Phagwara(By-Jaswant Singh Gandam)The octogenarian Punjabi writer and columnist Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala was on Sunday conferred “Lifetime Achievements Award” by Punjabi Kalamnavees Pattarkar Manch here for his outstanding contribution to Punjabi language and literature. According to Manch President Gurmit Singh Palahi, here today, the award carried a trophy, a citation and a shawl.
It was presented to Gumtala by the function presidium comprising senior journalists and columnists Satnam Singh Manak, Prof Jaswant Singh Gandam, Dr Sukhdev Singh, Gian Singh and Gurmit Palahi. Dr Gumtala, now settled in the USA, has written/edited 14 books and over 300 articles published in various Punjabi newspapers of Punjab and abroad.
He has won various awards in America, Pakistan and India for his stellar contribution to Punjabi.
On this occasion, an open discussion was held on the burning issues confronting Punjab and the country. In their keynote addresses, eminent social scientist Dr Sukhdev Singh and senior journalist Satnam Singh Manak called the Punjab crisis an expansion of the agri-crisis.Expressing concern on the water crisis, they dubbed as suicidal the decision of allowing paddy transplantation from June 1st in Punjab.
Warning that it will further worsen the water crisis as well as the depleting underground water table, they advocated that paddy transplantation should begin at least from June 15th.Describing water problem as the gravest one in Punjab, they cautioned that days were not far off when people will fight among themselves even for drinking water.
They warned desertification of Punjab in a few years if remedial measures to save water were not initiated forthwith. Calling for review of old agriculture model, they posed a poser to Central government as to why it was not providing MSP on oil seeds and pulses for weaning away Punjabi farmers from paddy.If this was done, Punjab farmers will themselves leave paddy, thereby saving 70% of state water” ,they asserted.Advocating a pro-people(‘Lokpakhi’) and a pro-Nature(‘Kudratpakhi’) development model, they underlined the paramount need of adopting a new agricultural model and not solely focusing on MSP.
Opposing poll lollypops in the form of freebies even to those who did not need these, they said that subsidies should be meant only for the needy.They demanded setting up of agri-based industries and agri-processing units in Punjab.On national front, Manak flayed bids to usher in a Hindu Rashtra in place of a secular India.Batting for secular, socialist, democratic country wedded to its Constitution, Manak quoted Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rout who had alleged that efforts were going on to turn India into a “Hindu Pakistan’.”We do not want a theocratic state like Pakistan but a secular and democratic country”, added Manak.
Dr Sukhdev Singh’s book “Punjab- Social, Economic, Cultural Change and Trends”, Mrs Jasbir Kaur’s book ” Yaadgari Pind” and Parvinderjit Singh’s Website “Sikh Places” were released(‘Lok Arpan’) on this occasion.In his Award acceptance speech, Gumtala stressed the need of promoting book culture by opening libraries in villages and cities of Punjab.About a dozen other writers, including Didar Shetra, Gurvinder Manak, Ravinder Chot, Sukhdev Madhopuri.TD Chawla and Kamlesh Sandhu also spoke.