Ch. Hardwari Lal Dalal-II

After the death of Hardwari Lal-I at a very young age, the Presenter’s father, Hardwari Lal-II, the sixth child, was given the same name. Hardwari Lal-II was born on 25^th December 1911, an auspicious night just when Christmas had begun at midnight. King-Emperor George V granted a general amnesty to the prisoners at a big Darbar on 25^th December 1911 in Delhi. Shri Teja Singh of our village, who was closely acquainted with and close to our family, was released. He came back to the village later that evening.

Hardwari Lal-II, father of the Presenter received his primary education at Noona-Majra village and passed the Matriculation Examination in First Division in March 1929.  He often told us that during those days he used to travel on foot to school which was about 5 km and left the house much before sunrise at about 4.00 am. Since there was no electricity, he used to study in the light of a Diya (lamp) in which mustard oil was used. He had only two sets of Kurta and Pajama as school dresses, which he washed daily. After studying for about a month in the Intermediate College Rohtak in the first year, he got admission to a very prestigious institution in the country during those days, the Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur (now in Pakistan and re-named Faisalabad).  It so happened that on a very hot dusty day in June 1929, one Chaudhary Mansa Ram of village Bhalot visited our grandfather Dada Roop Chand in the village and advocated for the admission of my father to the Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur, where his nephew Ratti Ram was already studying. The Presenter’s father was directed by Dada Ji to meet Ratti Ram in his village and get the application forwarded to the Principal, Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur by the Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak. Consequently, the needful was done and on 18^th July 1929, an interview call with a written test at Lyallpur was received.  My father accompanied by Tau Hari Ram reached Lyallpur a day prior and stayed with Chaudhary Ramdhan Singh, who was then Cerealist to the Government.  There were more than 600 candidates who appeared in the written test.  My father obtained the 20^th position on the merit list and was finally selected for admission. Both the brothers returned to bring the luggage and the requisite amount of money to pay the fees etc. Dada Roop Chand was delighted. In college, besides being a good student, Hardwari Lal-II gave a good account of himself in U.T.C (now called NCC) and became Sergeant in his final year.  He was awarded a B.Sc degree in Agriculture in 1933 with 5^th position/rank in the University and 1^st position in Botany.

After his studies, my father was appointed as an Agricultural Assistant in the Fodder Research Section in September 1933. The Botanical Research Sub-station was instituted on 8^th May 1934 in a 400-acre area. Both the Fodder and the Millet Sections of the sub-station were transferred there.  Besides, the selection of several improved fodder varieties, the most vital finding was the development of a cross of sweet jowar with Sudan grass, which helped in solving the problem of maintaining the supply of green fodder around the year by growing ‘Sudex’ (the name given to the cross) in kharif season and bersam in rabi season. He was instrumental in preparing a small booklet titled Fodder Crops of Punjab for the benefit of the cultivators.  Soon he was selected and nominated for higher studies at Edinburgh University under Dr Beans for a more intensive study of grasses in August 1939.  At the same time, my father was selected for a gazetted post of Extra Assistant Director of Agriculture in PAS Class – II, through the Punjab and North West Frontier Punjab (NWFP) Joint Public Service Commission, Lahore. Subsequently, he was posted at Hansi as In-charge of Agricultural Extension work in the Hisar district.  He joined that post on 22^nd December 1939. As such, he missed a golden opportunity of going abroad for higher studies in the UK.

Chaudhary Chhotu Ram, the then Minister for Agriculture was much pleased with the work performance of my father and wanted him to undergo training with a young batch of I.C.S officers, who were being trained in Famine Operations in Hisar. The batch comprised of Sardar Lal Singh, Mangat Rai, Mirza Beg, Mohammad Hussain, Pir Abasuddin, Mr Sheep Shank and Mr Colley.  Such rigid and strict administrative training proved beneficial to him in the later years of his service.  Sir Herbert Ray Stewart, an I.A.S officer was initially annoyed as Ch. Chhotu Ram got recruited a very young Gazetted officer with great responsibility, but when he inspected the fieldwork in the district, which was under the charge of my father, he was greatly impressed and appreciated the work performed at the field level.

After working successfully as an Extra Assistant Director of Agriculture in Hisar, Karnal and Gurgaon districts, my father was specially appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) as in-charge of sinking 15,000 surface percolation wells.  After this assignment was completed, he was posted in the personal technical staff of Sardar Lal Singh, the Director of Agriculture, in East Punjab, where he worked only for a few months.  Later, he was selected for the post of Assistant Superintendent (Fodder) by the Public Service Commission and was sent to Government Livestock Farm (GLF) at Hisar on 2^nd April 1947. During those days, Hisar district was in the grip of severe famine.  The GLF, Hisar was facing a tremendous scarcity of fodder to feed a large herd of livestock (about 10,000 animals). The standard of cultivation at the farm was highly mismanaged, cropping intensity was significantly low and care for the bullocks was not up to the mark. In such a poor condition coupled with inefficiency, he proposed to Dr P.N. Handa, Superintendent of the farm who was overall in charge, that more attention is required on cultivation to meet the growing demand of fodder for the animals. He agreed to the proposal by the Chaudhary sahib and took a number of strong actions against the defaulters and some of them were even discharged from their service. The steps identified brought an improvement in a short time and fodder production started increasing soon. Similar steps were also taken against laggard Veterinary Assistants who were not performing their duties well, which could bring an improvement in animals’ health. Consequently, all these combined initiatives could increase the yield of milk, fodder and grain production. Dr Handa could visualize the change and appreciated the efforts made by him.

On March 21, 1949, my father was sent back to his parent organization, the Department of Agriculture as Extra Assistant Director of Agriculture (EADA) at Gurgaon.  Within a year, he was shifted to Gurdaspur where he controlled various types of farms such as Fruit Farm, Tea Farm, Bee Farm, Vegetable Seed Production Farm and Experimental Farm. In February 1952, he was transferred to Ludhiana as Deputy Director of Agriculture (Tractor Cultivation) with a fleet of 200 tractors to work for introducing farm mechanization in the country.  He also supervised the production of improved seeds at various centres under his charge.

Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the then Minister of Agriculture, East Punjab after making thorough enquiries about my father’s integrity, capacity for field work, organizing ability and administrative bent of mind called him to Jalandhar Rest House. He wanted to take him to GLF Hisar, where the condition had deteriorated once again due to mismanagement and the farm was running in losses. Mr B.R. Tandon the Financial Commissioner & Secretary, Agriculture sitting by the side of Sardar Partap Singh Kairon abruptly and emphatically remarked that he would be occupying the chair of Director of Agriculture Punjab very soon being the senior most Class-I Officer of the Department of Agriculture, Punjab. On hearing these remarks from a high-ranking officer, the Minister at once responded and authoritatively asserted that Ch Hardwari Lal was not being made a ‘scapegoat’ and that a post of Director in the same scale (Rs.2250-50-2500) would be created at GLF Hisar for him so that his claims and doors for future promotion are not blocked. Acting on the advice and promise made by Sardar Partap Singh Kairon and Sardar Bishan Singh Samundri (a class fellow of my father happened to be there), he joined the Government Livestock Farm on 10^th October 1957 forenoon.

My father surprisingly found the situation on the farm hopeless but did not lose courage.  He once again handled the issues one by one, in a systematic manner and soon positive results started appearing. The overall production in cultivation and milk yield improved gradually. It was the first time that the Farm could achieve a net profit of Rs. 44,000/- after clearing all the loss it incurred in the earlier years. Subsequently, the profit kept increasing and results were visible in the field.

As correctly said “destiny is irreversible” which was apparent with what had happened with my father. At the same time, God does justice to his creatures sooner or later. This happened with the father of the Presenter, who worked day and night in the fields in the interest of the organization as a true soldier ignoring his family members. He was denied his legitimate right, due to him at the appropriate time. Had he not accepted the offer, he would have headed the Department of Agriculture as Director of Agriculture in the parent department where he was born. Instead of appreciating his contribution and efforts, he was deprived of his right by the Government. But God is great to do justice to his believers, which can be realized from ongoing details.

In the year 1964, Sardar Harpal Singh Sandhu, a B.Sc. (Rural Science) with only experience in reclaiming about 10,000 acres of Terai Land in U.P. was brought as Director General of the Farm. It was done by Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister of Punjab on the advice of Sardar Gurbanta Singh, the Minister of Agriculture.  My father felt greatly disappointed and sought an interview with the Chief Minister.  In the meeting, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon had no specific reply when my father reminded him of his promises, which he had made in the presence of Mr B.R. Tandon I.C.S. in the P.W.D. Rest House, Jalandhar.

Although Sardar Kairon assured him to compensate, that day never came as he got murdered in broad daylight at Rai near Sonipat in the same year (1964).  However, His justice prevailed and with the creation of Haryana as a separate State, in 1966 the Presenter’s father got the appointment as the Director General of the Government Livestock Farm, Hisar with effect from 1^st of January 1967. As destiny would have it, my father worked in the Department of Agriculture for about 18 years and about the same period in the Department of Animal Husbandry in the States of Punjab and Haryana. That gave him a magnanimous range of experience in agricultural research, extension and management of various types of farms.  Besides that, he acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in mass-scale fodder production, feeding and care of a huge livestock numbering about 10,000 heads.

My father was the first in the Parivaar (family) who started formal education, followed by chacha Jai Lal, bhai Udai Singh, Sube and so on, which later on slowly multiplied. He always motivated and helped the other family members to study. He was the only son of Dada Roop Chand who offered himself to look after the family of his younger brother Banwari after his death and married as per the Aryan custom of KAREWA (Chadar Andaji) conducted in the presence of the wise elder people from both the families. So, he was a unique example in Dada Roop Chand Parivaar, who looked after 3 types of families from a single earning. Not as a father of the Presenter but as a ‘Rare Noble Soul’, Salute to him for his sacrifice.

The father of the Presenter was among the top senior officers of Hisar town during the post-independence days and was lucky to avail royal facilities and infrastructures by virtue of the Institution being the biggest farm in Asia located at Hisar. His official residential Bungalow as Director General of the farm near Hisar Police Station was at one time the Palace of Firoz Shah Tuglak, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi. Subsequently, during the mid-16^th Century, it was a Hunting Bungalow of Sher Shah Suri, who used to come for hunting in an adjoining forest popularly known as Hisar Beed (forest). He was the only officer in the town, who had an official two-horse driven Buggi’ in the city in the mid-fifties of the 20^th Century, which was a unique horse carriage maintained by the farm for his field inspection. Whenever Chaudhary sahib came out in his official Baggi, many commoners, particularly outsiders used to stop to watch the same. During those days, only a few had motor cars. He was one of them who had his personal ‘Baby Austin’, a black-coloured car in the city during those days. He lived a majestic life with a lot of infrastructure, perks and facilities provided by the State Government.

He had independent full control over a vast forest area of the farm, which was situated in the land in-between Sirsa and Barwala Roads. It had a variety of wild animals like deer, black-buck, leopards, reptiles, other wild animals and many species of forest birds. To look after such a big area there was a fleet of ‘Beed-Guards’ headed by a ‘Beed Daroga’ with dozens of constables with rifles and a fleet of Camels. They used to perform regular patrolling and oversee illegal activities of wildlife hunting, timber cutting, animal grazing etc. The Farm had a huge area under cultivation, which was not possible to be taken care of, so a sizable land area was given to the farmers of nearby villages on lease for grain production. In order to check theft and pilferage, he used to inspect the fields personally. His day started at 4.00 am on horseback and he would keep working till late at night.

During those days, Ch. Bhajan Lal was a regular visitor to my father in support of the people of his area for the allotment of better farmland on lease and other related issues of the villagers. He always paid respect to Chaudhary Saheb and regarded him as his elder. Later, as the CM of Haryana, he always kept the same regard for him.

He always had positive thinking and helped the poor. He kept the door of his house open to anyone from the Parivaar or village to come and stay for education and any other help. His first priority was to help any individual from Dada Roop Chand Parivaar and the village at any point in time. Similar attitude was in his nephew bhai Udai Singh. He helped several villagers in securing jobs on the Farm at Hisar and helped in arranging milch animals, particularly the famous Haryana cows. Even Tau Hari Ram used to  bring such cows to the village many times from there. It is worth mentioning, for the younger generation that Tau Hari Ram used to bring cows with newly born calves on foot from Hisar to the village with only two stoppages in between. He used to stay on-the-way villages where villagers used to serve him food and fodder to the animal as their guest. This depicts the big-kind heart and support system prevalent in villages in those days.

Initially, there was no metaled approach road to our village from any side. After lot of efforts and regular follow-ups with administration by the father of the Presenter, it was sanctioned from Nuna-Majra to the village. However, some villagers of Nuna-Majra village were not allowing this to materialize. After consistent persuasion most of the farmers agreed except 2-3 farmers who were still adamant. Ultimately, the father of the Presenter, bhai Bhup and some strong youths from the family reached the site with tractors and cleared the crops grown on the pathway. The contractor started the construction work on the same day in their presence. These types of bold and courageous family members were there in our parivaar for community help.

After his retirement in 1969, my father had some offers from different organizations but he did not opt to take any assignment rather, he preferred to settle down at Hisar and started devoting his time for social work, yoga and reading religious books. My Father always helped every stratum of society, particularly the poor. This holds even for the last day of his journey to his heavenly abode. It was about 4-5 days before his demise that he first visited his village and met a number of people known to him, in his own as well as other ‘panas’ (mohalla) of the village.  Later on, he visited his in-laws’ place in Bijwasan village and met a number of known relatives.  After that, he visited Prem and her family, the daughter of bhai Udai Singh and stayed with them. Thereafter, he visited the Presenter where he stayed for 2 days and returned to Hisar.

One day later, early in the morning, he completed his normal routine and had breakfast in which he had his usual daily breakfast comprising of Besan Ki Roti, curd, butter-milk and white butter etc. After the routine, he visited the Principal of Jat College for the admission of the daughter of our old retired peon, Chander Bhan who served us all like his own children for many decades. Thereafter, he went to Civil Hospital for a checkup of cough and chest pain which he thought was due to smoking cigarettes instead of ‘hooka’ during his travel to various places.

His elder son accompanied him who was sent to his office and said that he will return home on his own.  In the Civil Hospital, Hisar met his niece, Usha and her husband, Dharm Pal Singh, who enquired about his welfare.  Later, he went to the room of Dr Kulshresht, a renowned Physician for a checkup but since a child of a lady was crying, my father told the doctor to attend to the child first and waited patiently on a chair.  No sooner, the doctor turned to him for the checkup, he slipped from the chair and instantly collapsed and was no more despite the efforts made by the doctor to revive his heart. He died instantly a saintly death.

The great soul left after performing all his duties and responsibilities, he did not give a chance to any of his family members or people well known to him to bother for any assistance or service even till the last minute of his life.  He left for his heavenly abode on 28^th July 1984 after completing about 73 years of age.  Since he stayed in Hisar for more than 3 decades, during his service period he served and helped numerous people of Hisar and its far-flung areas. His funeral was attended by a huge gathering consisting of several people who worked with him, known to him or whom he helped. Numerous condolence messages and personal visits to his house at Hisar to convey respect to the departed soul were witnessed. Even, Ch. Bhajan Lal, the Chief Minister of Haryana, who was his old friend & well-wisher paid a personal visit and commented that “he has lost his friend, philosopher and guide”.

Before departing my father from this mortal world, accomplished a remarkable stand by penning the lesser known facts, the untold rich family history, unique historical details, countless events, happenings, capabilities of our forefathers, their treasured experiences, teachings, and achievements. The idea generated in his mind is a unique thought, truly matchless in itself and this collection of old memories in the form of a book is another prominent work to keep his heritage alive for generations to come. The Presenter believes that this work will serve as a knowledge bank for the younger generations and they will feel proud to know about their ancestors and family tree of Dada Roop Chand – ‘A Great Soul of Mehandipur’.