Issue 39 Vol II, May 15, 2007

F E A T U R E S

A Good Mind at the Punjab Agriculture University
Gobind Thukral

WE all know very well that farm policies are not decided by scientists or vice chancellors of agriculture universities. The policies come under the domain of political economy where politicians and planners decide. A good pro farmer policy would always be   pro people and enrich the country. We had that period during the initial decades of independence and were able to overcome starvation and hunger in a big way. No longer now. Public spending on the farm and related sectors have dwindled considerably. Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh despite being an economist has held only tall promises.

Yet scientists do play a vital role. It is in this context that Punjab and particularly the farming community should welcome the appointment of Dr Manjit Singh Kang as vice chancellor of the PAU, Ludhiana.  It is one good decision taken by the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to put a quality mind at the helm of the premier teaching, training, research and extension services university in Punjab. PAU has played a primary role in ushering in the Green Revolution. Dr Kang evidently has sacrificed a position that was for him an honour and a good deal of money.

Here are excerpts from an interview.

Question: What inspired you to be back to Punjab and your alma mater after spending nearly four decades at the premier research institutes in the United States?

A: What inspired me to return to Punjab is service to my Alma Mater and to help Punjab agriculture and farmers. After spending almost four decades in the USA, I wanted to help my own people.

Q: You have taken charge of the Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana at a very critical time. At one level the whole of India particularly agriculture-dominated states like Punjab and Haryana are facing a crisis; farm production has reached a plateau. Annual growth does not cross one to two per cent while overall GDP is above eight per cent. We seem to have reached a dead end in farm research. Higher research institutes and universities are starved of talent, funds and right motivation. The atmosphere is now anti research and the work culture is least cared for. How do you plan to rectify this situation?

A. We have begun reviewing the research, teaching, and extension programme of the University. Also, I have requested that every faculty member prepare a 3-year and a five-year plan for the areas that they are responsible. Thru this process, individual departments and colleges should be able to develop a strategic plan of action to improve their programs. This "visioning" process would entail examining strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T), or SWOT analysis. Once the research and teaching components are strengthened, extension (delivery of research information to farmers) will be strengthened.

Throughout my career, I have demanded excellence of myself, and I demand the same of others. We are going to get people motivated to do their best work. I have given a couple of talks (to deans, directors and dept. heads and to teaching faculty) to convey my broad vision and expectations that I have of them. So far, the response has been positive. My approach to administration is to engage faculty in decision making (shared governance). Such "bottom-up" approach bears greater results than a top-down approach, which is generally resented by those affected.

I will hold each unit (department) responsible for making sure that proper work ethic is established. All individuals will be held accountable if they are getting paid from the tax-payers' hard-earned money.

Q. Does the answer for the present stagnation in agriculture research lie only in generically modified seeds? There is a strong evidence of the harm caused by these GM seeds to farming and livestock sectors. European Union does not encourage these GM seeds and technology and only American multinationals are keen in exporting them to the developing world. In India there is a lot of research that debunks the GM technologies. How do you see this development?

A: Genetically modified (GM) crops are just one component of agricultural research. Such technologies are useful especially when we have to bring in a gene to improve a crop trait from other plant species that do not naturally cross with each other. The GM technology should allow gene transfer not been between different plant species but also between plants and animals.

It is true that GM technology is more expensive than traditional breeding methodologies. Thus, seeds developed through the GM technology might be more expensive, but if a farmer can get a greater yield or can use less pesticides makes a strong case for GM crops. I have just today reviewed the research work being done on transgenic (GM crops) at PAU and I can say that it holds much promise not only in cotton but also in other crops.

Of course, we will have a comprehensive research, of which use of GM technology (transgenics) is a component. What is encouraging is that recently the Supreme Court has approved the use of GM crops and has issued guidelines.

Q. Many farmers have succeeded in organic farming in Punjab and elsewhere too. The cost is less, produce is more and health is taken care of. What future do you see for organic farming in Punjab to meet the worsening agrarian crisis?

A: Organic farming is necessary to provide pesticide/chemical-free food to the health-conscious public. Obviously, organic farming requires much more tender loving care to produce a crop than traditional farming, but labour being relatively cheap in the Punjab, there is great potential for organic farming.

Q. What agricultural model do you suggest to get out of the present stagnation including fragmentation of land holdings, heavy indebtedness, suicides and food shortages in the country?

A:  I think the best model is educating the farmers. They should consolidate holding by joining hands with other farmers. Furthermore, they would need to be counseled on the pros and cons of buying expensive machinery when they have small holdings. In addition, they would need to counsel on procuring loans for the right reasons. I understand that the heavy indebtedness of farmers is linked to suicides. The University and government should have educational programs to help farmers in these areas.

Q. What is your assessment of the present standards of farm research in India and what measures do we need to improve them?

A: Agricultural research in India has all of facets that exist in advanced countries, such as the USA. The main differences are perhaps better research facilities and more cross-fertilization of idea than in India. We may have a bit of "inbreeding" in science in India. We at PAU are exploring possibilities of establishing collaborations with universities in the USA. In fact, many offers have been received in which U.S. scientists have expressed interest in coming to PAU to teach short courses/workshops. In addition, offers have also been received regarding sending our young scientists to US universities for training. This should help equalize the gap to some extent. Eventually, we should be able to develop cutting-edge research programs at PAU.

Q What is your agenda for the PAU and what do you expect from your colleagues, supporting agencies and the government?

A: My vision for PAU is to be one of the top 10 agricultural universities in the world in the next five years. I expect my colleagues at PAU to work hard and dedicate themselves to achieve this vision. We expect to increase our interaction with sister agricultural universities/institutes/organizations. Of course, we expect help from the state government so that we no longer are in deficit spending. We immediately need about 128 crore rupees to tide us over.

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Bhai Santa Singh
A Unique Exponent of Guru’s Hymns -1
Harjap Singh Aujla

AS a child I was used to waking up between 6 and 7am. But on one cold early winter morning of 1948 my mother woke me up at about 4:30am, gave me a bath and made my “Joora” (a bun of combed and knotted hair worn by the Sikhs). After I put on new clothes, she took me to the family radio and asked me to operate it. I pushed the on-button and the light came on. Soon the sound appeared. The sign-on tune of All India Radio looked like a great achievement. Then a sweet voice announced the time 5:00am and the start of a special one hour morning service on the airwaves of All India Radio Jalandhar-Amritsar in honour of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

The announcer told that we are taking you to the Golden Temple Amritsar for a direct transmission of the recitation of “Asa Di Vaar”. In a split second the beat of the drums (Tabla), the sound of harmonium and high pitched voices of a group of musicians could be heard. It seemed that the musicians were emotionally calling Guru Nanak to once again bless this earth with his physical presence in human form. The special recitation of the hymns of the “Guru” sounded genuinely emotional and appeared rather impressive. At that young age I did not understand as to what was being sung, nevertheless, I felt highly impressed by the melody, tone and texture of the music. I had no knowledge as to who was singing, nor did anybody announce it especially. For a number of years the voices heard on that day were shrouded in mystery, but my curiosity was always there to un-revel this mystery.

Several years later, I had a chance meeting in America with Sardar Jodh Singh, the retired Assistant Station Director of All India Radio Jalandhar. Sardar Jodh Singh happened to be the announcer of the programme in the sanctum sancrorum of the Golden Temple on that auspicious day. He revealed for the first time that the group of musicians performing “Shabad Kirtan of Asa Di Vaar” at the Golden Temple during the first ever live transmission on the Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak was indeed led by Late Bhai Santa Singh, the then senior most musician of the Golden Temple. I knew it all along that it was somebody special, somebody highly accomplished. A number of “Shabads” recorded on 78 RPM gramophone records in the voices of Bhai Santa Singh Ragi and party were available in the market for decades and different stations of All India Radio including Delhi, Jalandhar, Jammu and Lucknow used to play these records.

Bhai Santa Singh had the God given unique capability to sing in very high notes, which most other musicians could not replicate. His exact date of birth is not known, but according to recorded information he was born in the walled city of Amritsar in 1904. During those days very few Sikhs used to sing even in the gurdwaras and those who did sing had to hone their skills at classical music under the strict guidance of Muslim or Pandit professional classical teachers. Bhai Santa Singh was no exception, he enrolled at a very young age as a learner of Sikh classical music in the music department of the famous “Yateem Khana” in Amritsar. The head teacher was a renowned trainer in classical music Bhai Sain Ditta. Several of Sain Ditta’s students served as the “Huzoori Ragis” at the Golden Temple. Other famous students of Sain Ditta included Bhai Taba, Bhai Naseera, Bhai Darshan Singh Komal and Sain Ditta’s own son Bhai Desa. But Bhai Santa Singh was exceptional among them all. Soon after completing his education at the “Yateem Khana” Bhai Santa Singh was employed as a “Hazoori Ragi” at the Golden Temple during early twenties. His group included among others another famous personality Late Bhai Surjan Singh also. Both were bestowed with very sharp and melodious voices and could sing in unison. The democratically elected governing body for the Sikh shrines the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), replacing the old institution of “Mahanthood” took control of all the historic Sikh shrines in Punjab and North West Frontier Province in 1925, but still a very high standard of “Gurmat Sangeet” (traditional Sikh religious music) was maintained at most of its Gurdwaras at least during the first three decades of the inception of the SGPC.

During those days the Golden Temple Amritsar was known for employing highly accomplished musicians for performing “Chawnkis of Shabad Kirtan” in its sanctum sanctorum. Recommendations by the influential and the powerful were never considered for recruitment of staff. Other great musicians in the service of the Golden Temple included legendry Bhai Lal, Bhai Chand, Bhai Chanan, Bhai Hira Singh etc. Soon Bhai Santa Singh carved a nitch for himself. He was very hard-working. As a first step he used to grasp the meaning of the “Shabad” to be sung. He modulated his voice to convey the true meaning of the “Shabad” without the need of explaining it through a speech or a discourse. At times he used to slow down the beat so much that the meaning of each word of the “Guru” was understood clearly even by the layman. While reciting the “Bir Rus Bani” (martial music) of the tenth master Guru Gobind Singh, he used to convey the message of war by increasing the pace of the musical composition.

On special occasions, the Golden Temple and Gurdwara Janam Asthan Sri Nankana Sahib, the two most sacred Gurdwaras, used to exchange their leading musicians. Bhai Santa Singh used to go to Nankana Sahib on those occasions.

All India Radio Lahore came into being in 1936, but the full fledged production facilities were added in 1937. That was the year when Bhai Santa Singh was also approved as a casual radio artist. During those days the line up of the classical vocal radio artists of All India Lahore included among others Dalip Chander Vedi, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Master Rattan of Phagwara, Master Madan, Dina Qawwal of Jullundur, Mubarik Ali Fateh Ali of Jullundur and Harish Chander Bali. The leading Sikh religious musicians included Bhai Santa Singh of the Golden Temple and Bhai Samund Singh of Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib. Malika Pukhraj, Bhai Chhaila of Patiala, Mohammad Rafi, Noorjehan, Zeenat Begum, Shamshad Begum, Dilshad Begum, Mukhtar Begum, Parkash Kaur and Surinder Kaur were considered much junior Punjabi song and “Ghazal” singers.

Casual singing at All India Radio Lahore made Bhai Santa Singh very famous. During those days Genophone Recording Company opened its modern recording studio in Lahore. Master Ghulam Haider was hired as its music director. Master Ghulam Haider developed a special liking for the voice of Bhai Santa Singh. He persuaded Bhai Santa Singh to record some “Shabads”. The tunes were either traditional Sikh religious “Reets” handed down from generation to generation or Bhai Santa Singh’s own highly melodious creations. The orchestra with special preludes and interludes was of course Ghulam Haider’s. Eight “Shabads” were recorded on four discs of three minutes each and each became very popular. These recordings were made in 1941-42, but their 45RPM extended play discs were available till 1970s. Other Sikh musician whose recordings of Sikh religious music are among the earliest available on records include Bhai Budh Singh Taan, whose rendering of “As Di Vaar” was available on 12 discs in 78RPM.

“Asa Di Vaar” by the group of Bhai Sudh Singh Pardhan Singh was also recorded during the forties. One or two records of “Shabad Gayan” in the voices of Bhai Gurmukh Singh Sarmukh Singh Fakkar of Nankana Sahib were also available in the market. In addition one disc of “Shabad Gayan” in the voice of child prodigy Master Madan was also recorded during the nineteen forties. This recording after disappearing from the market for several decades is once again available. Some “Shabads” sung by Bhai Budh Singh Taan and Surinder Kaur were also available in the market during the forties. Bhai Samund Singh, although sang regularly for the radio, but did not record his “Shabad Gayan” on discs until the nineteen sixties, when during the Quin Centennial celebrations of the birth of Guru Nanak a set of five long playing records was published.[To be continued]

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Partitions, Memories and Reconciliation-2
Satya P. Gautam

I had shifted from my village to the city for further education after completing class three in the village school. Our house, in the city of Jalandhar, was located in Bazaar Nauhariyan. At the end of the Bazaar was the tall and impressively elegant Minarets of Imam Nasser’s Mausoleum. Till mid sixties, every alternate year, an enormous number of devotees used to come from across the border to pay their homage to the saint in the Urs at Imam Nasser.

Among the devotees came my grandfather’s friends or acquaintances. They would invariably visit our house to share their old feelings of friendship, affection, nostalgia and delightful gifts. Their warmth, zeal and friendliness would leave me confused, as their behaviour was totally contrary to what we were being taught in the school and reading in the newspapers. The designed image of the average Pakistani Muslim in the mainstream media in Punjab was extremely negative but the people I met were worth admiration and emulation.

These conflicting images and feelings generated an intense desire to go across the border some day and see things for myself. I had grown without any narratives of any of my kith and kin having been forcibly displaced from the west Punjab. Therefore, this desire was never rooted in the feeling of going back to the land of ancestors that many of the descendants of the displaced families from the west Punjab have shared with me. Without going through the misfortune of being displaced, I had heard the horrifying stories of the circumstances in which the Muslims were made to depart east Punjab at the time of the partition.

I would often wonder that the fellow Punjabis across the border must have been having similar negative ideas about us. During the early sixties, one of our relatives was the Medical officer in-charge of a veterinary hospital at Jhabaal near the Indo-Pak boundaries.  Unlike the subsequent barbed wiring done for fencing the borders, the boundaries were then invisible but for the presence of the militia doing guard duties besides manning the check posts. The villagers from the other side would bring their cattle for treatment to our side as that was more convenient an option. I did not find any evidence of the hostility or hatred that I had feared. There was no difference between them and us except in dress and accent.

Having become interested in literature and music during my school days, I came to learn that our literary, musical and cultural heritage was inconceivable without celebrating the composite culture of pre-partition Punjab. The Sikh Gurus and Sufi Saints had shown the path of a constructive synthesis of positive elements from diverse sources and traditions for celebrating the ideals of equality and unity among human beings.They had questioned the restrictive and exclusionary boundaries of caste, creed, gender and religion.

Their message, articulated in the form of musical poetry had sustained the spirit of collective well being among Punjabis for centuries. This spirit would remain not only impoverished and weak but perpetually threatened till the large majority of the people of two fragments of Punjab start appreciating and celebrating the magnificence of the common heritage across the political boundaries. As things stand today, the political boundaries have come to stay. We have to learn to live with them.  Any talk of breaking the boundaries, like the breaking of the Berlin Wall, is neither intelligible nor acceptable to the forces that have become dominant across the borders after the partition of Punjab.

This was well expressed by one of the member of the Pakistan National Assembly whom we met when we went to Kasoor to pay our tributes to Baba Bhulley Shah. “As Punjabis, we may like the opening of the borders, free movement of the people, goods and services across the borders for the mutual benefit of Punjabis. But this will be resisted tooth and nail by all those whom it does not suit. Forces in Mumbai, Karachi and Dubai, having their vested interests to protect, will make it difficult, if not impossible, for Delhi and Islamabad to allow the winds of mutual co-operation and constructive support to blow between Patiala and Lahore, Amritsar and Kasoor, the two sides of Punjab”.

During the World Punjabi Conference held at Lahore in January 2004, a leading member of the East Punjabi delegation made an enthused but indiscreet speech about the dismantling of the borders and breaking of the walls. In response, the Chief Minister of West Punjab had very aptly pointed out that “once the brothers fall apart and split their ancestral property, they find it hurting or embarrassing to face each other. The walls, which they construct to break up what their ancestors had built together, make them alienated and inaccessible.

If they are gentle, they side step one another to avoid confrontation. Otherwise, antagonistic confrontation is the constant concern on both the sides. With the passage of time, as the past memories of antagonism start fading, they may start meeting each other but would hesitate to knock the door of the other for seeking help or support. If they are fortunate, such an eventuality would encourage them to begin thinking of opening a window in the wall, which they may now see as the common one, for making interaction and exchange convenient and easier.

But if one of the brothers, in his hurry or rashness to undo the unfortunate split, start speaking of breaking the wall, it brings only apprehensions, fears, ill-will and bitter enmity rather than restoring old amity.” The cautionary remarks of Parvez Elahi need to be seen in the light of another significant aspect of social life that we found in Lahore during our visit for this conference. Though the anglicised Lahorians have named the old Gwal Mandi as the Food Street, we were guided by the receptionist at our hotel Shah Taaj that we first go to Luxmi Chowk and then ask the way for Dharampuri to see the all night active eating shops for ourselves.

On the way we come across buildings and institutions which had continued to carry their pre-partition non-Muslim identities.  I was curious whether any attempts had been made to change the old names. I was told that new Islamic names had been given but the public memory and habits proved to be more resilient than the votaries of change were. It is not surprising that similar was the fate of the attempts to change the names of Ropar and Mohali on this side of the border as well. Let us wish and hope that in the new millennium it would become possible for us to make our common Punjabi heritage accessible to all of us in its composite totality to guide our future destiny.

[Dr. Satya P. Gautam is a Professor of  Philosophy,  Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi]

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