SALUTING PARTAP SINGH KAIRON (1901–1965) ON HIS 57TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY
Around 10.30 am 57 years ago our 9th grade science teacher Surinder Singh announced the assassination of Sardar Partap Singh Kairon without any pretence of hiding his giggle. Admittedly, we did not know much about Kairon’s stellar contributions at that time except that the giggle was a manifestation of the criticism and acrimony which was spewed against him during the last years of his life by some newspapers and his opponents in the Congress and the opposition parties. We were lucky to receive quality free education from the resolute government schoolteachers, but certainly Surinder Singh was not one of them.
EDUCATION
Shortly after the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy Kairon had gone to USA in 1919 for graduate studies. He earned Master’s in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and Master’s in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The lad from Kairon village worked on California farms and the Ford Motor Factory to fund his studies. He returned to India in 1929, hiding for two months in Amritsar to grow beard before returning to his village.
LAYING FOUNDATION FOR TRANSFORMATION OF PUNJAB
Partap Singh Kairon was a force of change for Punjab. The khadi kurta-pyjama clad man proudly spoke chaste Punjabi and fluent English, with a tinge of American accent. He was the architect of post-independence Punjab comprising the present states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. He was a man of masses and had the firm backing of Prime Minister Nehru. He had earned his spurs as Punjab’s Minister for Rehabilitation and Development (1947–1956) providing relief, accommodation, and work to 1.4 million refugees from Pakistan.
Kairon became Chief Minister of Punjab in 1956. He transformed the food-deficit and laggard Punjab with his leadership, and by implementing enabling policies and administrative reforms, and developing institutions. He envisioned the development of agriculture and industry in Punjab like California and Michigan in the USA, respectively. When the language controversy took a communal turn Kairon was steadfast in his opposition to those who played the sectarian card.
STRENGTHENING EDUCATION
Kairon had a strong belief in the centrality of education for uplifting the left-behind sections of the society. He established Kurukshetra, Punjabi and Punjab Agricultural Universities (PAU). He brought Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research to Punjab. He set up Sainik Schools and Industrial Training Institutes. He expanded and made school education free.
ENERGISING AGRICULTURE
Realizing his mistake in appointing a mediocre Hardwari Lal as Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Kurukshetra University, Kairon appointed a competent administrator P N Thapar as the founder VC of PAU and gave him a free hand and liberal funding. Thapar’s job was to make PAU a magnet for attracting and retaining the best talent by offering attractive salaries and promotions. The day PM Nehru inaugurated the University, Thapar was not in town. He was talent-scouting in the US universities. When Thapar went to meet the CM, Kairon came to the ground floor to personally receive him. He often attended the PAU Academic Council meetings to understand what the university was doing, and to make suggestions based on what he had observed in USA.
Green Revolution started with wheat in Punjab and the father of wheat revolution was Dr D S Athwal. When Kairon learned that Athwal was thinking of returning to Sydney University where he had completed his Ph D, a position of Millet Breeder was created in Government Agriculture College Ludhiana. A few years later, Athwal would become the first breeder on this planet to develop high yielding hybrid millet.
Kairon had a unique way of encouraging scientists. Once when Dr D R Bhumbla (Head Soils) explained him different approaches for managing acidic (in hills) and alkali (in plains) soils, he remarked “Mundiya je toon mainu eh gallan pehlan dassian hundiyan tan main kall Dharamsala teri guddi bannani si. (Young man! Had you told me this earlier, I would have highly applauded you yesterday in Dharamsala (HP) where I addressed the farmers.” Dr Bhumbla would become the leader of researchers who played a pivotal role in reclaiming large chunks of 7 million hectares of barren saline sodic lands in India.
Kairon implemented land reforms (consolidation of land holdings, ownership rights to tenants, 12 ha land ceiling), marketing reforms, construction of Bhakra dam, canals and drains to provide the underpinnings for transformation of Punjab agriculture. He promoted poultry and piggery and set up milk plants.
DEVELOPING INDUSTRY
Kairon aggressively courted industrial projects. These included a fertilizer and heavy water factory at Nangal, a sugar factory at Dhuri and the HMT factory at Pinjore. He brought the Indo-Swiss Training Centre (initially planned for Pune) to Punjab. He developed two large industrial estates at Ludhiana and Faridabad. Smaller industrial estates were set up at Jallandhar, Amritsar, Moga, Phagwara, Panipat and Batala.
DEVELOPING EFFICIENT CIVIL SERVICE
Kairon ran a lean, efficient, and responsive government. He was a firm administrator who prioritized efficiency over seniority. He mentored and was supported by an accountable and un-politicised bureaucracy and technocracy. The officers were required to objectively analyse proposals as per rules. He himself made deviations, if any, owning full responsibility for his actions. Special efforts were made to recruit women. Main focus of surplus budgets was on capital investments to generate growth and expand public goods. Nothing was free. Subsidies were unheard of. Striking employees and Punjabi Suba agitators were dealt with a heavy hand.
When his Chief Secretary and Inspector General of Police (no DGPs at that time) bluntly told him that his reputation was being sullied by his sons, Kairon replied that his family was blaming him that his sons were unable to achieve their potential because they were CM’s sons. He eventually paid a heavy price for not keeping his sons on a tight leash.
CONTROVERSIES
Chief Ministers should be judged by history and not by short-term popularity. Good policies and responsive institutional architecture are essential ingredients of progress. But people distrust change. Success also mobilises opposition. Kairon was not infallible and made mistakes. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to find holes in what he did. Despite economic hardships and the worsening food situation, Kairon regime started in an era of euphoria of independence. The country was moving ahead as a unified nation. The toxic ecosystem, with some states behaving as countries-in-conflict on some issues, was a few decades into the future.
Kairon was abrasive when rubbed the wrong way. Overtime, the clout of his opponents grew. ‘Kaironshahi’, a word for real and presumptive excesses by Kairon, became popular in office and public parlance in Punjab. Three probes were set up to look into complaints against him. A month after the death of Nehru he resigned as CM in 1964. He was hounded by his opponents, family properties were raided, and the compound of his ancestral home was dug out to find the hidden gold, but nothing was recovered. The main findings of the Das Commission were that a government doctor had accompanied the diabetic Chief Minister on official trips, he didn’t control his sons and some persons close to them, and some of them got undue benefits.
Kairon was assassinated near Rai while returning to Chandigarh from Delhi after meeting PM Shastri for possible appointment as Home or Defence Minister of India. Maligned during the last years of his life, after death Kairon ambled his way to the hearts of grateful Punjabis.
His successor CMs did not disrupt the institutional architecture and the development programs launched by Kairon. By 1980 Punjab was the Number 1 State in per capita income and agriculture, and the Number 2 in industry after Maharashtra. It was known for relatively good governance, prudent use of fiscal resources, enabling policies, progressive structural reforms, and efficient execution. It was a role model for other states.
CONSEQUENCES OF ABANDONING KAIRON’S TOOL KIT
During the last 25 years successive governments have abandoned the tool kit which had served Punjab admirably well for 35 years following independence. Freebies, ignoring competence in appointments to key positions and politicisation of civil service have hurt the once Progressive Punjab. The results are obvious. At the time of division of Punjab in 1966, the average Punjabi was 1.5 times richer than the average Haryanvi. Now a Haryanvi is more than 1.5 times richer than a Punjabi, although the angels do not rule it. Punjab’s multidimensional decline is disappointing for a state that used to boast of prosperity and proficiency in sports. In unemployment, substance use and mental health issues the state ranks far higher than the national average. In access to public health, it ranks lower.
In 2018–19 the average per capita income of a Punjabi slipped below the national average and is now at 17th place. In terms of per capita capital expenditure, which is a good proxy for future economic growth, Punjab is at the bottom, below every state and union territory in the country.
Of every rupee earned by the Punjab Government, 25 paise is the interest paid on the borrowed capital and will escalate further. Punjab has the lowest tax to GDP ratio and is the most-fiscally-constrained state of India. Receiving salary or pension on the 1st day of the month is a luxury a large section of the employees and pensioners have not had for a long time. The newly recruited employees are paid paltry basic salaries for three years. A brilliant Ph.D. appointed as PAU assistant professor today gets 45% lower emoluments than a newly appointed Class IV employee of the Government of India in Ludhiana. Over-stretched, under-paid, and deficiently-resourced Government officials are struggling to provide public services.
It is not only that the agriculture has lost its sheen, the once thriving industrial towns of Gobindgarh, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Moga and Jallandhar are fast turning into a rust belt due to lack of new investment, crumbling infrastructure, high recurring costs, poor work ethics, and entrenched rent-seeking. The prevalent anti-private sector tirade is a stark divergence from the courting by Kairon of Oswals, Munjhals, Pahwas, Purewals, Nandas, Jaijees, Gurmukh Singh, Manmohan Singh, and others for setting up industries in Punjab.
Kairon actualised a medium and long term vision for Punjab. The far sight of State Political Leaders is fixed on the next Assembly, Lok Sabha, Panchayat, Municipal or By- Election. An election is rarely more than a year away and must be won by promising the moon! Why disturb status quo and bother about reforms when playing victimhood and religious sentiment can get votes?
Photo 1 Partap Singh Kairon and Photo 2 Kairon Kisan Ghar on PAU campus in his memory (courtesy Sh. Manjit Singh)
