Driving around in Punjab and being of Punjabi descent with an exposure to the various Punjab Extensions I, II & III all over the world (Canada, US West Coast and England, with New South Wales in Australia coming online as Punjab Extension IV) teaches a person a lot. Please read this with a pinch of salt and preferably sambar powder too because I am up to here, with trying to explain the mostly Punjabi Sikh Farmer Protest currently underway at the Gates of Delhi to people from all over.
1) Very few West Punjabis who moved to New India in and because of 1947 have not been impacted by the loss of ancestral land during Partition. Even if they were close to landless, you will always hear tales of glory and limitless ancestral land that was left behind, and the blame is rightly or wrongly squarely placed on the doors of the Father of the Nation as well as the Congress.
2) I have lost count of the number of times I have gone to breakfast, lunch and dinner on this topic, preferably accompanied by beer or IMFL or better. I am also sure I have heard this in every time zone of this world because there has never been a ship or an airplane where I have not shared time with a Punjabi of some religion or the other. I may add that it is this diaspora quality that enables us to become Brothers in Language before we hit the streets and start fighting on religious grounds again. And the diaspora is saying “MSP is like minimum wages”, to them my question is – were minimum wages being paid to farm labourers in Indian Punjab in the first case by the farmers?
3) Very few wealthy Punjabis who I have met in India and abroad do not have assets both real estate as well as monetary in India as well as abroad. The tendency to leave one pair of shoes, preferably Punjabi jootis that have a front toe parted uncomfortably pointed upwards like reverse spurs, and one suitcase at the door, preferably packed for everything from driving a truck to attending a wedding, is genetic in us. Everywhere, In different countries. One foot in Canada, another foot in Punjab. The Canadian foot adheres to all the farming laws in Canada, the Indian foot wants minimum or zero laws, and the body in between is trying to figure out what they can or will do if cannabis becomes legal. New worry for many NRIs and OCIs now, by the way, which nobody really knows much about as yet. And that is just one of the issues.
These assets are preferably if not mostly of the tax-free and un-documented sort. Or they are in the names of family members and other extensions.
4) Life as a farmer in Punjab is not easy. The easy availability of fake everything, from fake seeds to fake land documents to fake fertilisers and much more makes difficult matters worse. Each of these scams is enough to destroy a farmer. Put together they become much worse.
Here I repeat what I have said before – hidden in the noise and static behind the Farm Acts 2020 protests are the real changes taking place in Land Revenue and Registration records. Punjab as it existed in and before 1947, because of Partition and the complications therein, is especially impacted. Shamlat Deh, Bhoodan Yajna, Waqf, Panchayat, Government and other land scams are being re-visited with some ferocity thanks to a series of amendments to Bills going back centuries. “Dominant caste” in Punjab also means “land grab experts” and that is coming home to roost. Observe that the protests abroad are from largely a powerful sub-Sect of Punjabis.
5) And finally – I say this again – from Chile to Canada, from Australia and New Zealand to Europe, I have met Punjabi agriculturists everywhere. Including in India non-Punjab. And I can say this with confidence – I have never met Punjabis who are not doing well in agriculture anywhere else in the world. Except in Punjab – and because of this, there are protests underway at the gates of Delhi.
As of now, the Farmer Protests in Delhi, largely of Punjabi origin, are off. As of now, the farmers in the rest of the country, continue going about their work and improving their lot. As of now, I know this, the expected legitimising of cannabis to some extent, presents vast new opportunities to the Indian farmer for value added products along multiple lines from manila hemp rope to medicinal extracts.
As of now, farming is the future, and India is on its way to becoming the bread basket for the world.
Which is also why the foreign media, ably supported by the loud and noisy Punjabi NRI/OCI brigade, is worried. But we also have Punjabis going about their work quietly and steadily.
Punjab was the bread-basket for India and Punjabis are making India the bread basket for the world, and nothing can stop this, least of all constant references to Canada.
Veeresh Malik was a seafarer. And a lot more besides. A decade in facial biometrics, which took him into the world of finance, gaming, preventive defence and money laundering before the subliminal mind management technology blew his brains out. His romance with the media endures since 1994, duly responded by Outlook, among others.
A survivor of two brain-strokes, triggered by a ship explosion in the 70s, Veeresh moved beyond fear decades ago.
