Dr Gumtala honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award
Octogenarian Punjabi writer and columnist Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala was conferred with Lifetime Achievements Award by Punjabi Kalamnavees Pattarkar Manch in Phagwara on Sunday for his outstanding contribution to Punjabi language and literature.
According to manch president Gurmit Singh Palahi, the award carried a trophy, a citation and a shawl. It was presented to Dr 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 and edited 14 books and over 300 articles published in various Punjabi newspapers of Punjab and abroad. He has won various awards in the US, Pakistan and India for his stellar contribution to Punjabi.
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 agri-crisis.
Expressing concern on the water crisis, they dubbed allowing paddy transplantation from June 1 in Punjab as suicidal decision of the government. Warning that it will further worsen the water crisis and advocated that paddy transplantation should begin by June 15.
Describing water problem as the gravest one in Punjab, they cautioned that days were not far 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 the Centre as to why it was not providing MSP on oilseeds and pulses for weaning away Punjabi farmers from paddy. “If this was done, Punjab farmers will themselves leave paddy, thereby saving 70 per cent of state water", they asserted.
Advocating a pro-people and pro-nature development model, they underlined the paramount need of adopting a new agricultural model and not solely focusing on the MSP. Opposing poll lollypops in the form of freebies even to those who do not need these, they said subsidies should be meant only for the needy. They demanded setting up of agri-based industries and agri-processing units in Punjab.
Dr Sukhdev Singh’s book “Punjab – Social, Economic, Cultural Change and Trends", Jasbir Kaur’s book " Yaadgari Pind" and Parvinderjit Singh’s website “Sikh Places" were released on this occasion.
In his award-acceptance speech, Dr Gumtala stressed the need for 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 addressed the gathering on the occasion.
Jalandhar