KNOW MORE ABOUT FARMERS LEADER BALBIR SINGH RAJEWAL

ENGLISH SPEAKING FARM LEADER HAS EARS TO THE GROUND

Bharatiya kisan union (Rajewal), President Balbir Singh Rajewal is a Samrala based farm leader is a known name in government and political circles. Despite his old age and failing health, he currently is leading farmers protest at Singhu borders on the border of National capital.

He may not have a very mammoth support base in terms of the numbers but he being one of the oldest farmer leaders has acceptability in the state. His strength is clarity of the issues and has the ability to raise these issues vociferously. He is one of the few English speaking farm leaders who is abreast with facts, figures and statistics to support his claims.

Even his opponents are impressed by his style and diction, and agree to what he says. Read to know more about him:

AS HEAD, HE HAS MADE A LOSS MAKING COLLEGE A PROFITABLE VENTURE

·       Born in 1942 in native village Rajewal Rohnu, the same village where Bhagat Puran Singh was born and lived major part of his life

·       Rajewal has his schooling from AS Modern School, Khanna and did  FA from Khalsa College, Khanna

·       Took over his family avocation of farming, alongwith three brothers, however before that he wanted to start a business

·       Joined farmer activism at an early age and started Punjab zimidara union in the late 1960s. Later he joined Bharatiya kisan union and he worked at different levels.

·       Before forming a kisan body he started making agrarian community aware about their rights. He played a key role when farming sector opened up post the green resolution of early 1960s.

·       Tills 100 bighas of land that came into his share after family division. He runs a commission agents shop as a side business.

·       Heads a degree college in Khanna which is managed by Malwa Educational Council. He was elected by way of elections and has taken out the college out of debts and made it a profitable venture

·       Consolidated small patches of land in native village to open Bhagat Puran Singh Higher Secondary School. The school is run by a village level committee.

·       The Village School has one Honesty shop, which has no salesman. Students take things of their daily needs from the shop and puts money in cash box as per the mentioned on the article. This teacxhes students an important lesson of life. 

·       A heart patient Rajewal, during the ongoing protest at Singhu border suffered minor heart attack but he preferred to stay put in a trolley at the protest site.

SOME THOUGHTS SHARED BY RAJEWAL IN THE PAST

PAINFUL THAT FARMERS ARE CONSIDERED BEGGERS “It gives me pain hearing that we are considered beggars and seen as if not contributing to the society. We pay market and purchase fees on our produce, pay GST on purchase of machinery. We are largest chunk in the society as consumers and also pay taxes on what we buy. Why we are projected as burden on the government”.

FARMERS NEVER DEMANDED WAIVER GIVEN BY PUNJAB GOVT “Punjab Govt has filed affidavit in Punjab and Haryana high court that they have waived off Rs. 827 crore debt of farmers. The waiver announcements were made for political benefit, we never demanded. Now calculate the increase power tariff four times, and compare it with the waiver amount of Rs. 827 crore”.

CREDIBILITY OF GOVT IN QUESTION “The credibility of those running the government is under question. People don’t believe in them, farmer feel that gradually government will withdraw all subsidies”.

FARMERS CAN’T PAY POWER BILLS “The scenario has changed now, we used to pay bills in 1980s, but now farmers are in bad shape”.

CHECK SPURIOUS MILK SALE TO SUPPORT FARMERS “You want to make farmers earn money fast than check sale of spurious milk which is selling 40-45% in the state, and it has affected the dairy industry severely. Only government can stop it. Dairy sector has huge scope for employment”.

BURNING OF STUBBLE HAS ENDED “Burning of paddy stubble has ended and on most of the agriculture area in state wheat crop of the rabi season has been sown. I fail to understand how so many cases of paddy stubble fires were recorded this time, despite the fact the area under fire has come down”