Jagtar Singh

  Modi government’s stubbornness towards farmers struggle triggering fear of the unknown   Jagtar Singh Ground Zero Chandigarh: The apparently tough attitude of the Modi government to the   agitation by the farmers on the issues that concern their very livelihood and existence has started raising concerns among the people in general, especially in Punjab. The repeated assertions made by   Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself that the three farm laws that has triggered the strongest ever mobilisation under this regime are for the welfare of the farmers have reinforced the impression that it is going to be a long haul. It is this likely prolongation of the struggle that is raising apprehensions. Fear psychosis is slowly and steadily taking over at some levels. Punjab has historically been fertile ground for militancy with the psyche shaped by the successive struggles for survival in known history. Baba Nanak was the first Rebel in hundreds of years when B...

  Battle lines sharpen between farmers and Prime Minister Modi Jagtar Singh Ground Zero   With Prime Minister Narendra Modi aggressively defending the three contentious farm laws yesterday while attacking the protesting farmers camping on the borders of Delhi as a miniscule section, the battle lines are turning thick and sharp. If the farmers are fighting for their survival and the struggle has turned pan-India, Modi is now fighting for his own survival – not of his government per se. The Modi phenomenon would get decimated in case the farmers struggle succeeds in forcing the repeal of the three laws. This would in turn dismantle the agenda of the corporates who want to monopolise the farm trade, and thereby the farm sector in the long run. The farmers in Punjab understood the dubious and destructive design behind the three farm laws in the name of reforms at the very first stage itself. The political parties took their positions only after the farmer organisations...

  Government should offer suspension of 3 farm laws to break deadlock with protesting farmers Jagtar Singh Ground Zero The Narendra Modi government today again invited the protesting farmers within the previous framework and the same has understandably been rightly rejected by them. The logjam continues despite even the track II talks at several levels involving serving and retired bureaucrats and police officials from Punjab. The agitation against the three contentious pro-corporate farm laws is being commandeered by Punjab farmers who were the first to comprehend their likely disastrous impact   rooted in liberalisation policies being dictated by the World Trade Organisation to which India is a signatory. Prime Minister Modi has been repeatedly propagating ‘benefits’ of these farm laws which, according to him, the agitating farmers have failed to understand as they are being misled by vested political interests, meaning the Congress. The farmers organisations, on the other h...

  Created to articulate Sikh aspirations with Panth as inspiration, Akali Dal at 100 stands lost   Jagtar Singh Ground Zero The little known fact is that the Shiromani Akali Dal which turned 100 today, is the first political party in India - that also included present day Pakistan and Bangladesh - that was organized by the Indians themselves. The credit for being the oldest political party is given to the Congress that was not created by the Indians but by the British to act as a bridge between the colonial government and the people under it. Yet another fundamental difference between the two oldest political parties in the country is that the Akali Dal was the product of the struggle for the liberation of gurdwaras whose tone and tenor were anti-imperialist. Rooted in the Panthic traditions and doctrine, the party slowly donned the role of articulating the aspirations of the Sikhs. Struggles on pro-people issues became the symbol of this party over the years. Th...

  Roll back and re-enact farmer focussed and consensus based laws as  way forward Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh   Ground Zero   Union Minister Amit Shah’s assurance at a meeting with the farmer leaders against count-down is a welcome dimension of the current politico-economic discourse rooted in the crisis that has been triggered following enactment of the three farm laws by the Narendra Modi government that relate mainly to trade and commerce. This assurance was today conveyed by the farmer leaders at a media interaction after the press conference in which union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar repeated the proposals sent to the farmer leaders yesterday. The farmer leaders have reiterated that the only way forward was the repeal of these contentious laws that has the potential to destroy the farmer and favour the corporate. The present farmer struggle did not start at the gates of Delhi but in Punjab when the three farm ordinances were promulgated ...

  Farmers’ survival pitted against Modi model of pro-corporate governance and divisive politics Jagtar Singh Ground Zero   The stakes are now much higher. At stake is the survival of the farmers pitted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi phenomenon and his pro-corporate and divisive model of politico-economic discourse. For the country, it is an opportunity to restore faith in participatory democracy. The unprecedented mobilization on the socio-economic issue of survival of the farmers as reflected in the extensive support to the peaceful Bharat Bandh from Gurdaspur to Guwahati   poses the first serious threat to the pro-corporate and divisive model of governance that India has been subjected to under Modi since 2014. A very interesting aspect of the situation is that the farmer wing of the Rashtriya Swayamseak Sangh that groomed Modi over the years had expressed reservations at the early stage itself about the three farm ordinances as the resistance got ...

  Repeal new farm laws, constitute panel including farmer leaders to move forward Jagtar Singh Ground Zero   Understanding the crisis triggered by the new farm laws introduced by the pro-corporate Narendra Modi government is not a rocket science. The issue is simple. The privatisation of health and education has created havoc for the common man and both have become unaffordable. For years, the fee for post-graduate courses in Punjabi university, Patiala in 1970s was only Rs. 20 . The teachers were renowned in their fields. Not any more. Similar was the case with professional institutions like medical and engineering   colleges which were easily   accessible to middle and lower middle classes. One of the major components of the farm indebtedness is the cost of healthcare. The fear is that the new farm laws would move in the same direction and destroy   the farm economy to make way for the corporates to take over the way that has happened in health a...