Editor,
I congratulate you for the thought provoking editorial published on February 22, 2020. I hope that the editorial has awakened not only the Chief Minister but the MDA regime as a whole. I also hope that the politicians and the bureaucrats who man the Meghalaya State Planning Board will see the light of day and set the planning process for the state in a new direction.
Without any hesitation I wish to point out that Meghalaya State Planning Board has been in existence for the last 48 years. It was like an ivory tower and members have been drawing huge salaries and perks from the public exchequer without delivering any planning worth the name. So far, we have not seen any outcomes from the Planning process resulting in the welfare and development of the people of the State. Hence I would sincerely appeal to the present MDA government, led by the young Chief Minister to completely overhaul the MSPB by putting people who have the experience and expertise to plan for the State. Planning has to start at the grassroots. In fact planning has to be from the village levels then proceed to the Blocks, Districts and the State Planning ought to be bottom-up by involving community leaders, NGOs, school teachers, officers and of course few public representatives. For a better planning module, experts in planning should impart basic training to the traditional institutions, Blocks, Districts up to the state level. Planning for the State is not the prerogative of SPB and the District. It should originate from the village levels to the state level. This devolution of the planning process is integral to a comprehensive and realistic state plan. Who knows better than the grass root leaders what is required in the villages for better development? The Planning process in Meghalaya needs to be reviewed and overhauled.
Yours etc.
Philip Marwein,
Via email.
Schools must provide parking space
Editor,
Apropos, the letter “Why grudge parking of small vehicles?”, (ST, Feb 25, 2020) I would like to ask the so called concerned parents who penned this letter, why they are not questioning the school authorities, instead, to open up their gates for “few minutes” for parking their two-wheelers and vehicles while picking and dropping their wards. Why should the Dhankheti – Don Bosco Square road be allowed to park parents’ vehicles, which is otherwise a public road? Commuters like us have a harrowing time while motoring through this road particularly in the morning and afternoon hours. It is a fact that this stretch of the road is bearing the brunt for the last several years due to the flooding of two-wheelers and vehicles of students of Loreto Convent, so why is this school, which has a big campus inside not allowing parking of scooties and cars there? Instead of seeking a solution from the Shillong Traffic Police (STP) an all-time solution to this parking issue lies inside the said school campus.
Similarly, the St. Anthony’s Junior School, Secondary and Senior Secondary School which are located in the Don Bosco Square and have equally bigger campuses should allow parking of parents’ vehicles and two-wheelers instead of jamming this busy junction. The Pine Mount School in Laban is also another school which prefers to cause hardships on common pedestrians despite enjoying huge spacious campuses. I congratulate the STP for not only putting up “No Parking” signs in Dhankheti – Don Bosco Square but also in the Old Jowai Road alongside Asom Kristi Kendra, RBI till Pantaloons which was till last year being usurped by vehicles of parents of St. Edmund’s School students. I urge upon all the above mentioned school authorities to open up their large estates for parking of students vehicles and two-wheelers and spare the roads.
Yours etc.
BC Paul
Shillong – 4
On Langpih Issue
Editor,
Thank you for publishing the short write-up on the above mentioned issue which
appeared in The Shillong Times on Monday February 24, 2020. However there is an error in the date of the shooting as appeared in the final print of the newspaper. In the original article I had clearly mentioned the date of the shooting down of the four Khasi men by the Assam Police as May 14, 2010 and not ‘February 14 last’ as erroneously mentioned in the article. There was no shoot out on February 14, 2020.
This correction is imperative so as not to create a wrong impression among the readers of your paper.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein
Editor replies: The error is sincerely regretted
Fighting superstitions
Editor,
It is interesting to learn that an event called, ‘Period Feast’ was recently organized by a Delhi-based NGO to bust myths around menstruation. The event came days after students of a college in Bhuj in Gujarat were forced to strip to prove they were not menstruating while cooking food. Later a video of a religious leader, Swami Krushnaswarup surfaced in which he was seen sermonizing that ‘menstruating women who cook food for their husbands will take birth as bitches in their next life while men consuming food prepared by menstruating women will be reborn as bullocks.
The event was organized by Dr Surbhi Singh, founder of ‘Sachhi Saheli’ to debunk the common misconceptions. A group of 28 menstruating women cooked and served meals to over 500 people at the ‘Period Feast’ wearing aprons with the tagline, “I am a proud menstruating woman.”
There are several myths and superstitions surrounding Indians. These fallacies are embedded in the inner recess of people’s minds. Such fallacies are embraced by people in the underdeveloped or developing countries like India, Nepal, African countries and in some countries where religious leaders are ruling. Education alone is the solution to dispel such deep-rooted myths from the minds of people. Political parties also have important roles to play in enlightening the people. But the unfortunate fact is that certain leaders of political parties also encourage such superstitions.
Where people don’t have critical minds we see all kinds of fallacies and superstitious practices. Just before acquiescing in a fact or fallacy a person with critical mind has to analyze whether it is true or false. But how does a critical mind develop? It is through education and allowing the spirit of scientific enquiry to be part of that education.
In the west no such superstitions exist. The concept of rebirth too is a foolish idea in the scientific eye. All those who are misled by such superstitions must acquire knowledge to emphatically say ‘No’ to myths. People have to boldly come out of their superstitions. This is necessary7 for the nation’s progress.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email