Khushwant Toor writes from Toronto

IT is not the first incident of its kind. Rivalry among the growing Punjabi population in Canada and feeling left out Punjabi extremists are being blamed for the recent brutal beating of Editor of a Punjabi weekly news paper published form Toronto.

On October 27, 2009, at about 11:40 p.m., Mr. Jagdish Grewal, editor of Punjabi Post and host of a daily radio talk show, while leaving the Punjabi Post newsroom in Brampton was brutally beaten by three masked men dressed in black, wearing head masks and allegedly speaking Punjabi.

As he stepped out of his office building the three masked men, one of them having a long beard attacked him in the parking lot. One carried a baton and the other had a gun. The trio started beating him up and tried dragging him into their van parked about 5 spots away. Mr. Grewal managed to break free locked himself in his van. The masked men broke the window, and tried getting him out of his van. However, in the mean time Mr. Grewal managed to sound the horn of his car.

In the mean time another employee of the Punjabi Post came out of the building, seeing him the attackers managed to get away in their van. Mr. Grewal was left severely beaten up and bleeding. Most likely the incident was also recorded on the security cameras surrounding the Punjabi Post office building. Police is still investigating the case.

Mr. Grewal has no clue as to who his attackers could be. He says the attack and attempted abduction could be linked to his strong anti-extremist views or because his newspaper has led a crusade against the widespread consumption of, poppy flower powder (dode) available openly at some meat shops in Peel Region of Toronto area.

However, Mr. Grewal, who does not support the Khalistan movement said he received some “strange but not threatening phone calls” after he interviewed a visiting Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh on his radio show. Jarnail Singh was lately in news when he tthrew a shoe at Indian minister P. Chidambaran during a press conference protesting against the government’s non-action against those responsible for anti-Sikh riots. On the radio show three weeks ago, Grewal said hurling a shoe wasn’t the right thing to do to which Jarnail Singh also agreed to on the show.

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A nation transformed by women

THE Center for American Progress (CAP), in partnership with California First Lady Maria Shriver, released The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, a innovative examination of how "women's changing roles are affecting our major societal institutions, from government and businesses to our faith communities." For the first time in American history, women are half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families. Considering that in 1967, women made up only one-third of all workers, this is a dramatic transformation that fundamentally changes how all Americans work and live, "not just women but also their families, their co-workers, their bosses, their faith institutions, and their communities." Unfortunately, America as a nation has not yet come to terms with what this means.

 "This report tries to chapter those things out and say all of these institutions have failed to adapt to this change that has happened, and that in order for them to survive and become smart about the American worker they must adapt and must change," Shriver said on NBC's Meet The Press yesterday. "Our policy landscape remains stuck in an idealized past," writes CAP President and CEO John Podesta in his preface to the report. "This report contemplates what a new America should look like after we finally embrace this important new dynamic in our lives and the changes it has caused in our homes and businesses."

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to chair the first Commission on the Status of Women. Two years later, the commission released its findings, reporting that the role for women "most generally approved by counselors, parents, and friends [is] the making of a home, the rearing of children, and the transmission to them in their earliest years of the values of the American heritage." The report added, however, that "the climate of opinion is turning against the idea that homemaking is the only form of feminine achievement." At that time, "in families where both parents worked, less than a fifth of the wives earned as much or more than their husbands." Today, almost 40 percent of working wives are earning as much or more than their husbands. "As women move into the labor force, their earnings are increasingly important to families and women more and more become the major breadwinner -- even though women continue to be paid 23 cents less than men for every dollar earned in our economy," writes CAP Senior Economist and the report's co-editor Heather Boushey. But "these gains are by no means an unqualified victory for women in the workforce and in society, or for their families. Most women today are providing for their families by working outside the home -- and still earning less than men -- while providing more than their fair share of care giving responsibilities inside the home, an increasingly impossible task." The Great Recession has only amplified and accelerated these trends as men have lost three out of four jobs since the recession began in December 2007, "leaving millions of wives to bring home the bacon while their husbands search for work."

"The institutions need to adapt to who the American family is today," said Shriver on Meet The Press. "They need to get smarter. They need to get more progressive." CAP Senior Fellow Ann O'Leary and former visiting CAP fellow Karen Kornbluh in their chapter Family Friendly for All Families note, " Too many of our government policies -- from our basic labor standards to our social insurance system -- are still rooted in the fundamental assumption that families typically rely on a single breadwinner and that there is someone available to care for the young, the aged, and the infirm while the breadwinner is at work. ... We need to reevaluate the values and assumptions underlying our nation's workplace policies to ensure that they reflect the actual -- not outdated or imagined -- ways that families work and care today." Among other policies, O'Leary and Kornbluh suggest anti-discrimination laws be reformed so that employers cannot discriminate against or disproportionately exclude women when offering workplace benefits and increase support to families for child care, early education, and elder care to help working parents cope with their dual responsibilities. "One of the things that the administration could do, that the federal government could do is become a model employer," said Podesta on Meet The Press yesterday. Government and businesses need to be "more flexible about creating the circumstance where women and men can have the flexibility to lead good lives." Adaptation isn't just needed in how government and businesses treat their employees. America's immigration, health care, and education systems need to reflect this transformation, as do the media and faith institutions.

As part of the effort to understand the actual conditions in American homes and workplaces, CAP commissioned a landmark nationwide poll that "takes a broad and deep look at what men and women think of their changing roles in society and their attitudes toward each other as spouses, parents, bosses, and co-workers." Working with Time magazine, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Abt SRBI Inc, the survey of 3,413 people nationwide found that there is a "basic alignment between men and women in terms of what they want in life and what they believe about one another." In fact, the poll's authors, CAP senior fellows John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira, with Susan Pinkus and Kelly Daley, conclude that "the battle of the sexes is over." "The profound shift in women's role in the U.S. economy has not led to massive conflict between men and women. In fact, the opposite happened -- men and women view this change in quite favorable terms." "Virtually all married couples see negotiating about the rules of relationships, work, and family as key making things work at home and at work." "One clear message emerging from this poll," however, "is that the lives of Americans have changed significantly in recent years, yet the parameters of their jobs have yet to change to meet new demands." "Political and business leaders who fail to take steps to address the needs of modern families risk losing good workers and the support of men and women who are riding the crest of major social change in America with little or no support," conclude the poll's authors. [Courtesy American Progress]

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An interaction with an actor turned activist

Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver

IT was the Hindu Muslim riots of 1992 that turned Rahul Bose, an actor of the parallel Indian cinema into an activist. Currently on tour in Canada with a green message, he remembers how those riots in the Indian city of Mumbai had changed his outlook towards life and politics. However, the anti Muslim pogrom of Gujarat ten years later became a turning point in 2002. The Hindu right wing BJP government of Gujarat is blamed for the targeted killings of the Muslims by the Hindu extremists in connivance with the police.

Bose admits that he was scared to help anyone in 1992, but the villainy in Gujarat changed him completely. ``I am not even scared of calling Mumbai, Bombay’’, he said in a private and informal chat at a party hosted by the Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) in Surrey in reference to the threats made out by the Hindu fanatics to anyone who call the city by its old name. A film director had recently apologized to the Mumbai Nav Nirman Sena for doing so. ``He should have gone to the police’’.

Bose is here at the joint invitation of the PICS and the Climate Change Action Network.

He has come with a message to the influential South Asian voters to press the politicians in the swing ridings for some action on climate change. He also reminds them that India is struggling hard to eradicate poverty and unemployment. ``The developed countries like Canada which still remain big polluters compared to the developing countries like mine have no moral authority to press them to cut emissions’’, he told a gathering at the PICS’ Senior Center.

Apart from being an environmentalist, he is one of the prominent humanist and secular voices from the Bollywood. However, he prefers to be identified more with the alternative cinema than the mainstream Indian film industry. He has been writing for the Communalism Combat, a magazine of the peace activists who had helped the victims of the Gujarat massacre. ``The terrorism should be treated alike as terrorism in the name of the Hindu religion is no different from Jihad’’, he said in a radio interview. In fact, the film Shaurya in which he played a young army officer posted in Kashmir touches an unconventional subject of the Indian army being infiltrated by the radical Hindu officers who kill Muslims in the name of war against terrorism. Although he believes that the Indian army is secular and can’t be blamed for a few bad apples, yet he is concerned with the violation of human rights in Kashmir. ``If anyone raises that question he is branded anti national’’, he said at the party during a dinning table chat over range of issues. He believes in solving the problem of terrorism through dialogue and peace initiatives instead of resorting to tough laws and police repression. ``The naxalites are fighting for the basics. There are strong socio economic reasons behind their violent actions. Even Rahul Gandhi (the son of the ruling All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi) acknowledges this. Anyone else suggesting that would have been killed’’. He disclosed to me that he was influenced by Paash, a progressive Punjabi poet who was associated with the ultra leftist Naxalite movement. Passh was assassinated by the Sikh extremists.

He does not forget reminding youngsters to vote. An inedible ink mark on his left index finger suggested that he voted before coming to Canada. The assembly elections were held in three provinces, including Maharasthra where he voted on October 13. He was at the party when the counting of the votes began. ``Some students question why should we vote? I tell them why not when the Hindu right wing parties try to control your lives by telling you not to wear jeans or oppose the Valentine’s Day’’.

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Female Punjabi reporter who exposed the ugly side of her culture deserves appreciation

Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver

THE Toronto Star reporter, who exposed the ugly side of the Indian culture in a sting operation, deserves appreciation. Raveena Aulakh had bought the illicit pills that are supposed to bring baby boys to the expectant mothers from the editor of a Punjabi newspaper published from Toronto. She met him as an expectant mother to lay hands on the pills and uncovered the brisk business of illicit medications that attract the families seeking male child.

This episode has sparked a debate both inside and outside the male dominated Punjabi society, which is witnessing declining sex ratio because of the parental preference of boys over the girls.

Although this quackery isn’t something new for the Punjabi community, but Raveena’s daredevil act has brought this issue into the focus of the mainstream media. While the Punjabi Press Club of BC has lauded her action, the public health officials have issued a warning against such medications.

I am proud of Raveena, who is an old colleague of mine. We worked together for the Indian Express back in India. While I quit the paper to join The Tribune, she had later joined The Hindustan Times.

Earlier, we studied together at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. She always treated me like an elder brother. Later, she also immigrated to Canada like me. She belongs to Amritsar district of Punjab, where the declining sex ratio is a cause of worry. Despite being a holy city of the Sikhs, Amritsar has a ratio of 818 girls for 1,000 boys, according to the census figures of 2008. Although the Sikh scriptures preach gender equality and forbid female infanticide, yet this gap continues to grow.

The parents prefer boys mainly to avoid dowries which they have to pay at the time of the marriage of their daughters and for the want of a legal heir of their ancestral property. Whereas, in ancient times, the baby girls were killed right after their birth, the medical science has made their job easier and they simply get away by eliminating the unborn female children.

Since the Punjabis are a part of the Canadian society, the Canada government should take this challenge more seriously and keep an eye on the quacks in the community. Of course this is a social problem and media exposes and the governmental actions alone cannot change the mindset of the people. For that a social change is necessary. Several progressive Indo Canadian groups are working hard to change this trend within their communities. They have started celebrating the Punjabi bonfire festival of Lohri for newly born girls. For years this festival was strictly celebrated to welcome the baby boys in the families.

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From Babbars to Babbars

Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver

AN unnecessary controversy was stirred in India this week when the hoardings carrying the picture of a fanatic Sikh preacher late Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale along the pictures of national heroes were pitched in Patiala district of Punjab.

Bhindranwale, who is described by his ardent followers and orthodox Sikh religious groups as ``Saint’’ and a ``great martyr of the twentieth century’’ had died fighting with the Indian forces in the controversial Operation Bluestar of 1984. This operation was launched by the Indian army to flush out religious extremists who had fortified the Golden Temple , the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar . Although Bhindranwale never openly advocated for Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland, yet he supported the cause ambivalently. He also held extremist views against the Hindus and the Indian government.

To agree or disagree with Bhindranwale is one thing, but any effort to equate him with the national heroes like Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh is politically wrong. The hoardings carry the pictures of these three towering martyrs who had died fighting against the British occupation of India along side someone who had no faith in the unity and integrity of India.

Some might argue that he had also fought against the state power like the three national heroes who also belonged to the Sikh community much like him, but Bhindranwale and his men were seeking a theocratic state. The most common thread among the three men who were hanged at different times was that they believed in secularism. Sarabha was among the founders of the Ghadar Party which believed in keeping the religion and the political struggle apart while Bhagat Singh who died as an atheist was opposed to theocracy and religious fanaticism. Likewise, Udham Singh had avenged the Jallianwala massacre of Amritsar in which the supporters of the passive resistance movement were murdered in 1919. The victims belonged to all the three faiths – Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.

Perhaps this is why Udham Singh had chosen an alias, Mohammad Singh Azad to symbolize the communal unity. Some historians claim that he had used Ram as the first name. Going by these facts, how can one equate Bhindranwale with these men? He might be a brave person, or he may have genuine grouse against the Indian state and passion for his community but he was not secular.

In Canada , where the Babbar Khalsa International, a pro Khalistan group has been active for years such temptation is very common among the Sikh separatists. Ironically, the Babbar Khalsa International which is now banned in Canada sounds identical to the Babbar Akali Movement that was a part of the freedom struggle. Inspite of the fact that the Babbar Akali Movement was an armed rebellion of the Sikhs seeking liberation of their shrines from the stooges of the British government, they were not fanatic. Some of them were indoctrinated into the freedom struggle by the secular Gadar movement. Some of them had saved the Muslims from the Hindu and Sikh fundamentalists during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

On the other side of the fence the groups which have raised this issue are not true patriots either. The Hindu extremist group Shiv Sena has written to the India ’s Prime Minister’s Office seeking intervention of the central government.

It’s not surprising that like the Sikh hardliners, the Hindu fanatics also have a tendency to equate the heroes of the freedom struggle with themselves. A website of a Hindu extremist group displays the picture of Chandershekhar Azad, a close associate of Bhagat Singh. Those blinded by fundamentalism have a narrow tunnel of vision and they often divide these heroes according to their ethnic backgrounds. Morally speaking the Shiv Sena also has no right to rattle the cage when they are also promoting hatred and intolerance against the non Hindus.

The participants of the national freedom struggle fought jointly against the British Imperialism by setting aside their religious differences, whereas these so called followers of those people are indulging in hate politics.

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