Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Vaisakhi has lost all meaning in Punjab. Farmers calculate loss, not celebrate harvest

Even today, Vaisakhi continues to be celebrated, with fairs, gatherings, and cultural vibrancy, but its economic core has weakened.

Vaisakhi in Punjab has never been just a harvest festival. It has been rooted in the soil, in the sweat of labour, and in the fragile hope that a year of uncertainty will finally return as grain. 

Sikh history gave Vaisakhi an even deeper resonance. In 1699, the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, transformed it into a moment of spiritual and political awakening with the revelation of the Khalsa, an assertion of equality, dignity, and sovereignty. Long before that, Guru Nanak had already laid the foundation of this worldview in Kartarpur, where he tilled the land himself, collapsing the divide between the spiritual and the material, between labour and liberation. 

In Sikh thought, the human being is not above nature but a part of it. The khet (field) is not merely a site of production, it is a site of existence, humility, and balance.

And yet, nearly three centuries later, this very land, the land of five rivers, is in quiet distress.

Even today, Vaisakhi continues to be celebrated, with fairs, gatherings, and cultural vibrancy, but its economic core has weakened. For many farmers, harvest is no longer a moment of fulfilment; it is a point of uncertainty, calculation, and often, loss. What has changed is not the festival itself, but the conditions that once gave it meaning.

There was a time when Vaisakhi was the culmination of a farmer’s year-long labour. The image was simple yet powerful: a farmer harvesting her crop, arriving at the mandi and returning home with earnings, dignity and relief. “Kankan di mukk gayi rakhi, Jatta aayi Vaisakhi.” (The vigil over the wheat is over—Vaisakhi has arrived for the farmer) It was not symbolism, it was reality. Today, that meaning has shifted.

In recent years, Punjab’s agrarian crisis has not only been shaped by policy and economics, but increasingly by climate volatility, arriving at the worst possible moment: just before harvest.

This year, large parts of Punjab witnessed unseasonal rainfall right before Vaisakhi. Hailstorms damaged standing wheat crops that were ready for harvest, particularly in districts such as Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Moga, and Amritsar. In several villages, losses reached 70–80 per cent, with standing crops flattened by strong winds, a phenomenon known as lodging, which severely affects both yield and grain quality. Initial estimates indicate that over 1.2–1.3 lakh acres were affected. 

This is the stark irony: when farmers are supposed to be celebrating abundance on Vaisakhi, they are instead calculating loss.

This was not an isolated event. Punjab had already witnessed excess rainfall—up to 408 per cent above normal in parts of March 2026, further weakening crops at a critical stage of ripening. 

In 2025, Punjab witnessed one of its most severe floods in decades. Over........

© ThePrint