By Dr. Bikkar Singh Lalli
Only a decade ago Punjab was one of the wealthiest states in India and, at one time, was heralded as one of the country’s “crown jewels”. Now Punjab has slipped to 12th place in the ranking of Indian states, and it been left behind in several social indicators. Its mounting debt is progressively growing. The need of the hour is, a leadership with a vision, which can envision some innovative and workable and gainful projects. “There is hardly any politician in Punjab who considers the interests of the state above his own. The state leadership is not ready to change mindset and appears to be incapable of thinking of out-of-the-box solutions”,(Dr. S.S Johl)..
On Dec. 12, a 35-year-old jobless woman, Gurpreet Kaur from Gurdaspur, set herself ablaze near Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s official residence in Chandigarh. She had suffered 35% burn injuries on her legs and right arm. It is a pity that the custodian of the state, who frequently goes to country side for “cash outs at Sangat Darshans” and squanders huge amount of money, could not give an ear to Gurpreet, who came to Chandigarh looking for a job. Nov. 30, Chief Minister Prakash Singh announced that: “The top priority of the state government is to impart skill training to people. A highly skilled populace will herald an era of unprecedented economic growth in the state. The govt. will impart skill education to people, and it would train nearly one lakh youth every year to cater the need of the local industry”. On September 8, 2012, almost the same statement was made by Deputy Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal: One wonders if the govt. has got any feasibility study done , keeping in view supply and demand of the trained workforce, demand from the existing industry in Punjab; the cost the project would entail, and the availability of adequate training facilities that would be required. If Gurpreet, a skill-trained individual, cannot find a job where the other 1 lakh skilled individuals will go? “A woman’s self immolation bid outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s residence yesterday has brought to the fore widespread unemployment in the state, especially among the educated youth–.there are 3.5 lakh BEd and ETT qualified unemployed teachers in the state, the SAD had promised to employ 5 lakh people in government departments and another 1 lakh in the IT sector. The IT sector, so far, has failed to be the sunrise sector for employment generation and the state government, burdened with its committed liabilities, has failed to offer jobs”(Ruchika Khanna-Tribune Services)
The honorable CM and DCM, must realize that for imparting technical training they need candidates with some basics knowledge of the fundamental concepts of subjects in Physical sciences and in Humanities. Since, urban students from well-off families will mostly aspire for degrees from universities, IITs or IIMs, for this project, applicants would be from rural areas. The problem is that in rural areas there are not many secondary schools that are offering science subjects. Moreover, Punjab govt. is facing, perhaps, the worst financial crisis in the history of this province. It is not in a position to provide funds for setting up science labs rural schools. At this moment, the govt. must first give top priority to improving infrastructure in rural schools in order to improve the quality of education, and more importantly to setting set up science labs along with hiring competent and dedicated science teachers. Rural youth is practically absent( less than 4 %) from universities in the province. In an analysis: “Factors Driving Drug Abuse in India’s Punjab”, Mr Rahul Advani of Institute of South Asian Studies-National University of Singapore, has pointed out that “the poor quality of education in rural Punjab makes graduates incapable of making the cut for the few high-skill jobs that are available. Another factor is that almost all (95 per cent) the unemployed want jobs within Punjab yet for those seeking non-farm jobs, very few are available due to the process of deindustrialisation that is happening in the state. For example, there were 127 textile processing units in Amritsar in 1990. There are now only 20 now. Thus, the state badly needs industry, both small scale and heavy..
Punjab’s industrial sickness can be attributed to poor governance by self-serving political class and bureaucracy that divert limited resources from the development of industry, agriculture, health, education and infrastructure to finance an inefficient top-heavy administration. If CM wants Punjab to be the California of India then he must, first fine tune the administrative structure of the govt. and cut some huge unnecessary fat to save money for some productive projects. He should consult expert like Dr, Charan Singh of IIM Bangalore, to improve the industrial health of the state with some innovative schemes. Dr. Singh has some very intriguing suggestions, which are workable. Amritsar, Jalandhar or Ludhiana, can become the “Shanghai” of Punjab. American, European and Canadian “concerns” are out-sourcing business to China. Punjab, because of its climate, international airport at Amritsar, can place itself in a similar situation. Foreign Law firms can collaborate with Punjab’s lucrative law-talent for search purposes.”Punjab may consider the following alternatives which can provide higher income for its population — medical and religious tourism, encouraging small-scale enterprises, exploiting the potential of the international airport at Amritsar, and making Punjab an education and IT hub“, (Charan Singh). Punjab can position itself as the medical hub for not only international tourists but also for the country with air ambulance services from Delhi, Jammu and Shimla. This would provide impetus to the service industry in Punjab”. Health-care cost in USA and Europe, is exorbitant. For example, Heart-bypass surgery may cost between- $71000-$215,000, in USA. Dr. Singh is providing a well-reasoned analysis and details of his suggested approach. Like Gujarat, Punjab can enhance its pharmaceutical industry, and IT industry. Only some innovative and practical initiatives which can gainfully employ skill-trained youth, can stem the tide of youth-outflow from Punjab to US, Canada, UK and Australia. It must be added that there can be some dreadful consequences of the suggested scheme by the govt. For example, it will stifle the high expectations, dreams and hopes of the youth who should be motivated to go for higher education, and compete for positions in Central Services.
To bring back the old glory of state, the govt.CM has to take some bold decisions, look seriously at the subsidies like free water and electricity, plug huge tax evasions, devise means to reduce the dependence of the state’s economy on agriculture. These decisions may deplete some cash from his vote-banks. But the results may bring back some trust in the political system. He most avail the expertise of some knowledgeable scientists and economists to diversify agro in the state. Individuals like Dr. Swaminathan, Dr Charan Singh, Dr. Kang, Dr. Johl, can provide assistance in taking the state out of the present mess.. It is imperative to find reasons for Punjab’s slow growth, and reasons why industrialist shy away from Punjab and set up their “shops” in Haryana or Himachal, and then search for some remedies to iron out those wrinkles.
Punjab’s rural youth is vibrant, enthusiastic, and full of energy eager to work hard, but lacks direction and support. It is the moral duty of the leadership to provide opportunities to channel that energy to some productive avenues to shape a better future for the youth frustrated youth.
