Editor,
The news item, ‘Hek bats for tax exemptions, subsidies’ for the proposed IT Park in the New Shillong township (ST November 8th) sends shivers down my spine. Once again this jargon-ridden report is meant to impress but do we really know what this actually means? Is this Meghalaya Shining or Meghalaya playing catch-up….as usual? What is meant by ‘vast potential’, ‘sustainability’, ‘vibrant IT Park not a simple IT Park’ , ‘private players’, ‘huge employment opportunities’ etc. The only bit that I do understand is ‘eighty acres of land’ and ‘no stone unturned’ (the literal meaning of course), and it is an understanding that is deeply disturbing. Isn’t it ironic that real vibrant green acres are going to be turned into an IT Park that is not green? Is this part of the ‘sustainability’ plan? Who or what is being sustained here? Plus we all know what ‘private players’ (at what game?) have done to Meghalaya and not for Meghalaya. I am not against sustainable prosperity for the state but I am definitely against the kind that is condemning my birthplace to a constant struggle for survival where a few prosper spectacularly and the vast majority grub around in search of some form of human dignity.
I recall how one of my school teachers said she felt at home in Shillong because the weather was comparable to that she had left behind in Bangalore. Bangalore is now India’s Silicon Valley but its old trees are minor players in the weather of that heaving ever-expanding metropolis. Is this what we want for a NEW Shillong? Are we going to turn our ‘green valley’ into a traffic choked sprawl? Hence I fear the word development in the Meghalaya context.
Finally how can the government of a state that has precious little to show in terms of economic performance despite massive help from the Centre, still feel it can ask for more exemptions and subsidies? Something, somewhere doesn’t add up here.
Yours etc.,
Janet Moore Hujon,
UK
CSWO’s nuisance value
Editor,
I am beginning to wonder about the motive of CSWO which is creating nuisance at frequent intervals for different reasons. It appears to be trying to grab new headlines at any cost with psychotic behaviour and irrational pot-shots at Govt. It started with conspiracy theories about land grabbing in New Shillong Township. Then a few weeks ago it dropped hints that Govt. assassins were responsible for Vikash Nandwal’s murder. Now it goes a step further by accusing Govt of hatching a conspiracy against the murdered policemen in Garo Hills. Such statements are irresponsible, vindictive and shamelessly opportunistic. By crying wolf for vacuous reasons, CSWO has lost public support and become like the circus clown. Its inexplicable hatred of authority has obviously made it abandon sanity and reason. This makes me suspect the sanity and motive of its leaders. But more than that I question the media that laps up everything that Agnes Kharshiing feeds them without doing their own homework to go into her antecedents and modus operandi.
Yours etc.,
J. Syiemiong
Shillong-6
Focus on issues, no rhetoric please
Editor,
The article, “Religion and Society” by Fabian Lyngdoh (ST November 7, 2013) was expected to be an enlightened and scholarly treatment of the two major and closely related entities in the state of Meghalaya – religion and society. Alas, it was a huge disappointment! The writer’s main plot is a rhetoric against those who questioned the ‘passive’ role of the Church to the issues confronting the society today. The sub-plots, the Church, Christianity, morality, Islam, heaven, hell, salvation, Satan, et el, have become exercises in semantics This rejoinder is a response to the direct and personal references made to me and my write up, “Has the Church no prophetic role?” (ST. October 31, 2013).
Yours etc.,
Albert Thyrniang,
Via email
NGO doublespeak
Editor,
Its funny how NGO leaders squeal like piglets when they are arrested for misdeeds and band together like brothers to save one of their own. These same do-gooders are notoriously silent when ordinary people are killed or assaulted due to incitement on their part. They say nothing when property worth crores is burnt by their members. They wink at each other and indulge in doublespeak when it comes to other people lives. But when their own lives are at stake and they are arrested, they scream bloody murder. Ironic!
Yours etc.,
C.M Khongjee
Is ILP the answer?
Editor,
This is the first attempt at sharing my thoughts even though I am a daily subscriber of The Shillong Times. Like the daily letters which come to you about ILP, I would also like to share my views on the subject. I see that most readers of English newspapers know about ILP and its negative impacts. What is interesting is that the vernacular dailies are all pro- ILP even though it would not seem to help the State in any way except to fill somebody’s pocket. I tried to look up some Khasi newspaper to study their analyses of this ongoing agitation that has put us through so much suffering for months but could not find a satisfying answer..
What I have learnt instead is that there are several existing Regulations that could have prevented the inflow of illegal migrants or non-Meghalayans or the non-Khasis. One of them is the “Infiltration Check Gate” which could have been more effective than the Inner Line Permit if it was adequately strengthened. A year ago NGOs have asked that the Infiltration Check Gates be strengthened but it did not move anyone except the affected border areas.
What bothers me and all of us who are affected by the ILP agitation is why we are not fighting to strengthen existing Acts instead of implementing new ones? How do we know that implementation of ILP will also not end up like the other ineffective acts and laws.
Yours etc.,
Amanda L. Buhphang