Historical Context of Delhi Kisan Morcha: Pre-partition Agrarian Movements – I

Editor-in-Chief: Prem Kumar Chumber Contact: 001-916-947-8920 Fax: 916-238-1393 E-mail: chumbermedia@yahoo.com, editor@ambedkartimes.com

VOL- 13 ISSUE- 26 September 8, 2021 California (USA) www.ambedkartimes.com www.deshdoaba.com

Weekly

re-partition Punjab witnessed many peasant struggles, which bequeathed a rich legacy forlatter generations of farmers. With agriculture

being the mainstay of majority of its populace, andgiven the unregulated and oppressive system oflocal moneylending accompanied by heavy landrevenues and water taxes, peasant struggles be-came a routine occurrence during pre-partition Pun-jab. After the annexation of Punjab in 1849, Britishgovernment put its entire land in the state undermeticulously devised legal control. Another majorproject undertaken by the British Raj was the canal-isation of large tracts of barren land, leading to theadvent of irrigation and sudden prosperity among

the otherwise pauperised peasant communities ofthe state. This canal-based system of arid land irri-gation had not only propelled the high-yielding va-rieties of crops, but also gave rise to residentialcolonies of farmers around the newly-dug canals.Many farmers also joined the British army, whichbrought rich opportunities for Sikh soldiers to visitEurope and North America, but also forced them toface their ignoble social status as subjects of theBritish Empire. This had led to social and politicalawakening among the inhabitants of the newly es-tablished canal colonies in Western Punjab – manyof them ex-soldiers in the British army – that even-tually played a catalytic role in the emergence ofpeasant movements in the state against agricultureActs, which offended their izzat (honour, prestige,self-respect).

However, preceding salutary contributionsby the peasantry during the massive British Canalprojects, there were much earlier inflexion pointssuch as the introduction of the Persian water wheelin this region in the 16th century, and the estab-lishment of a Sikh Kingdom by Maharaja RanjitSingh in 1799. The peasants of Punjab fought forfreedom and their land, first under the command ofFive Pyare and twenty-five Singhs sent by GuruGobind Singh – along with Baba Banda Bahadur–to help establish just rule in Punjab, and laterlaunch guerrilla warfare through various Sikh Misls(confederacies). During this long period of che-

quered history, the valor-ous peasantry of Punjabwas engaged primarily infighting for the restorationand protection of theirland. It was also the peas-ants who bore the bruntof brutal persecution atthe hands of both alienforces and of the partitionof the vast province ofPunjab when circum-stances conspired againstthem and they had had toforsake their well-groomed canal irrigatedagriculture fields in WestPunjab, now in Pakistan.

In addition, thesterling contribution made by the farmers of Punjabin the organisation and functioning of the historicGhadar movement-1913-1948, Gurdwara Reformmovement-1920-25, Babbar Akali movement-1921-25, Guru ka Bagh morcha-1922, and Jaitoda morcha-1924-25 add further lustre to the richheritage of farmers’ relentless struggle for the safe-guard of their land rights, and restoration of theircivic and religious liberties. Guru ka Bagh and JaitoMorchas are well-known for their exemplary non-violent struggle. The genesis of the current agita-tion, which has galvanised farmers across India,can be traced to these pre-independence agrarianagitations in Punjab.

Farmers Struggle of 1907The Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement of

1907 is the pioneer peasant movement of Punjab,which provides clues to understanding what sus-tains the vigour of the ongoing farmers’ protests atthe borders of Delhi. This movement was launchedprimarily to force the British administration with-draw the Punjab Land Colonisation Act 1906 (in-troduced in the Punjab Legislative Council onOctober 25, 1906, and passed in February 1907),which aimed at depriving landowners of their land.This was not the only agriculture law passed by thePunjab Legislative Assembly since the establish-ment of the canal colonies by the British govern-ment in the late nineteenth century after theannexation of the Punjab in 1849. A good numberof agriculture-related Acts – the Land AlienationAct of 1900, the Punjab Limitation Act 1904, theTransfer of Property Act 1904, the Punjab Pre-Emp-tion Act of 1905, the Court of Wards Act of 1905,and the Punjab Land Alienation Act Amendment Bill1906 – had already been passed by the provincialgovernment without facing any resistance from theland-owners. Instead, all these Acts were presentedby the British government as what N. Gerald Barriercalled ‘paternal protection of the cultivating land-owners’.

However, what prompted the landowners torise against the Punjab Land Colonisation Act 1906was its various stringent clauses that ‘forbadetransfer of property by will’, introduced ‘strict pri-mogeniture as interpreted by the Canal Officer’; im-posed fresh conditions like planting of trees as wellas prior permission for their cutting, sanitary rulesand higher occupancy fee; legalised fines and de-barred the courts from ‘interfering with executiveorders’. It was also included in the Act that ‘if a

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P

Labour Day Celebrations & Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar’s Contributions for Labourers in India

Bharat Ratan Bodhi Satav Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ramji’scontribution towards the emancipation and empowermentof the working class in India both during the freedom strug-gle as well as after India’s independence is worth remem-bering on the historic May Day: celebrated worldwide asInternational Workers’ Day, also known as Workers’ Day andLabour Day. It was chosen to be International Workers’ Dayat the International’s second congress in 1891 to commem-orate the 1886 Haymarket affairin Chicago wherein on 1May workers of various industrial units observed generalstrike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May when theChicago police tried to disperse a public assembly in supportof the general strike an unidentified person threw a bomb,which led to police firing resulting in the death of seven po-lice officers, at least four civilians and wounding of sixty po-lice officers and unknown number of civilians. This was ledto the arrest of hundreds of labour leaders and their sym-pathiers. Later on, four of the arrested ones were executedby hanging.

It was coincidence that Babasaheb Dr Ambedkarwas born in 1891 and came to acquire higher education inthe United States of America in 1913. What he learnt duringhis three years (1913-16) stint at Columbia University inNew York City in the class room sessions of his great pro-fessors - John Dewey, James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman andJames Harvey Robinson - made him struggle for the eman-cipation and empowerment the labourers on his return inhis own country during the British as well as after India’sindependence.During his tenure as a Labour Minister andas the Labour Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Councilbetween 1942 and 1946, he worked hard for the reductionof working hours from 12 to 8 Hrs a day. His contributionstowards granting the rights of the labourers are manifold:establishment of Employment Exchange, Employees StateInsurance (ESI), Indian Statistical Law, Compulsory Recog-nition for Trade of Union, Indian Factory act, Dearness Al-lowance (DA), Paid Holidays, Health Insurance, Extra payfor Overtime, Legal Strike Act, Provident Fund (PF), LabourWelfare Fund, Technical Training Scheme, Mines MaternityBenefit Act, Women Labour Welfare Fund, Women andChild-Labour Protection Act, Maternity Benefit for WomenLabour, Equal Pay for Equal Work irrespective of the Sex,Restoration of Ban on Employment of Women on Under-ground Work in Coal Mines.

As far as the public domain of working class ac-tivism is concerned, Dr Ambedkar was always acted as frontsoldier for the rights of workers. His contribution in high-lighting the plight of Dalit workers access in the highest paidtextile mill weaving departments is well known. Dalits werenot allowed to work in these textile mills for the fear of pol-lution caused by their saliva to wet the thread during theweaving process to tie the knot, each time the weft bobbinrequired a replacement. Dr Ambedkar brought this issue inthe public during the famous 1928 Bombay Textile Strike.He threathened to dissuade Dalit workers from joining thestrike if his demand for Dalits’ access to all kind of jobs inthe mills was accepted. His contributions towards the bill toabolish the Mahar Watan and Khoti abolition bill wereamong the several prominent labour welfare measures un-dertook by him. Abolition of Punjab Land Alienation Act of1900 was yet another legal relief to the non-agricultureclasses, including Dalits, to overcome their exclusion fromthe land ownership rights.

Ambedkar Times & Desh Doaba Weekly newspa-pers congratulate all on the Labour Day Celebrations theworld over and also fondly remember the rich contributionsmade by Bodhi Satav Bharat Ratan Babasaheb Dr BhimraoRamji Ambedkar towards the emancipation and empower-ment of workers in India!

Prem Kumar ChumberEditor-In-Chief: www.ambedkartimes.com

Ronki RamShaheed Bhagat Singh ChairProfessor of Political Science

Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, IndiaE-mail: ronkiram@yahoo.co.in

Visiting Professor, Centre for Sikh and Panjabi Studies

University of Wolverhampton (UK)

S. Ajit Singh - Picture Credit: Patriots Of India

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 2V0l-13 Issue-26 September 8, 2021

Historical Context of Delhi Kisan Morcha: Pre-partition Agrarian Movements – I (Continue from page 1)

new settler died without gaining oc-cupancy rights (generally before fiveyears), the land lapsed to the gov-ernment’. Though before the enact-ment of this Act, landowners in theChanab canal colony were subjectedto various hardships by the local ad-ministration in the form of corrup-tion and arbitrary fines, but they didnot raise the banner of revolt againstthe British government, which theyused to consider benevolent. But assoon as their land was targeted,landowners turned hostile. The in-

crease in the abiana (water rate)under the Doab Bari Act of 1907further aggravated the crisis thatforced them to unite first under the“yeoman grantees” of the Bar Za-mindar Association and then therevolutionary leadership of AjitSingh, uncle of Shaheed BhagatSingh, who with the support of theBharat Mata Sabha, an undergroundorganisation, fought the PunjabLand Colonisation Act 1906 toothand nail. The threat of losing landwas articulated as a threat to thevery existence of the londowners,

and this sentiment was captured inthe movement’s slogan: PagdiSambhal Jatta (take care of thy tur-ban O, Jat). Eventually, the move-ment itself came to be known bythe name of this very slogan.

The often repeated epitaphof ‘the question of hond – existenceof farmer’ in the ongoing farmers’protests reminds the above-men-tioned slogan of 1907 movement.The current farmers struggle againstthe three farm laws, like that of the1907 peasant movement, is beingfought to safeguard the hond (exis-

tence) of farmers. Both of these his-toric farmers’ movements (1907and the present one) were launchedafter thoroughly debating each andevery clause. Another striking paral-lel between the Punjab Land Coloni-sation Act 1906 and the currentthree farms laws, is that both wererushed through the legislativeprocess sans a proper discussions.Finally, the Punjab Land ColonisationAct 1906 was withdrawn after theSecretary of State vetoed it on May26, 1907.

(Continuing)

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www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 3V0l-13 Issue-26 September 8, 2021

County's Homeless ResponseOver the years, the main concerns ofmy constituents have remained fairlyconsistent, occasionally with one re-ceiving more attention than others.At the current forefront is the issueof homelessness. It seems nearly im-possible to go anywhere in theCounty these days without encoun-tering at least one homeless personor going past an encampment. Thatis not surprising given a 19 percentrise in Sacramento County’s home-

less population from 2017 to 2019.We don’t even know what that num-ber has grown to since 2019 as the2021 Point in Time count was can-celled due to COVID-19. The con-cerns around these encampments arenumerous and legitimate. The numberone question my office gets is: “whyaren’t you doing anything aboutthem?” The truth is we are doingwhat we can, working our way up-stream against a powerful legal cur-rent, and I am happy to share moreon the realities of SacramentoCounty’ response to homelessness.

Many people who havereached out seeking to have a home-less camp moved are undoubtedly fa-miliar with the decision out of the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals in Martin v.Boise. Put simply, that decision madeit unlawful to punish people for theact of being homeless when they donot have access to shelter. Becauseof this, we are unable to cite for ille-gal camping on public property. Thechallenges of the Boise decision werecompounded during most of the pan-demic as the public health order fur-ther restricted when and howhomeless camps could be moved,even if that meant an illegally parkedRV on a public street.

This is frustrating, because tome it is evident that the best way towork to improve the homeless situa-tion is to focus on drug treatment andmental health treatment. But legally,the only way we can get back tocleaning up homeless camps is to addmore housing.

While the COVID-19 restric-tions on moving homeless campswere lifted on June 15th with theother restrictions, I am pleased to say

that some of the resulting solutionsare in place.

The Board of Supervisors ap-proved the creation of the HomelessResponse Team (HRT) in 2020 tocombat the spread of COVID-19among the homeless population. TheHRT was a collaborative effort ofcounty departments, SacramentoCity, and non-profit organizations toget the homeless access to shelter,sanitation materials, and COVID-19preventative measures. Still, even

with the HRT activelydeployed and publichealth order restrictionslifted, we still have ahomeless populationthat seems to be grow-ing faster than ever be-fore. And still, my officehears the concernsabout homeless campscontributing to fires,public disturbances,and negative environ-mental impacts andwhat more can be done

to restore our communities to safeand clean environments. While mypriority, and I think what will have themost impact, is increasing access tomental health services and drug treat-ment, the most simple and legal so-lution still remains as an increase inshelters and housing.

Some have pointed to Los An-geles as a beacon of hope as theyhave passed a new ordinance restrict-ing where homelesspeople can and cannotcamp overnight. Whenpeople ask how theycan do it and Sacra-mento County cannot,there are many reasonswhy. 1.2 billion rea-sons, in fact. LA votersapproved a $1.2 billionbond initiative to funda massive homelesshousing project that islarge enough to enablethe enforcement ofanti-camping ordinances. That issomething I do not think SacramentoCounty residents are ready to takeon, but we can and are working to ex-pand our shelter space. As part ofthis year’s budget cycle, we approved$5.9 million to fund a new homelesscamp initiative (HCI). This initiativewill fund two encampment sites serv-ing 100 individuals each, three en-campment teams to connectindividuals with services, three scat-tered site shelters and increasenightly bed capacity by 15. Possiblymost important, the initiative includesnavigators to connect people withhousing services and temporary fi-nancial assistance to get people intopermanent housing.

Permanent housing is, ofcourse, the ultimate goal but we can-not simply create permanent housing.Getting homeless individuals intoshelters and camps where profession-als can make contact and try to con-nect them with services is how theprocess of getting them into perma-nent housing begins. The efforts ofthe HRT, the HCI, and the implemen-tation of assisted outpatient treat-ments (aka Laura’s Law), combinedwith the efforts of Sacramento Cityto expand shelters has us well on ourway to making a noticeable impacton homelessness in SacramentoCounty. I anticipate that we will con-tinue on this trend of expanding shel-ters and services and working withcommunity organizations to make alltypes of housing more accessible tothe point that we are no longer con-cerned about overnight camping.

Ultimately, this all depends onthe willingness of the unhoused tocome to the shelters and campsitesbeing created and to accept whateverservices they may be offered. Andwhile I wish we could immediatelyaddress the underlying causes ofhomelessness directly, like mental ill-ness and drug addiction, increasingthe number of beds available is whatis going to get us back sooner tocleaning up our neighborhoods.

Supervisor AppointsCounty Executive

Following a Closed Session Board

meeting today, the SacramentoCounty Board of Supervisors unani-mously agreed to appoint InterimCounty Executive Ann Edwards asCounty Executive. The appointment iseffective Sep. 14,2021 .

Edwards is thefirst woman appointedto the County Execu-tive position.

I am pleased toannounce that theBoard of Supervisorsvoted unanimously toappoint Ann Edwardsas County Executive.Ann has proven to bean outstanding Interim

County Executive and has providedstability to the organization, improvedcommunication and built trust withinand outside of the organization.

Edwards’ accomplishments inher seven month tenure as Acting/In-terim County Executive include in-creasing transparency in the budgetprocess, organizing a process for aspending plan to provide assistanceto both the County and the commu-nity with the American Rescue PlanAct funds and increasing engagementwith local government and commu-nity-based organizations.

“I appreciate and thank theBoard for the trust and support theyhave shown me,” said Edwards. “Icommit to looking at the County or-ganization in new ways, to pursue acommitment to diversity, equity andinclusion, increase public trans-parency and engagement and enrichthe County’s organizational culture.”

Edwards’ current and upcom-ing initiatives include the formation ofa Public Safety and Justice Agency,increased public engagement in and anew budget process for FY 2022-23and implementing implicit bias train-ing countywide.

About Ann Edwards:Edwards has served as Acting

County Executive since December2020 and Interim County Executivesince February 2021. Before that, sheworked as Sacramento County’s Di-rector of Human Assistance since2014 and worked as the Director forSocial Services for Solano County.Prior to Solano County, she workedfor Sacramento County between1998 and 2013, serving as ChiefDeputy County Executive for County-wide Services, Director of Health andHuman Services, Director of MentalHealth Services, Division Manager forAdult Mental Health and ProgramManager for Child and Family MentalHealth.

Edwards holds a Master’s de-gree in Counselor Education and abachelor’s degree in Social Work fromCalifornia State University, Sacra-mento.

False Rumors Regarding CountyElections Staffing

(Contd. on page 7)

Sue Frost

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 4V0l-13 Issue-26 September 8, 2021

My Struggle in LifeThe Passport Affair

t o o kover asu n d e r

secretary inthe middle ofO c t o b e r1952 and

was given the charge of the Depart-ments of Partition and Commerce andIndustry. Later the work of the PassportDepartment was also entrusted to me.

Meetings of the Partition Imple-mentation Committee between India andPakistan used to be held every threemonths, alternately at Simla and Lahoreat the chief secretaries’ level and some-times at the ministers’ level as the needwas. Besides the official business, thesemeetings afforded me an opportunity tosee the places and houses in Lahorewhere we had lived happily only a shortwhile ago. Such visits were naturallyemotive. During our stay at Lahore, wewere not quite free to move about andsee people who had been our friends orcoworkers. The CID people kept a vigi-lant watch over our movements.

These restrictions notwithstand-ing, I was able, with the cooperation ofthe nice driver of the car placed at ourdisposal by the Pakistan government, tovisit places in Krishananagar where I,along with my family, had resided forquite long. These places brought to mymind the happy and, at the same time,sad memories of the past. People theredid not seem to be very happy with thechanged state of affairs but would talkonly in a subdued voice. Some of them,who were critical of their own people, re-quested me to convey their deep affec-tion and great respects to India and herpeople. They had not forgotten the timesthey had spent here as their belovedhome. As regards commerce and indus-try, the work was of a routine nature andnothing of much importance was to bedone. But in this connection, I have tomake a mention of one instance. Thegovernment had set up industrial estatesat various focal points including Jaland-har city, and a number of persons inter-ested in setting up industries wereallotted plots for various trades. No plotwas, however, allotted to a scheduledcaste person, possibly for the reasonthat nobody came forward to make a de-mand. One day, Anant Ram Badhan, apromising young man of Jalandhar, sawme in my office and requested for a plotin the industrial area at Jalandhar. It wasgood that at least one person had comeforward in this field. I told him he couldhave a plot out of the unallotted ones.He had a particular plot in mind and puthis finger on that plot as shown in themap. Accordingly, I put up a proposal tothe secretary of industries, recommend-ing that the specific plot be allotted toBadhan. Thus the young man got theplot of his choice. He was happy. He setup an iron industry there and has beendoing very well in the trade.

The passport work was the im-portant job. As I was absolutely new tothe job and the grant of passport, espe-cially for UK, carried with it a lot of re-sponsibility, I started cautiously. Somescheduled caste MLAs and other leadersapproached me in connection with thepassport case of a young matriculateHarijan (person from low caste) boy ofAmbala named Harbans Lal, whose fam-ily was carrying on the business of kikar(acacia) bark used in leather tanning. Hewanted to go to UK to study the meth-

ods of tanning and finding out the scopefor the business. His application for thegrant of a passport had been turneddown after obtaining the concurrence ofthe Government of India. He made twoapplications for the review of the orders,but these were also rejected after ob-taining the concurrence of the Govern-ment of India, as had been done on theprevious occasion. I thought it musthave been done on the previous occasion.

I thought it must have been avery bad case. I felt diffident whether itwould at all be possible to help the boy.But in view of the fact that so many im-portant persons had spoken to me aboutthe case, I asked them to tell the boy tomake another review application, whichhe did in due course.

I asked the office to put up thecase to me with facts and their com-ments. The case came to me with alengthy office note, justifying the ordersof rejection. I went through it and the of-fice note carefully but was not con-vinced of the correctness andjustification of the orders. Then I sent forthe office superintendent in order to findout if he could throw more light on thecase. He vehemently defended the pre-vious orders mainly on the ground thatall the three orders had the concurrenceof the Government of India. Confrontedwith the facts of the case, he had toadmit that a passport could be issuedthen but not now. It became clear to methat it was a case of a wrong decision.Why a special procedure was adopted inthis case for obtaining the concurrenceof the central government while the casecould have easily been decided at thestate level as was the rule?

I had already learnt that therewas a lot of corruption in the passportoffice. Therefore, one of the probablereasons for not granting passport to thescheduled caste people could be thatthey were too poor to grease the palmsof the concerned officials. It was evi-dently a case of injustice.

Accordingly, I put up a note tothe secretary, stating the facts of thecase and proposing that in view of thefact that the previous orders were wrongand the concurrence of the Governmentof India was obtained by wrongly repre-senting the facts of the case, we mightreview our previous orders, grant a pass-port to the applicant, and then informthe central government. On seeing mynote, the officials got perturbed. Theytold me that the orders could not be re-viewed without first getting the Govern-ment of India revise their own orders. Itold them not to get excited as it wasmy responsibility. The Home Secretaryagreed with me, and the case cameback. I directed the office to prepare apassport and dispatch it to the personconcerned the same day and then tosend the case back to me for further ac-tion. This was done, and I then informedthe minister also accordingly. I knewthat accepting the advice of the officewould inevitably mean tying the case inred tape, as it was likely to get boggeddown at one stage or the other formonths together. This delay would haverobbed the decision and its purpose ofmuch of its grace. Delay was and is aroutine phenomenon in government of-fices. But I wanted to cut the red tape,and I did it successfully and very rightlytoo. Then I wrote a demi-official letter tothe passport officer at Delhi detailing the

reasons for the review of the previousorders and the grant of a passport to theboy. I specifically told the passport offi-cer, Broughton, that the central govern-ment’s concurrence was obtained by usby wrongly representing the facts of thecase. There was a whisper in the officethat a nasty stinker from the central gov-ernment was in the offing. A few dayslater, I received a demi-official letterfrom Broughton in reply to my letter. Itwas on unexpected lines. I feel temptedto reproduce below Broughton’s letter,which is both revealing and refreshing:Ministry of External AffairsNew Delhi.No.F. 8(48)-PU. 11/52 6th April, 1953.My dear Pawar,Your official letter No. 2744-PE-53/6310, dated

21st March, 1953 has come asa breath of cool and refreshing air. Hith-erto the sequence has been that you re-ceive and reject an application for apassport, we then receive an appealand, in several cases, overrule your ob-jections. In the present case the reversehas taken place and, in spite of ouragreement with your first reactions thata passport should not be granted to theapplicant, the Punjab Government havereconsidered the position and quite cor-rectly, issued him with a passport. As itis our policy to be as liberal as possiblein the grant of passports consistent withthe security and honour of the country,it should always be the object of StateGovernments to grant passport facilitiesas freely as they can and only to refusethem when the evidence is really strongthat the issue of a passport in a particu-lar case would be detrimental to our in-terest. We receive frequent complaintsabout the arbitrary severity with whichthe passport rules are administered bythe passport authorities, particularly inthe Punjab, and we are inclined to feelfrom our experience that, by and large,there is some degree of justification forthese complaints.

Yours Sincerely,I. J. Broughton

Shri Ishwar Das Pawar, B.A.LL.B., P.C.S.,

Under-Secretary to Goverment, Punjab,Partition Department, Simla

This letter strengthened myhands, and much of the mist surround-ing the working of the office wascleared. I had started well. Red tapismand rigmarole were no favorites of thehigher authorities. The Government ofIndia appreciated bold and generous de-cisions. I sent up Broughton’s letter forthe information of the secretary and thechief minister, who was also the minis-ter-in-charge. I found myself on the right path.

Scheduled caste people wouldcome to me grumbling that they weredenied passport for UK while others gotthem quite freely. They also made a sim-ilar complaint to the Harijan ministerChaudhari Sunder Singh. I too realizedthat their grouse was quite well-founded, as they were not getting jus-tice in this regard. Therefore, I discussedthis problem with the minister. On thebasis of this discussion, he put up anote to the chief minister, setting outthe grievances of the scheduled castesand requesting him to look into the mat-ter personally.

The note travelled down to mytable as it had to. The point raised wasto be examined first by me as the pass-

port officer. The office appended a notein routine and hackneyed lines. It wasmerely a reiteration of the procedure inforce. They had no worthwhile sugges-tion to make. On the other hand, I had aclear idea of the problem and enoughperception of the real difficulties beingfaced by Harijans. I began my note withthe admission, rather confession, thatthe complaint and the grouse of thesepeople were perfectly genuine and justi-fied but at the same time noted thatthey could not be helped in the face ofthe prevalent rules, which were too rigidand cumbersome to be complied with bythem. The other difficulty, which waseven more important, was that the po-lice and the CID reports about themwere mostly unfavorable and rather ad-verse. The department was helpless inthis matter. I however made certain sug-gestions which, if accepted, in my view,would go a long way in mitigating thehardships faced by them. The followingwere two of them: (a) the amount ofcash of Rs 10,000 required to be showndeposited in a bank should be reducedby at least half the sum; and (b) the con-cerned officers and departments, theCID, the police, and the DCs, in particu-lar, should be directed to deal with thecases of Harijan applicants with careand sympathy.

This much was a must, accord-ing to me, if the complaints of the Hari-jans were to be substantially removed.With this note, I sent the case file to theHome Secretary who was in charge ofthe department. I had some hope thatthe suggestions made by me had asporting chance of being accepted. Inthis matter, I had the full support of ourminister Chaudhri Sunder Singh. Any-way, I had spoken out my mind andmade the proposals in good faith.

The secretary sent for me. Helooked a bit unhappy. He asked me as tohow it was possible to make the pro-posed changes in the rules. I simply saidthat that was the only way if we wantedto help the Harijans. Then I left. I got ap-prehensive. The case file came backafter a short while, and it was a pleasantsurprise to find that the secretary hadagreed with my proposals in their en-tirety. The battle was half won.

In terms of this decision, a suit-ably drafted circular letter was issued toall the departments and officers con-cerned. They were required by the in-structions to deal with the passportapplications of the Harijans with duecare and sympathy. Their attention wasalso drawn to their complaints and griev-ances. The problem got wings. I in-formed the minister about the fruitfulresults of his note. He evidently happyand gratified. These instructions had thedesired effect. The difficulty regardingfinancial position was softened

(Contd. on next page)

I

Ishwar Das PawarDistrict and Sessions Judge (Retd.)

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 5V0l-13 Issue-26 September 8, 2021

Ambedkar College at Bootan Mandi Jalandhart is a matter of great satisfac-tion that the proposal of having

a college in Bootan Mandi Jalandhar,the deemed capital of the dalits inPunjab particularly the Doaba region,has fructified. Government of Punjabunder the stewardship of CaptainAmrinder Singh finally got anotherfeather in its cap by establishing –Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Gov-ernment Co-education College atBootan Mandi to honour of the great-est son of India who visited BootanMandi in 1951 and rightly so. TheCollege has started functioning fromthe current educational year i.e.2021-22. I spoke to the first Principalof the College, Sarbjit Singh, an edu-cationist and administrator and con-gratulated him on his elevation fromthe Government College Kapurthala. I

found him an enthusiastic person tohead the new institution at an historic

place. Let us hope Babasaheb BhimRao Ambedkar College becomes a‘Centre of Excellence’ in the area andfully justify its existence not only asa tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar butalso in meeting the educational needsof the weaker sections of the society. As I said that there was a long stand-ing idea of having a college in thearea. Many people contributed to re-alize this dream in their own way. Inthe recent years a non-script outfitcalled Sarb Samaj Sangharsh Com-mittee agitated for the project andconvinced the local MLA Sushil Rinkua young and energetic politician andothers at the helm of affairs to cajolethe Punjab Government to deliver inthis regard. Some of the social ac-tivists of Bootan Mandi namely;Varun Kler, Jagdish Disha, Paramjit

Mahey among other,worked hard in pursuing

the matter with the au-thorities. I have been writ-ing, as a playback singer,about the project off andon in my blogs. The endresult is available onground – Dera Ayet Da-roost Ayet. Congratula-tions to all the stakeholders and thanks to the

Government of Punjab and also all thebest wishes to Principal Sarbjit Singh

and the teaching faculty of Babasa-heb Bhim Rao Ambedkar GovernmentCo-education College. I am confidentthe young students would benefitfrom the college immensely and fullyjustify the need of the residents andright decisions of the government. Itis a University Graduate level collegefor courses in humanities, to beginwith. I am told that there is some disputeor new proposal to give the adjacentplot of land earmarked for a vegetablemarket to the college for play groundand other extracurricular activities.The proposal seems to be good. Theplay grounds will not only encouragethe students and residents of the areato avail of sports facilities but alsoprovide a green-lung to the congestedresidential localities in the vicinity.More to have a vegetable market inthe neighborhood of the college goes

against the estheticsand serene atmos-phere needed by thetemple of learning. Ihumbly urge the Ad-ministration to con-sider the proposal toallot the adjacent plotof land to the collegefavourably for thebenefit of the com-munity at large.

It goesw i t h o u tsaying thatthe socio-economicand politi-cal em-powermentof thew e a k e rsections ofthe societywas thep r i m a r yagenda ofBabasahebAmbedkarin whose memory the college hasbeen named. It becomes our jointduty to see that Babasaheb Bhim RaoAmbedkar College becomes a centreof excellent education without whichno empowerment is possible.

Ramesh ChanderAmbassador - I.F.S. (Retired)91-99885-10940

College Building

Ramesh Chander at the College

RameshChanderwith SushilRinku

Ramesh Chanderwith Principal

My Struggle in Life(Continue from page 4)

considerably, and the police and the CIDreports became generally favorable.

My path lay smooth.In view of the changed condi-

tions, it became possible for me to grantpassports to quite a number of Harijansmore easily and justly. Whenever theyneeded any guidance and help here andthere, I did the needful with a sense ofsatisfaction to do so. Nothing was donewhich was unusual or out of the waymuch less against the rules.

In those days, there was no visasystem as far as UK was concerned. Itwas introduced later. This way, quite anumber of Harijans were able to get pass-ports for UK and other countries. Many ofthose families are now in that country,and some of them had acquired citizen-ship of that land. It gives me a greatpleasure and unbounded satisfaction toknow that they are living there happilyand are much better off. I was just an in-strument in the hands of nature that wasbent in the service of the poor and theneedy who had been unjustly ignored byothers. Being in a position from where Icould help them, it became my legal and

moral duty to do justice to them.Our people living in UK remember

me with great love and affection. It is sonice of them. I wholeheartedly reciprocatetheir sentiments. They send me messageafter message to visit the country of theiradoption, but for reasons of health, I havenot been able to comply with their re-quest. They have a grouse about me; I amnot quite in touch with them. But on mypart, I love them in equal measure andcan possibly have no grievance whatso-ever against them.

They are flesh of our flesh andblood of our blood. My mind often goesout to them for their loving remembrance.In view of my erratic and unsatisfactorystate of health, I am not much optimisticwhether I would ever be able to go thereand meet them though it would have beena unique privilege for me if I could satisfymy strong desireto go there. Incidentally, my daughterKamlesh is also in London.

My son-in-law, Vidya BhushanSoni, is a counsellor in the Indian HighCommission there. They too are pressingme to pay a visit to Howsoever I mightwish, my health does not permit me, at

least for the present, to undertake thejourney to that country of my dreams.

My only regret has been that Idid not remain in the job relating to thegrant of passport for a longer time to ren-der a bit more service to the helpless peo-ple. Within less than a year, I was shiftedfrom this post and appointed as a mem-ber of the newly constituted Punjab Sub-ordinate Services Selection Board. Theretoo, duty was awaiting me to render in adifferent form and sphere of service to theneglected people. In that post I remainedfor full eight years.

Shortly after leaving the passportpost, I saw Chaudhri Sunder Singh at thesecretariat at Chandigarh. It was only acourtesy call. During our talk, he told methat there was a whispering campaign inofficial circles that an enquiry be heldagainst me. “Any corruption chargeagainst me?” I enquired. “No such chargeis possible,” came a prompt reply. The al-legation made against me was that Igranted so many passports to the Hari-jans, which was uncalled for and unwar-ranted. I told the minister that it wascorrect that I grant passports to quite anumber of Harijans but strictly on merits.

There was not a single case where theorder was either not justified on merits orwas against the rules. My only fault wasthat I treated Harijan applicants on a parwith other applicants. This was not beingdone before. Therefore, this irked non-Har-ijans. Consequently, there was nothing tofear if an inquiry was held. As a matter offact, such an inquiry was welcome asothers could be exposed for their discrim-inatory treatment of the Harijans. I didnothing wrong.

What I did was by way of faithfuland honest discharge of my duties andtrying to undo the grave injustice that hadpreviously been done to them. I furthertold the minister that actually, as the bootwas on the other leg, an inquiry should beheld against those responsible for illegallyand unjustly denying passports to theHarijans and thus were guilty of derelic-tion of their official duty by treating all noton the basis of equality. On hearing mespeak thus, the face of the minister borea broad smile, and he said, “Nothing toworry.”

Ultimately, better sense pre-vailed, and the whispering talk of an in-quiry proved empty and futile.

S

I

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 6V0l-13 Issue- 26 September 8, 2021

Tamil Naducon-sists of 32 districts, in whichalmost 27 districts are oc-cupied by theMallar commu-nity, who onceruled Tamil Nadu,as noted inhis-tory as theChera, Chola andPandiya kingdom.

Laterwith the Aryan invasion, thecommunity gradually lost their powerand was reduced to the status ofslaves.

As on date, the overall popu-lation of the Mallar community in

Tamil Nadu isane s t i m a t e d1 ,75 ,00 ,000 .The Mallar com-munity is knownfor its fightagainst the evildiscrimination inthe Hindu socialsystem. Also, inits effort to up-hold their self-re-spect and dignityand in a show ofexpressing theirdiscontentment,they opted for-getting convertedinto Muslims and Christians in thepast. The Mallarcommunity unper-turbed by oppression unleashedagainst them had led several agita-tions to preserve the self-respect ofthe people of Scheduled Caste (SC)in Tamil Nadu. The community holdsthe privilege for not bowing down be-fore the Manuvadis’ for the sake oftheir social development. However,known for theirinnocence and con-tained emotional attitude, they failedto understand the might of their nu-merical strength and its significancein attaining political power. There-fore, the Mallar community lagged be-hind others in the realms of social,economic and educational progress.Though, agriculture was the main oc-

cupation,more than 80% of peoplewere landless agricultural coolie whilethe remaining are small scale andmarginal farmers.

In such a scenario, the revo-lutionary social reformer in the Mallacommunity,Thiyagi Immanuel Sekaranborn in 1924.After witnessing theoppression and exploitation of Bahu-jan brother’sand their meager exis-tence, he felt a lot to be desired forthe betterment of the community. In1942, Dr.Ambedkar appealed to theScheduled Caste community throughRadio, to join the British Army. Afterhearing the appeal, young Shekarandid not hesitate for a moment andjoined the military service at once.Later, on visiting his district on avail-

ing leave and seeing the miserablecondition of the Bahujans, and thecaste atrocities unleashed againstthem by the upper caste people andthe ruthless exploitation of the inno-cent Bahujans, he decided not to re-turn to the Military and to work forthe betterment of the sufferingmasses. Thereby he decided to workfor theself-respectand justice fortheScheduled Caste and other BackwardClasses, who were also subjected tountouchability.

Accordingly, in 1946 in uni-son withThekkampattiBalasundaram,he conducted a very big conventionfor the Mallar Community at Madurai.In Tamil Nadu, Mallar is the first com-munity to recognize and accept the

scholarship of Dr.Ambedkar and hisworks. Similarly, Dr.Ambedkar alsoexpressed his delight for the unity ofMallar community in Tamil Nadu.

Immanuel Sekharan, for along time could not find an appropri-ate measurefor alleviating the mis-eries of discrimination meted out tothe Mallar community. However, heunified the Mallars and other sociallyand economically backward castesthrough the Organization of De-pressed Classes in 1952 and ex-pressed their opposition to uppercaste people.

During 1953, ShriRa-jagopalachari (Brahmin) was forced toresign his post as the Chief MinisterofTamil Nadu, who was succeeded by

Shri.KamarajNadar and Shri Kakkan-who hailed from Scheduled Caste be-came the Home Minister in NadarCabinet. Due to the enormous polit-ical statureof ShriKakkan, Shri Im-manuel Sekaran joined the CongressParty and wassubsequently ap-pointed as the spokesperson forRam-nad District Congress. However,as hewas leading the civil rights movementand the waging the battle againsthegemony of Brahiminical Caste Sys-tem, he became incredibly popularamong all the Backward Caste ofShudhras but forKallar Community.Because of his active rebellion againstBrahmanism, it was only natural that-Congress Party distanced itself fromhim and his activities. Consequently

in 1955, he left the Congress andfielded two Backward Class Candi-dates with the support of ForwardBlock against the Congress in thelocal body elections and managed towin both the seats.

In 1956, to create the socio-political awareness among the MallarCommunity, he organized the First Po-litical Conference of Mallars on 6thDecember 1956. On the 6th Decem-ber, the Greatest Liberation Icon ofIndia Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkarpassedaway. On hearing thedemise of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar, he passed thecondolence resolution to mourn thedeath of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar inthe very same conference. The Mal-lar community is the first community

in the worldtopass the condo-lence resolutionto mourn thedeath ofD r. BabasahebAmbedkar. Dur-ing this conven-tion, ShriE m m a n u e lSekaran con-veyed Dr.Babasa-heb Ambedkar’smessage to Mal-lars that PoliticalPower is the onlysolution to sur-mount the suffer-

ings and atrocities. The entire speechdelivered by Shri Emmanuel Sekaranon the occasion was about the impor-tance of gaining Political Power. Heemphasized on the political powerheld by Brahminical forcesand its im-plications viz., the suffering of thepeople of Mallar and other sociallyoppressed classes. Therefore, he un-derscored the significance of the Po-litical Power to live with self-respect.He enlightened the Mallars, toprogress towards capturing of Politi-cal power in the Centre as well as inthe State, which he felt was the onlysolution to lead a dignified life filledwithself-respect and equal justice.

Thereafter he started organiz(Contd. on next page)

Maveeran Emmanuel Sekaran-A symbol of Thamilar (Dravida) Liberation

Every year ... All India Adi Dharam Mission of Punjab has been observing Shaheed Immanuel Sekaran's death anniversary with great gratitude.

Jeevan Kumar Malla91-94426-08416

Mr. C.L. Chumber launched my book, which talks about Shaheed Immanuel Sekaran Book at Nagpur on October 14, 2012

Jeevan Kumar Malla

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 7V0l-13 Issue- 26 September 8, 2021

(Continue from page 6)ing the Mallars and other BackwardClass people inTamil Nadutowards at-taining self-respect. But before hecould make much headway, he wasmurdered on 11thSeptember, 1957by the agents of caste culture. Dur-ing the Ramnad riots, a worst of itskind, a series of politically motivatedviolent clashes took place betweenJuly and September, 1957, just amonth before the 1957 election tothe Lok Sabha.

In the election,Thevar com-munity as a whole supported the for-ward block led byMuthuramalingamThevar and thebe-cause of this, the Mallar and otherBackward Communities supportedthe Congress party. Ironically, the

SC/ST/OBC communities failed toreadthe conspiracy game hatched bythe Congress, and paid a heavy priceon September 11, 1957, as the 33-year-old Emmanuel Sekaran, theleader of Scheduled Caste Congressdelegation was murdered at thepeace conference in Paramkudi.

When, Shaheed EmmanuelSekaran served in the Army with SantBanta Ram Ghera, Founder, All IndiaAdi Dharam Mission Panjab. Theytwo were close friends. Because ofthe caste discrimination in the mili-tary, the two decided to resign fromthe military and work for the sociallyoppressed community. Shaheed Em-manuel Sekaran decided to work forsocial liberation in Tamil Nadu. SantBanta Ram Ghera decided to do their

socio-cultural work at Punjab. Theydid their work until the end of life asthey decided.

On the anniversary of Sha-heed Immanuel's birthday, Every Yearunder the leadership ofSantSatwinder Singh Heera, the na-tional president of the All India AdiDharam Mission of Punjab has beencelebrating the occasion with greatgratitude.

Similarly, over 1000 personsfrom the Punjab, every year come tothe memorial place of Saheed Im-manuel Sekaran at Paramakudi, Tamil-nadu to pay their tribute of his great soul.

Though he is nomore,MaveeranEmmanuelsekaranisrevered as a Liberation icon and a

source of political empowerment byall the Scheduled Caste people andSocially Backward Classes, and re-membered as a the one who foughtagainst the atrocities unleashed bycaste culture and treatedat a par withDr.Babasaheb Ambedkar. Therefore,on 11 September every year, as amark of gratitude and respect,lakhsof people from all over Tamil Nadumostly from among the Mallars visithis Memorial at Paramkudi in Ram-nadudistrict, to derive inspiration tocarry forward the legacy of Maveer-anEmmanuelsekaran in their arduousstruggle live a dignified life with SELF RESPECT.

# National President, Bahujan Dravida Party New Delhi

Maveeran Emmanuel Sekaran-A symbol of Thamilar (Dravida) Liberation

(Continue from page 3)It has come to the attention of theSacramento County Department ofVoter Registration and Elections thatthere are rumors circulating nationallyand even internationally, that thereare two employees of the Dominiontechnology company that are em-ployed in ourRegistrar’s of-fice.

T h e s erumors are false.The genesis ofthese rumors isstill unclear, butdue to theprevalence ofthis rumor, ouroffice is ad-dressing this liehead-on:

No Do-minion employ-ees have ever been or ever will beemployed by the Sacramento CountyVoter Registration & Elections Depart-ment

Our Lead Support Technicianfrom Dominion was on-site the firstday of Logic & Accuracy testing(Monday, 8/9) and will be back nextMonday (8/16) for the first day ofLogic & Accuracy testing on the tab-ulation system.

The purpose of the limited on-site technician support is to providesubject matter expertise in the main-tenance and/or repair of the votingequipment should any equipment failduring the Logic & Accuracy testing.On-site presence can expedite theRMA (Return Material Authorization)process to replace equipment in theevent of failure.

Maintenance and/or repairprocesses are performed by Sacra-mento County Voter Registration &Elections staff. The vendor may onlyprovide expertise and advice on howto best achieve the maintenanceand/or repair of voting equipment.

On-site vendor support is re-quired to be scheduled in advance,the vendor personnel must wear anidentification badge and be escortedby Sacramento County Voter Regis-tration & Elections Department staff

at all times while on the premises.They are not allowed to touch votingequipment, election files, or ballots atany time.

County to Hold Realignment PlanCommunity WorkshopThe Sacramento County Ju-

venile Justice Coordinating Council(JJCC) Subcommittee will host a Re-alignment Plan Community Workshopto present and encourage communityparticipation and feedback in Sacra-mento County’s Realignment Plan.The Community Workshop will beconducted virtually via Zoom.

The JJCC Subcommittee,chaired by the Chief Probation Offi-cer, is comprised of representativesfrom the District Attorney’s Office,the Public Defender’s Office, ChildProtective Services, Behavioral HealthServices, Sacramento County Officeof Education, and a representativefrom Superior Court. In April 2021,four community members were se-lected as members of the JJCC Sub-committee.

The JJCC Subcommittee isresponsible for the development ofSacramento County’s Senate Bill 823Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Re-alignment Plan to be submitted to thenew state Office of Youth and Com-munity Restoration. The RealignmentPlan addresses programs, re-entry, re-habilitation and support services foryouth realigned from the State DIJ tothe Valley Oak Youth Academy(VOYA) located within the Sacra-mento County Youth Detention Facil-ity.

The VOYA provides a safe andsecure environment for youth servingcommitments at SacramentoCounty’s Youth Detention Facility.Through the utilization of community-based responses and intervention,opportunities are provided towardspositive outcomes for youth and pub-lic safety, reduced transfer of youthto the adult criminal justice system,reduced racial and ethnic disparities,and reduced confinement in the juve-nile justice system.

“Through the dedication andcollaboration that exists between ourculturally responsive probation staff,contracted employees, county part-ners and more than 100 volunteersfrom community based organizations,the youth within the SacramentoCounty Youth Detention Facility re-

ceive a wide range of programs,” saidMarlon Yarber, Interim Chief Proba-tion Officer. “We look forward to con-tinued collaboration with thecommunity to create new partner-ships, while providing a high level ofcare and support services to the newrealigned population.”

For further information, including the Workshop Agenda andSacramento County’s Draft Realign-ment Plan, please visit the JJCCwebsite.

View the Realignment Com-munity Workshop Flyer.

When: September 1, 2021from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm (Sign on be-gins at 5:25 pm)

Register for Zoom Realign-ment Plan Community Workshop.

Change of NameI, Kulwinder Singh s/o Jaswinder Singh

Resident of: 2333 Vaca Way, Merced, CA-95340, U.S.A.

Now I have changed my name

From : Kulwinder SinghTo :

All concerned Kindly note it.

Kulwinder Singh Saroya

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 8V0l-13 Issue- 26 September 8, 2021

“Ambedkar Times” and “Desh Doaba”congratulate honorable Prof (Dr.) Ronki Ram

“Ambedkar Times” and “Desh Doaba” Weeklies congratulate honorable Prof (Dr.) Ronki Ram

for getting elected to the Senate (highest governing body) of Panjab University, Chandigarh

on September 1, 2021. We are reproducing news items carried in varied Indian Dailies

September 2, 2021 (with thanks) regarding the election of the Senate held on September 1, 2021.

Prem Kumar Chumber Editor-In-Chief: Ambedkar Times & Desh Doaba (CA, USA)

Ronki Ram