Chandigarh: Punjab Congress MLA from Bholath and former Chief of the Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira Monday mentioned that he can be shifting a personal member’s invoice within the forthcoming meeting session looking for enactment of a legislation that may ban non-Punjabis from shopping for agricultural land within the state.
Addressing a press convention, Khaira mentioned he had met Punjab Meeting Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan this morning and handed him over the request for such a invoice to be moved within the coming session of the meeting.
The legislation in Punjab ought to be enacted on the strains of the provisions in Part 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 that bars non-Himachali and non-agriculturists to purchase agricultural land within the hill state, he mentioned.
“We aren’t towards non-Punjabis coming into our state for employment alternatives however sure, we have now a problem with them settling completely in Punjab, turning into house owners of agricultural land, turning into everlasting voters and many others., because it endangers our distinct identification,” Khaira mentioned.
“I can say with authority that this pattern if not nipped within the bud instantly, Punjabis, notably the Sikhs, will probably be in a minority in their very own motherland within the subsequent 20-25 years,” he added.
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High Sikh physique made related demand
Curiously, an analogous demand was put forth by the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the best temporal physique of the Sikhs, throughout his speech on the final day of the three-day Shaheedi Jor Mela in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib final month.
Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had known as for a whole ban on outsiders shopping for land in Punjab, whereas exhorting Sikh youth to not go overseas.
“You permit your homes and land right here to work in overseas international locations. Folks from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will come and grasp your lands. Punjab will turn into the land of tobacco and bidis. Outsiders shouldn’t be allowed to purchase land in Punjab. The federal government must work on this,” he mentioned.
Huge migration a priority
In a letter addressed to the Speaker, Khaira mentioned that huge migration of Punjabis to different international locations was altering the demographic contours of the state.
“As per tough estimates roughly one-sixth of Punjab’s complete inhabitants of two.75 crore, that’s to say virtually 50 lakh of our folks, have migrated overseas. Sadly, this pattern has additional escalated throughout the previous few years. Due to this pattern, Punjab has not solely misplaced its greatest educated, skilled and expert human useful resource, however it has additionally shattered the economic system of our state,” he defined.
Aside from the unfavourable monetary affect as a result of shift of inhabitants at such a big scale, the Congress MLA mentioned, the demographic state of affairs has additionally began to vary drastically. The identification of Punjabis is beneath a extreme risk as lakhs of non-Punjabis have began to reside completely, he added.
“It was exactly due to this purpose that states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and many others. to be able to shield their identification and existence, handed legal guidelines to bar outsiders from shopping for agricultural land and turning into everlasting residents of their states.”
Khaira met the Speaker together with Chief of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and Raja Sansi MLA Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria. “We had gone there collectively, however the concern which Khaira highlighted was in his private capability as a personal member,” Bajwa informed ThePrint.
Bajwa mentioned that he impressed upon the Speaker to widen the scope of debate through the Finances session and guarantee enough sittings of the Home.
“I want to reiterate the necessity for an announcement of the date of the classes by the Authorities a minimum of a month prematurely as per the time-tested parliamentary conference to permit preparation time for the members to debate Payments, studies of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Committees as additionally the Administrative Reviews of various departments, and different problems with public significance,” Bajwa mentioned in a press assertion.
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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