F E A T U R E S

Outward Bound Ho!
Lally Sidhu

THE craze for foreign lands has no limits. A Punjabi youth would do anything, literally. He can fake passports, identities and religion and travel to any country to land up finally either in Europe, America, Canada and even Dubai just to make fast bucks. He is prepared for any job which he is demeaning for him back home to earn dollars and establish as a prosperous person. All for the land of honey.

The latest is to become barbers and beauticians. This comes after learning the art and the tricks of an old age care givers and nannies. Most of these youth would dessert a sick relative at the first instance, but in those green pastures, they do this with confidence and punctuality.

Now in the eagerness to migrate to advanced countries the sons and boys of well to do landlord and high caste traders of Punjab  are now getting trained  the art of  `Barbary` and  `beauticians ` at hair dressing saloons  and  beauty parlours. A barber is a low caste person in the highrachy of castes in Punjab and had suffered ignominy for centuries at the hands of high caste jats and banias, khatris and brahmins.

The information from different immigration agencies revealed that the lust of Punjabi youth to go to abroad at any cost have no limits. Since  hair dressers and beauty parlors operators are in high demand in Australia provided these `barbers` and  `eyebrow makers` have some real  experiences and training of seven years at the  hair dressing  shops and  beauty parlors. It has been found that if a hair dresser has a training certificate of one year and good hair cutting skill then he or she can get permanent residency in Australia. Consequently such boys and girls are now busy in serving there hair dressing teachers in barbers shops. It is all upside down in the caste highrachy   as low caste barbers teach the high caste.

Since Australian embassy in New Delhi is very strict in verifying about the work schedule of these high class boy and girls of they are suppose   to sit and work in shops from morning to evening since the embassy inspectors can reject any case on the spot. They dare not miss from their place of work.

It has been found that along with their skill in the trade they are expected to know fluent English also. Therefore these boys and girls prefer to be trained in metropolitan cities, where they can conceal their identity and can get rigorous training in the art of communication in English.

Immigration experts say that the demand for different trades in different countries keep on changing over a period of time. Recently jobs for nannies, nurses, hotel helpers, cooks, waiters and domestic servants were in great demand. Now there is some slump.

Ironically even candidates for same sex marriages were also treated as potential immigrants in these categories. And, some did migrate taking advantage of new laws on same sex marriages, agents assert. Canadians officials deny this. According to immigration agencies after the date when Canadian Government allowed same sex marriages dozens of youth from Jalandhar, Phagwara and other candidate from Doaba region of Punjab have applied for visa on that ground.

The travel experts assert that the Canadian government has issued a large number of visas in the nanny category during the past few years.   Though the number of many visas has been sharply cut down yet scores of nanny training centers have sprung up across Punjab. The nanny trainees and old age care givers are taught to tend the children and  old and frail respectively.

The demand of nurses in Canada, Newseland and Australia and few other western countries has given fillip to nursing training as a result of which this trade has a emerged as a booming industry in Punjab. Right now about hundred nursing schools are functioning in the state. They charge heavy fee and are linked with hospitals for training.

It is claimed that nurses are preferred by hospitals, but have a better place in the marriage market in these foreign countries. Their employment chances being bright, they fetch good salaries.

There was a time when people were exported in the grab of players, but now this practice has stopped. Therefore, the immigration agencies have now lost all interest in them.

Recently British Embassy refused to give visa to well known Kabbadi players.

Many cases of immigration in the marriage categories have come in the light which many put to shame any self respect individual. In some of the cases the pious relation of brother and sisters was desecrated by presenting them as husband and wife. One such Punjab Jat couple was sentences by a San Francisco court two years back. They termed this sacred relationship into a relation of sin.

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Depleting Water Resources Threaten Punjab
Dr. Joginder Singh

PUNJAB, land of five rivers, located at the base of Himalayas was once very rich in water resources. The high potential agriculture that relieved the country from famines and hunger also meant excessive withdrawal of underground water. This indiscriminate use has caused serious environmental imbalances. The increase in cultivated area, crop intensity and area under water loving crops, all due to economic considerations have compounded the problem.

Consequently as Prihar noted in 1993 estimated a net water deficit of 14.41 million acre feet in Punjab. Yet, equally worrisome possibility by mining out of a sizable quantity of upper good quality water from the strata, the subsequent lower level supplies are turning out to be unfit for irrigation. The state may head towards a critical water famine situation. Public Health Department has identified 11849 out of 12402 Punjab villages as scarce in drinking water.

Regional picture:

The canals used to cover 58% of the total irrigated area in 1960-61, the share of which has now declined to about 25% and conversely the underground water is being exhausted through tubewells at a faster rate. The problems relating to water management require separate focus in the three agro-climatic regions of Punjab.

The sub-mountainous region has high rainfall but undulating topography result in high run-off of water resulting in flash floods. In this belt water table has not shown much change over the past three decades. Since water table is deep and soil is rocky, pumping out water is relatively uneconomical. The central sweet water region comprising two-third of state area has well knit system of tube-well irrigation. This is the most potential paddy-wheat area and thus food security belt of the country. The water table in this zone has been falling with an average rate of 0.23 meter per year, which is a matter of serious concern. If the situation continues like this, most of the centrifugal pumps would be replaced by submersible pumps exerting a tremendous cost on the farm sector. Therefore, the prevalent production pattern seems to be unsustainable. The south-western region popularly known as cotton belt comprises one-forth of the cultivated area of the state and has deep and brackish underground water. The water table showed a rise of 20-22 cm per year during 1992-03 motivating the farmers to shift from cotton to rice cultivation. Higher inflow of canal water in the area has caused rise in water table and even water-logging in some pockets. High humidity resulting from paddy cultivation has encouraged the built-up of insect-pests, threatening the cotton cultivation in this belt. Therefore, policy of water harvesting in semi-hilly areas, recharging the underground water in the central belt and shift in crop pattern in the south-western areas of the state can ease the situation significantly.

Due to fall in water table, particularly in the central belt cost of pumping out water has increased. The power required for lifting water from deeper surface is much higher. The centrifugal pumps are being replaced by submersible pumps and more electric tubewells are being installed. The electricity is thus getting in short supply, as a result of which the diesel pumps are being increasingly used to supplement the electric tubewells. In order to substantiate these observations, a field survey indicated that every decade an average farmer has to deepen their tubewells and enhance horse power for irrigation by 12 per cent.

Farmers’ Practices:

Farmers are also responsible for this ecological imbalance. They transplant the crop early in some pockets such that the crop escapes pests and the low opportunity cost of labour and farm machinery lowers the cost of cultivation. Therefore, on an average, about 25% rice area in the state is transplanted as early as in May requiring 30% higher water. PUSA 44, a long duration variety of rice crop though not recommended due to its 15% higher water requirements is adopted on about 40% area. Basmati, a superior strain of rice having lesser water requirement has gone down. Non-intervention of govt. in the basmati market and staggered transplanting of paddy are the major reasons for limiting its area. Higher intensity and more number of irrigations by farmers are also reported. The farmers need to be educated of adverse effect of early transplanting. Even suitable legislative measures may be taken to regulate the planting of rice through rationing power supply and streamlining procurement policy.

Water pricing and productivity

Suitable water pricing especially through metered system of electricity supply is essential. During 1997-02, the electricity for irrigation was made completely free of cost obviously for the political reasons. Then tariff was imposed @ Rs60/HP. The flat rate on HP basis is more detrimental to the resource use than even free electricity. Political whims again dominated the economic rationale and the electricity for irrigation was again made free.

It is estimated that per cubic meter of water, the gross return was Rs1.25 in case of paddy, Rs3.44 for rapeseed & mustard, Rs6.12 for wheat and Rs5.88 in case of cotton crop. Viewing it from another angle, to produce one kg of grain, paddy requires 4631 liters and wheat as 1030 liters of water. The cotton crop needs as much as 4249 liters of water for one kg output of seed cotton. Therefore, production and even export-import policy of agriculture sector, apart from economic parameters should take a serious view of requirements of natural resources especially water.

Crop diversification through less water using crops need to be encouraged in different agro-climatic conditions with the help of effective support price. Agronomic practices such as bed planting furrow irrigation, avoiding excessive flooding of fields, smaller fields, and sprinkler and drip irrigation could reduce the water requirements. Lining of canals, water courses and field channels, use of underground pipeline for conveyance of irrigation water should be encouraged. The unutilized water of rivers, drains and nullahs is a potential source which can be utilized for artificial recharge to groundwater. Construction of water harvesting tanks or medium capacity earthen dams for storage in the sub-mountainous region could provide supplementary irrigation facilities.

[Dr Joginder Singh is former professor of Economics, Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana and Gurinderjit Singh is a young economics student.]

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