Law Still Unimplemented

On 11 Mar evening, the Indian government notified the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which now will be implemented. The CAA makes religion a test of Indian citizenship. It allows religiously persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, and Parsi refugees from India’s neighboring countries who arrived in India before 31 Dec 2014 to receive Indian citizenship. The law does not include Muslims in its ambit. The timing of the notification, on the eve of the Islamic holy month Ramadan, just before the 2024 general elections, sends a message to the BJP government’s core constituency that the government is keen on advancing its Hindutva agenda. It is also a distraction from the Supreme Court orders to the State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose the names of donors and beneficiaries of the electoral bonds (Story 9). When the Bill became an Act in Dec 2019, it sparked fears that the law could be used to target Muslims and resulted in nationwide protests. A spokesperson for the Home Ministry said those eligible could submit applications in ‘a completely online mode.’ While the law remains biased, one of the reasons for widespread protests was that citizens saw the law being weaponized in tandem with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) or the Census. The NRC exercise was already underway in Assam and hundreds of thousands Muslim voters had been disenfranchised. The SGPC has welcomed the law saying it would be beneficial to Sikhs coming in from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The irony is many Sikhs arrived after 2014. The SGPC must be questioned on the issue (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 1, Story 10).

On 5 Mar, the Panjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema presented a $24.6B budget for the financial year (FY) 2024-25. The outlay is 2.9% more than the 2023-24 (revised estimates) of $23.9B. The total revenue receipts have been projected to be $12.5B in FY25, of which the own tax revenue (OTR) accounts for $7B. The rest has been projected as a share of central taxes and grant-in-aid from the Center. Presenting his third consecutive budget, Cheema said $1.6B has been earmarked for the agriculture sector, and $2B for the education sector. Cheema continued, ‘The effective revenue deficit and fiscal deficit are expected to be 2.77% and 3.80%, respectively and have improved from the previous figure of 3.13% and 4.12%.’ The outstanding debt has been projected at $45B at the end of FY25. In an interview, Cheema said, ‘His biggest achievement has been in reducing the state’s debt burden by 4%.’ Leader of the Opposition in Panjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, called the budget ‘disappointing’ and ‘unconvincing.’ Bajwa said that 23% of the total receipts would go towards interest on debts and 57.6% on salaries and pensions. In the same budget session, Panjab INC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was forcibly evicted from the assembly by marshals when he refused to leave the House, demanding more time to speak on the state budget and comment on the AAP’s promise to implement the Old Pension Scheme, notified in Nov 2022 but still not implemented. The opposition reminded the government that the budget was silent on a key populist electoral promise by AAP — ₹1,000 per month or $12 to every woman in the state.

On the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 Mar — as the stir on Shambhu and Khanauri inter-state borders entered the 25th day — women farmers took center stage. The women conducted a panchayat (gathering) in which their leaders addressed the audience. The women farmers said the ongoing stir will continue till the Center accepts the demands of the farmers. As per the Annual Periodic Labor Force Survey, 2021-2022, agriculture has the highest estimated female labor force participation of 62.9%. Another estimate says 78% of India's employed women work in agriculture. About 84% of women depend on agriculture for their livelihood. They make up about 33% of cultivators and about 47% percent of agricultural laborers. These statistics do not account for work in livestock, fisheries and various other ancillary forms of food production in the country. On 10 Mar, the farmers participated in rail roko (stopping trains) between 12-4 pm. The Kisan Mazdoor Manch and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) blocked trains in 52 locations, other unions blocked them at 10 locations in Panjab. Though the rail roko was a nationwide call, only farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu blocked trains in their states. Section 144 (prevention of gathering of more than 5 people) was clamped in Haryana ahead of the rail roko and the police reached the houses of several farmer union leaders. Meanwhile, after 22 days of the stir, the Chandigarh-Ambala highway has been partially opened for commuters. 

Farmers have strongly objected to BJP's candidature of Ajay Mishra Teni for the Lakhimpur-Kheri parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the general elections. Farmers have been demanding Teni’s resignation since the horrific Lakhimpur-Kheri October 2021 incident in which four Sikh farmers and one journalist were allegedly mowed down by Teni's son Ashish Mishra. Teni is Minister for State in the Home Ministry of the current Union Cabinet. UP govt. has announced compensation for crop loss and a waiver of electricity bills for private tube wells, but those alone won't mollify farmers. In Haryana, a day after PM Modi praised incumbent CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Khattar was removed and Nayab Singh Saini was appointed CM. The reasons are still unclear but some of them are that the party of veteran farmer's leader Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Dushyant Chautala, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), has not been able to reach an agreement on seat sharing. JJP has pulled support and likely might split. The state cabinet has resigned and will be reconstituted. Like BJP, JJP has also got into trouble with its core Jat base over Farmers' Protest 1.0 and 2.0. BJP would want JJP to eat into INC’s Jat votes and consolidate the other social segments. Meanwhile, over 100 social media accounts have been withheld in Panjab and as proposed by SKM, the labor and farmer Mahapanchayat (larger gathering) is to be held as scheduled on 14 Mar at Ram Lila ground, New Delhi.

On 6 Mar, 48-years old Ramesh Singh Arora became the first minority Sikh community minister to take oath in the Panjab province of Pakistan. A three-time Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA), Arora took oath as a minister in the Cabinet of recently sworn-in Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Chief Minister Maryam Nawaf Sharif, daughter of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The ceremony was held at the Governor’s House in Lahore. Arora, who was recently elected as the chief of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC), said: ‘For the first time since Partition a Sikh has been inducted into the Cabinet of the Panjab province. I won’t just work for the safety and well-being of Sikhs but all minorities, including Hindus and Christians living in Pakistan.’ Arora was re-elected as an MPA from Narowal, his native place where Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak, is located. Last year, he was also appointed as the Ambassador at large for the Kartarpur Corridor. A postgraduate in entrepreneurship and School of Management & Entrepreneurship from Government College University, Lahore, Arora worked for the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Programme before joining politics. In 2008, he founded Mojaz Foundation, an organization working for the underprivileged and poor in Pakistan. Arora is also credited for the implementation of the Sikh Marriage Registration Act 2017 in Pakistan. He introduced it as a private member bill which was unanimously passed by the Assembly in March 2018.  Earlier, in 2018, Sardar Mahendar Pal Singh of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf took oath as Parliamentary Secretary of Panjab Assembly. The Sikh seat of Political Sovereignty, Akal Takht, has hailed the appointment.

On 5 Mar, ahead of the general elections, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (Sanyukt) merged with the SAD led by Sukhbir Singh Badal. Terming the merger as a joint responsibility to bring Panjab back on the rails, Dhindsa said, ‘There was an overwhelming feeling among our leaders and workers to merge with the SAD to effect unity in the Panth (The Sikh Collective). After Badal expressed heartfelt remorse for the cases of sacrilege which occurred in 2015, they called a meeting of the party’s district presidents and they gave the go-ahead for the merger.’ SAD (Sanyukt) was formed in April 2021 with the merger of  Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) and Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic). Badal termed the merger as a ‘merger of two families,’ and appealed to Dhindsa to take on responsibility as a patron of the SAD since he was the senior most Akali leader. Badal also appealed to all SAD leaders who had left the party on one or another pretext, to re-join it saying, ‘SAD alone is capable of safeguarding the aspirations of Panjabis.’ SAD is still not going back to its roots a century ago of safeguarding the political rights of the Sikhs since its genesis at the Sikh political seat of Authority Akal Takht. SAD has been going through a challenging time after facing a drubbing in the year 2017 and 2022 state assembly elections besides a poor show in the parliamentary byelection as well. The party has been making desperate attempts to regain its relevance in state politics. For the last few weeks there have been talks of SAD sharing seats with BJP in the general elections. On 3 Mar, SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal’s anniversary, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar was full of praise for the senior Badal. 

A group of young men from Panjab and Haryana have appealed to the Indian government for help, claiming they were tricked into military service in Russia and have been sent to fight Moscow's war on Ukraine. In a 105-second video circulated on X seven men are seen wearing military-style winter jackets with hoods, or skull caps. They are standing inside a dingy and dirty room with a closed (and locked) window at one end. Six of them are huddled in a corner while the seventh — 19-year-old Harsh from Karnal — records a video message explaining their situation and asking for help. The men claim they left for Russia on 27 Dec 2023 to celebrate the New Year there. They had a visa for the Russia trip, valid for 90 days, but then traveled to neighboring Belarus. In February 2024, the Russia-Ukraine war entered its third year. The episode has dark undertones. According to Navdeep Kaur, the sister of one of the young men Ravneet Singh, ‘They were deceived and are now being sent to fight against Ukraine. Ravneet had spent $13K and secured a tourist visa to Russia. They were promised a handsome job. However, an agent took them to Belarus without securing a visa for that country, and they were arrested and handed over to Russian soldiers.’ Russia has long been on the donkey route for Panjabi youth.’ Given the youth’s discontent with gainful opportunities in Panjab, the fear of them joining private militias such as the Wagner Group is real. India claims to have busted the network of agents trying to recruit youth to fight another nation’s war.

Close on the heels of Punjab and Haryana High Court last week quashing a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case on three Sikh youth (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 10, Story 4), on 7 Mar the Supreme Court of India quashed a First Information Report lodged against Professor Javed Ahmad Hajam, who hailed from Jammu & Kashmir and taught at a Kolhapur college in Maharashtra. The case was about a WhatsApp status in a group terming 5 Aug a ‘Black Day’ and celebrating Pakistan’s Independence Day. The Court observed, every individual must respect the right of others to dissent and an opportunity to peacefully protest against the decisions of the government is an essential part of democracy. The bench said, ‘If every criticism or protest of the actions of the state is to be held as an offense under Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code, democracy, which is an essential feature of the Constitution, will not survive. The time has come to enlighten and educate our police machinery on the concept of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the extent of reasonable restraint on their free speech and expression.’ On 5 Mar, the Bombay High Court set aside Delhi University professor GN Saibaba’s life sentence — he is 90% plus disabled — and deemed the sanction for prosecution under the UAPA as ‘null and void.’ After a decade of imprisonment, Prof. Saibaba was released from Nagpur Central Jail on 7 Mar. These decisions might seem progressive but given the rot that has set in the system, they do not amount to much. 

On 10 Mar, the Supreme Court of India warned the State Bank of India (SBI) for its ‘wilful disobedience’ of last month’s order asking the bank to release the data about donors and recipients of electoral bonds by 6 Mar (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 8, Story 7). The court asked the SBI to submit the required data within the close of 12 Mar business hours. SBI filed an application seeking an extension of time till 30 Jun to furnish the information, claiming difficulty in compiling the data. On 7 Mar, Advocate Prashant Bhushan sought an urgent hearing for a contempt petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and ‘Common Cause’ against the State Bank of India (SBI) for alleged non-compliance with the Supreme Court's order to disclose details of electoral bonds. ADR and Common Cause's contempt petition challenged SBI's extension request, labeling it as ‘mala fide’ and an attempt to thwart transparency efforts before the upcoming general elections. In a clear-cut warning to SBI, the court said if the timeline was not adhered to, the court could issue contempt. SBI is now to give the details by 12 Mar and Election Commission is to publish the details on its website by 5 pm on 15 Mar. AAP, the party currently in power in Panjab, had made a promise to its electorate to reveal sources of its funding. Since 2015, they have hidden the sources, citing risk to donors. Later in the evening on 12 Mar, SBI handed over the data to the Election Commission.

In Panjab's rugged hinterlands, daris (rugs) were once packed as warm wedding gifts for daughters by their mothers in their daaj (dowry). Later, the art also started helping women gain financial independence. A new book published by Patiala-based publishing house Autumn Art records journeys of 100 such women weavers from rural Panjab who have kept it going despite odds. Titled Namune Dariyan De: Dariyan Wali Peti, (Rug Designs: Box of Rugs) the book is compiled by Jagdish Kaur, professor of Panjabi, department of agricultural journalism, languages and culture, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. The book was released on International Women’s Day on 8 Mar; it is an ode to the resilience of rural women since pre-1947 undivided Panjab. It traces the long journey of daris from an emotional wedding gift for daughters to a source of livelihood, financial independence and recognition and showcases 200 samples and designs of daris, hand woven by women of Panjab. Kaur says, ‘Our research shows the art dates back to the 13th century. Families used to give charkhas (spinning wheel) as gifts to women. The designs include Lahore da burj (towers of Lahore), Taj Mahal to Bathinda da qila (Bathinda fort), from folklore characters Mirza Sahiban to vegetable vines to fruit orchards; animals, birds, traditional musical instruments and maps of undivided India and Panjab; and even weapons such as guns and pistols. We found women had woven Panjab’s history and culture and recorded them in their own way.’