Wish List for Punjab: C'mon Captain Pick Up the Broom!

CHANDIGARH: The Shrimomani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government has left Punjab in a sad state.

Agriculture is stressed, standard of education abysmally poor, there is no infrastructure worth the name, health care is in shambles resulting in proliferation of highly expensive private hospitals, no worthwhile industry in the state is left; and hence there are no jobs, drug addiction is rampant, liquor consumption is on the rise, and state finances are in a mess with corruption all pervasive.

To bring the state back on the rails is going to be a Herculean task and one hopes that the new Congress government under (Captain) Amarinder Singh, will deal with these challenges on a war footing. Removing Red lights on vehicles, reviewing security requirements of MLAs etc is not, ‘hitting the ground running,’ as Mr Bains would want us to believe.

Agriculture, the main stay of the Province is stressed and requires substantial support, in a range of areas. Agricultural land in Punjab has been over exploited and as at present needs increasing quantities of fertilizer. Free electricity for tube wells has resulted in ever increasing extraction of ground water for rice cultivation, leading to lowering of water table to dangerously low levels and water is no more potable at many places. What needs to be done is, firstly stop free electricity for rice crop, secondly, make some percentage of electric consumption payable and lastly, check misuse of this facility.

There is need to examine the issue of Income Tax on farm income. May be in the case of farm income the minimum exemption limit could be revised to a higher figure, as also land holdings upto 10 acres too could be exempt.

Crop diversification attempts in the past failed due to corrupt practices by those charged with this task. There is a requirement to offer monetary sops to promote diversification. Encourage setting up of companies with a range of farm equipment so that small landholders can hire agro machinery at competitive rates and on their own don’t have to buy expensive tractors etc and consequently pay unaffordable EMIs. Youth in the countryside shuns manual work in agriculture, but would willingly take on jobs handling farm equipment.

During the rainy season, flow of Ravi River waters, down stream to Pakistan needs to be harnessed for recharging ground water in the Province. For this Shahpur-Kandi project on Ravi must be completed at the earliest and waters diverted to recharge ground water.

Standard of education is extremely poor essentially substandard Teaching staff at the government schools. Some schools have had 100% failures in board examinations. Large scale retiring of poor standard teaching staff is essential and stringent standards must be enforced for new recruitment. Infrastructure at these schools, need substantial up-gradation.

Private schools charge exorbitant fees and there are endless miscellaneous charges, such as fresh ‘admission fee’ for move into the next class. Functioning of these schools need to be regulated and tuition fees rationalized. They must admit the required number of children from poor families and offer necessary financial relief.

There is excessive use of pesticides on one part and on the other use of chemicals to artificially ripen fruit etc. This is injurious to health and one of the reasons for the spread of cancer in the province. Use of chemicals on fruit and vegetables must be banned and thereafter, properly monitored. There is need to have a nuclear power plant in the province so as to do away with coal fired power plants, which spew toxic dust leading to number of ailments. To prevent nuclear plant from being sabotaged/bombed etc, it should be located in one of the enclaves across Ravi River.

Industry needs incentives to come to the state and a friendly and hassle free administration. At the same time skill development program for the youth be taken in hand on priority. There is substantial scope for agro industries and needs special attention. This will automatically encourage diversification of agricultural produce.

On the one hand there is project, ‘Naani Chaan’ ( promoting girl child ) and on the other, hundreds of marriage palaces have been allowed to come up where there is special concession on excise duty on liquor. Receptions at marriage palaces, has become a social obligation and puts unbearable financial burden on the parents of a girl child. There is compelling need to limit ‘baraat’ ( marriage party ) to 15-20 persons (as is in Pakistan.) This one step will do enormous good to promote girl child.

Punjab at one time provided nearly 22% manpower for the army. This was taken away when MRP (Male Recruitable Population ) formula was brought in. It reduced this percentage to 2-%. Though this MRP concept has not been applied to other central services, such as central police, railways etc. At the same time Punjab has been disadvantaged because no public sector heavy industries has been located here, on the plea that it is a border state, thereby by no ancillary industries could come up.

Even though bulk of the military is deployed on the Western front, all the supporting industry for ammunition, weapons and equipment and its overhaul etc is located down South! So on the one hand the main avenue for employment (military) for the youth was taken away with this MRP concept and the same is not applied to other central services and no heavy industry has been set-up in this region resulting in a triple whammy. This issue needs to be taken up with the PM.

Drug menace must be dealt with on a war footing. One, check flow of drugs from Pakistan and two, local production and sale of certain medicines and injections be controlled and their sale regularly monitored.

Finally, there is pressing need to prune down administrative staff, cut out all wasteful expenditure and ensure people friendly and corruption free administration at all levels. Corruption cases be dealt with speedily. Hopes hang in the air that Captain and his team will measure up to the daunting tasks that lie ahead. There are imperatives to create the necessary impact by taking up the range of tasks on a high priority.

(Lt General Harwant Singh (Retired) is former Deputy Chief of Army Staff)