By Dr. Sawraj Singh
There are two main groups of intellectuals in Punjab, the Marxists and the Sikh intellectuals. Punjab is in an economic crisis and both see migration out of Punjab, mainly to the western countries, as the only solution to the problems Punjab is facing. They are wrong on both counts. The crisis of Punjab is not only economic, but is global which has ethical, social, environmental and cultural aspects besides the economic aspect.
Immigration in the era of Globalization is no longer a natural phenomenon; it is induced by the imperialist countries to make up for their loss of population as a result of the falling fertility rates. This immigration is only serving the interests of the imperialist countries at the expense of the regions from which the immigrants have immigrated from. Punjab is a typical example of this phenomenon. In the last two decades, growing immigration from Punjab which has reached the level of an exodus and has led to global decline of Punjab.
Moreover, the vast majority of immigrants do not gain from immigration. Their gains are short termed and in the long run, they lose more than they gain. Let us look at the fate of the young people who immigrate after passing the IELTS test. These people are supposedly migrating to get higher education. However, only a very small percentage of these actually get higher education. A vast majority, about 90 to 95%, end up doing menial jobs which do not require any higher education. These are the jobs which mostly the local people do not want to do.
The net result of this phenomenon is that we are destined to become the underclass in these countries. Quite a few of these are attracted to a life of crime such as drug dealing, human trafficking, prostitution or becoming members of gangs. Many face problems of alienation and family disintegration. Poor mental and physical health is another big problem. A growing number of these people are suffering from depression. The incidence of obesity, heart disease, kidney disease and liver disease is also rising.
Family violence, particularly domestic abuse of women (wife beating), is becoming very common. In some areas with dense Punjabi population in Canada, Punjabis are being perceived as wife beaters. All these problems are there in any society. However, the tragedy with the Punjabi immigrants is that unlike the other societies, where these problems are prevalent in the lower socio-economic strata, in Punjabis, we are seeing these problems in the people of the middle class background. This clearly shows that we are being declassed by immigration.
However, our pseudo intellectuals and pseudo Marxists have been unable to understand the new trends in immigration and continue to laud it as a success story. Their role is no different than their role during the Green Revolution. They were impressed by the short term gains and were unable to foresee the long term losses. The Green Revolution proved to be a disaster for Punjab. In the long run, the present immigration is going to prove to do more harm to Punjab than the Green Revolution did.
Our so called intellectuals have neither grasped the new trends nor have played any significant role in educating and preparing people to cope with the present crisis faced by Punjab and the Punjabis. Moreover, their support for immigration as the solution to solve the crisis is not compatible with either Marxism or the Sikh philosophy; both advocate the path of struggle to solve a problem and not escaping a problem. Immigration is a form of escapism. The net result is that Punjab is not getting any intellectual leadership to understand the problems and finding solutions to these problems. This is what I call intellectual bankruptcy.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
