Superwomen!

The cynosure of all eyes in the Republic Day parade was the women contingent of the Gurdaspur police. The squad was taking part on the explicit instructions of SSP Rajinder Singh Sohal. Later, he gave reasons for his decision. “There are many stereotypes that women in law enforcement field have to face. In order to recruit more women into policing, law enforcement agencies should attempt to overcome the idea that policing is a male-oriented profession. Earlier, the school of thought was that women were best suited for nursing, teaching or at the most clerical positions. The world has now changed and we need more women in policing. If you were to look back a hundred years ago, you would never see a woman working outside her home. Society somehow held the wrong notion that a woman’s place was a homemaker. They had the idea that there was no place for a woman in the workforce. It is true that some people may still have this viewpoint but we should admit a lot of things have changed over the years,” said the SSP. He ended his lecture with an interesting observation. “Not all women are created equal. The best become police officers,” he remarked.

Are we clear?

Politicians these days have their hands full discussing the farmers’ protest in New Delhi. Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, too, dwelt on the issue at length in a marathon but emotional speech delivered by him as chief guest at the Republic Day parade. Later, while speaking to The Tribune, he compared the agricultural reforms carried out by China in the mid-80s to those which are all set to be carried out in India 40 years later. He enlightened one and all with his knowledge of the Chinese agricultural economy. He started by saying that there were a lot of practical difficulties in implementing the Chinese model and “this facet was deliberately being ignored by the policymakers sitting in New Delhi.” He claimed that Chinese policymakers first created the incentives and institutions before bringing in reforms. “In the mid-80s, they slowly started bringing in reforms but first they constructed factories to ensure that the displaced small and marginal farmers could get jobs. They then scientifically reduced the scope of government procurement while, at the same time, expanded the role of private traders. In India, the laws were being foisted on farmers without adequate safety nets. It is significant to note that China had more favourable initial conditions when agriculture was opened to private players. The country had an edge over India be it health, education and growth of the power sector. And that explains why despite the economic restrictions imposed on the Chinese rural population, the country could achieve a sustained growth rate once the reforms came in,” he noted. He ended his extempore by saying: “Notwithstanding the logic that greater play of free markets will improve outcomes for farmers, it was unreasonable to expect that peasants of Punjab and Haryana to give up on the safety of MSPs overnight. Ideally, the government should have built up a case for reforms and then given farmers time to adjust to market forces.”

In ‘Deep’ waters

The spotlight, albeit for all the wrong reasons, during the tractor march held in Delhi on Republic Day was on Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu. Gurdaspur knows the man very well because he was hyperactive during MP Sunny Deol’s poll campaign in 2019. If anybody had to approach Deol for his comments on any subject, this man would be the first port of call. He was Deol’s eyes and ears throughout the campaign and would often convene meetings of BJP leaders in the four main cities of the constituency –Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar and Batala. Last month, when the agitation commenced alongside Delhi’s borders, the MP’s office used the social media to tell the world that they had already disassociated himself from Sidhu who has acted in some Punjabi films produced under the banner ‘Vijayata Films’ headed by Dharmendra. Pankaj Joshi, the MP’s PA in the constituency, has claimed that the photographs of Sidhu, Deol and PM Narendra Modi which have gone viral on social media sites were actually taken before the MP had even started his campaign. “These pictures were taken after Deol was announced as the BJP candidate. At that time he had not even visited the constituency. Only his candidature was announced following which a meeting was organised with the PM in Delhi. On December 6 last year we told everybody that we have nothing to do with Sidhu. This was after he had started using the MP’s name to further his political agenda,” maintained Joshi. So much so, it was on Sidhu’s instructions that the local leadership found accommodation for Deol and his entourage at village Nawapind Hundal on the banks of the UBDC canal near Dhariwal after the latter had expressed a willingness to stay away from the crowds during his campaign. — TNS