very gentle person andwas thrilled when he saw the film onDVD in Jaitu and liked it.”

Capt Amarinder Singh, who con-doled the demise of Gurdial Singh, onhis death, said: "His death is a greatloss to the contemporary world of lit-erature and the vacuum created by hisdeath will be difficult to be filled."

"Gurdial Singh chronicled the con-temporary times in his writings narrat-ing through fiction the harsh realitiesof life. He was a great story teller andthe master of narrative who won mil-lions of hearts through his grippingstories," he added.

Born into a Ramgarhia family oftraditional carpenters in Jaitu nearBathinda, Gurdial created his master-pieces in the ‘chabara’ (room on theterrace) and went on to win the mostprestigious honours, including theJnanpith Award (2000), the SahityaAkademi Award (1975) and the PadmaShri (1998). He struggled hard tostudy, having to return to labour now

and then; but deeply instilled in himwas the very dignity of labour. All this,and a countrywide appreciation heearned, while he remained rooted in hishometown and chose not to move be-yond Bathinda, where he taught in theregional centre of Punjabi University.

Well-known Hindi critic VishnuKhare, in an appraisal of Gurdial’swork when he won the Jnanpith hon-our, said, “His essential sensibility andlocale are rural and his medium is notthe urban, middle-class Punjabi but alanguage liberally, even belligerently,laced with his native Malwi (Malwai)

vernacular. In this he resem-bles Phanishwar Nath‘Renu’, who shook sophisti-cated Hindi out of its urbanenarcissism with his melangeof dialects from northernBihar.”

He treaded his own pathin other ways too. Whenthere was a spate of returningawards in protest against“rising intolerance” last year,with Punjab leading the way,Gurdial did not do so. “I willnot return the Padma Shri orany other award, even thoughI am pained by the growingintolerance and more. I feelthat the immediate responseof writers, following thekillings of writers in Kar-

nataka and the beef-related lynching inDadri, was spontaneous and worthy.But, after that, it has become a cult ofsorts and I have no wish to jump on tothe bandwagon,” he said in an inter-view to a national daily.

His message to the writers was,“They should continue to write, point-ing to the ills of politics, social in-equality and exploitation of all kinds,and raise awareness among the peo-ple.” And that is just what Gurdial didin a long and prolific writing career.

His novels include ‘Anhoye’(1966), ‘Adh Chanani Raat’, ‘Parsa’(1999), and ‘Aahan’ (2009). Besides,he published 11 collections of short

Luminaries

All his life, Gurdial Singh wieldedhis pen almost like a sword, cuttingthrough the dark, deceptive web ofsocial inequality, injustice, casteism,religious bigotry et al. He would, in-deed, go down in history as a writerwho used his pen to fight every con-ceivable form of social, political andreligious oppression.

September - 2017

38 Punjab Advance

Luminaries

September - 2017

stories, plays and other prose. His twonovels, ‘Marhi da Deeva’ and ‘AnheGhore da Daan’, were made into suc-cessful movies.

“Gurdial Singh’s talent was in thefact of bringing out the extraordinaryin an ordinary character in keepingwith the Sikh religious philosophy. Iwas privileged that he translated mynovel ‘Zindaginama’ into Punjabi in1994.” - Krishna Sobti, Hindi novelist

“I was amazed by the structure of‘Anhe Ghore da Daan’ in which eventstake place in less than 24 hours and aDalit family is pushed from the villageto the city. I found Gurdial Singh avery gentle person and was thrilledwhen he saw the film on DVD in Jaituand liked it.” - Gurvinder Singh, film-maker, who adapted ‘Anhe Ghore daDaan’ into an award-winning movie

“He did not return his award whenwe were doing so but he told me thathe is as disturbed by the events in thecountry. However, he said, the awardswere because of the love of people forhis writings.” - Mangalesh Dabral,Hindi poeHe made a startling entryfrom short stories to his classic 1964novel ‘Marhi da Deeva’ (The LastFlicker) which was adapted into a Pun-jabi film starring Deepti Naval, RajBabbar and Parikshit Sahni in 1989.The widely-acclaimed film went onwin a National Award. Marhi da Deevahad a Dalit sharecropper as the protag-onist for the first time.

He received the Sahitya AkademiAward in 1975, followed by the SovietLand Nehru Award in 1986, ShiromaniSahitkar award in 1992, Paash Awardin 1995, Padma Shri in 1998 and Jnan-pith Literary Award (shared with Hindiwriter Nirmal Verma) in 2000, amongmany others.

Rana Nayar who was instrumentalin the revival of interest in GurdialSingh's novels and short stories, haspayed glowing tributes to the greatPunjabi writer. He writes: It is hard tobelieve that the doyen of Punjabinovel, who changed the very tenor andsubstance of its discourse, more than

50 years ago, with the publication ofhis path-breaking novel Marhi DaDeeva, is no more.

All his life, Gurdial Singh wieldedhis pen almost like a sword, cuttingthrough the dark, deceptive web of so-cial inequality, injustice, casteism, re-ligious bigotry et al. He would, indeed,go down in history as a writer whoused his pen to fight every conceivableform of social, political and religiousoppression.

It's not without a reason that weoften think of him as a “messiah of themarginalised”. Yes, he was a fighter,and he fought till his very last breath,refusing to go under. But this time, hisbattle was not against life but death,and this is one battle no human hasever won. For Gurdial Singh, writingwas not merely another craft or voca-tion; it was the very stuff and substanceof his life and breath. Not many peo-ple can claim to bridge the gap be-tween practice and precept, but heactually did it, for he lived his thoughtsand wrote what he actually believed in.For him, writing was a form of ac-tivism, a way of transforming ourdecadent, putrefying social order.

He was one of the most read of ourcontemporary Punjabi writers, and heread the best there was to read. He wasthe happiest talking of ideas, dis-cussing books he had read and sharingviews on writers he loved to revisit. Ateacher in the classical mould, he wasalways around to share, teach andanalyse, and he would do so, compas-sionately as well as ungrudgingly.Never at odds, his Apollonian self-dis-cipline fused admirably with his irre-pressible Dionysian creative spirit,both in his life and his works.

Modest to a fault, Gurdial Singhwas always media shy, eager to shrugoff even the most prestigious of liter-ary awards and honours that came hisway. When he got Jnanpith in 1999 forhis novel Parsa, I had interviewed himfor The Hindu. In response to a typicaljournalistic question on what he felt onthis occasion, he had spoken with a

straight face, "Oh, this is for the char-acters of my novel or, at best, for Pun-jabi literature.” He was not so proud ofthe fact that he had got Jnanpith, butmore proud of the fact that he was thesecond Punjabi after Amrita Pritam tohave received it.

His output is, by any stretch, prodi-gious, as he has over 45 works of var-ied description to his credit. Though heearned his plaudits as a novelist andstory-teller extraordinaire, he has writ-ten and experimented with diversewritings: children's literature, plays, es-says, an autobiography, traveloguesand journalistic write-ups. Unlike mostserious writers, he believed that awriter must reach out to the peoplethrough all possible modes of commu-nication.

Some of the qualities that set himapart as a writer are his sincere, pas-sionate engagement with issues closeto his heart, his remarkable, often rarecontrol, even restraint over the artisticmaterial, authenticity of his beliefs andconvictions, and an unsparing, no-holds-barred articulation of it all inseveral of his works, fiction, non-fic-tion or otherwise.

Gurdial Singh has, indeed, left be-hind a rich literary/cultural legacy. Itwill take us years, if not decades, to un-derstand the exact measure of influ-ence his writings cast on Punjabi mind,society and culture. In some ways, hiscontribution has been mapped out al-ready, but there is so much more thatremains to be discovered.

I have no hesitation in saying thatthe real assessment of Gurdial Singh'swork is possible only if he is placedamong the best in recent times. Hecould confidently rub shoulders withthe likes of Chinua Achebe, Ngugi WaThiongo, Naguib Mahfouz and SiminDaneshwar. For now, he rests amongthe stars, with evening dew sheddingsilent tears over the departure of nature's very own, brilliant child.

39Punjab Advance

Luminaries

September - 2017

he National Award-winningfilm Marhi Da Deeva

(1989), produced by the NFDC, mer-cilessly explores the issues of eco-nomic inequality, social segregationand sordid life of landless farm labour-ers (seeri) and other landless commu-nities in Punjab and gives an insight toa Punjabi, particularly Malwai, villagemilieu.

Directed by Surinder Singh, thefilm was adapted from Punjabi novel-ist Gurdial Singh’s novel by the samename, written in 1969, later translatedinto English as The Last Flicker.

Caste-based segregation and eco-nomic inequality is questioned quiterationally by protagonist Jagseer (RajBabbar), who is forced give up theland, his ancestors have been cultivat-ing since long. On the other hand, Ron-

kee’s (Pankaj Kapoor) holds God re-sponsible for such a discriminationagainst them for being lower caste andscathingly argues with God for hispoor state of affairs and exploitation bythe landlords in village. The title MarhiDa Deeva, Lamp of the Tomb, itse