Editor,
Apropos your report on the cause of death of Mark Gautam Reddy Lynrah as being suicide (ST 27th August 2011) the family is distressed by the report, because, even before a post mortem was performed or any police investigation undertaken the paper has concluded that the nature of death of the above deceased was suicide, without any basis. This is highly regretted by the family. Please allow him the dignity to rest in peace without the ignominy of being the subject of a false and incomplete information. We hope you will keep faith with us till a scientific report on the actual cause of his death is established which will pave a way to bring closure on a horrific death that has been the cause of so much sorrow and despair.
We sincerely solicit the cooperation of the media and trust they will respect the sentiments of the bereaved family.
Yours etc.,
MV Reddy, Priya, Vikram, and Daisy Lynrah,
Via email
Our reporter replies: The newspaper does not form its opinion without taking the views of the police in any case of unnatural death. So is the case here. We regret the pain caused to the family on losing a loved one, but, as a newspaper we have to be totally objective in our report.
In appreciation!
Editor
I wish to express my unqualified pleasure in reading two “Cutting Edge” (an absolutely befitting caption!) articles authored by Paul Lyngdoh relating to some burning questions in contemporary Indian society. I am struck by the author’s uncanny ability to take the bull by the horns and call a spade a spade as much as by his ability (rare in today’s world of endless circumlocution and prevarication) to be blunt and specific and express himself with such exemplary clarity and resourcefulness. These pithy, epigrammatic specimens have whetted my appetite for his proposed memoirs! I am justly proud of the fact that he was my student in the not too distant past. Three cheers for Paul the emerging master of the prose that hurts!
Yours etc.
Noorul Hasan,
Via email
Where’s Meghalaya’s Lokayukta?
Editor,
At least there is some respite now that the Lokpal Bill will be enacted as a law. However, more is yet to be done in terms of bringing a policy of accountability within the State polity. The recent query by the former Union Home Secretary Mr. GK Pillai as to why there is no Lokayukta functioning in Meghalaya, only to be given a weird answer, raises serious questions about the sincerity of the State Government. In my earlier letter I had written that we have to bring an effective Lokayukta in the state to keep a close vigil on how public money is expended, considering that many skeletons are still lying buried in secret government closets.
Civil society pressure groups need to demand an answer from the state policy makers as to why there has been a deliberate delay in implementing such a body? Is it because selfish and greedy politicians and bureaucrats are hell bent in not making the Lokayukta functional lest many scandals tumble out? It is not surprising that the Chief Minister of Assam has gone way ahead by bringing his office under the Lokayukta, whereas our state government has not even made any effort and it talks of controlling corruption which is a rude joke. This is how we say that so called Christian values do not come calling within the tribal society especially when it comes to money.
Yours etc.,
Dominic S Wankhar,
Shillong- 3
Opposition to four-laning proposal
Editor,
It took me by surprise that the so-called NGOs and other organisations are opposing the four- laning process at Umsning. I thought people are far sighted and want development for the place as well as for the state as a whole. Take any country and nation in the world…be it USA, China, Japan etc..they are developed because they have better communication system. Are we in Meghalaya going the other way? It’s embarrassing to note that the NGOs and other organisations who should be pushing for development are opposing to this move by the government. Of course, as I understand it, they too want their share in the compensation like the families that are going to be affected from this road widening. It is high time for people to come out of their shelf and see that we need development for our future, for our children and for a better Meghalaya.
Yours etc.,
Michael Makri sdb,
Via email
Salaam teacher!
Editor,
5th September, the birth day of Dr. S Radhakrishnan, a teacher – philosopher of distinction and the 2nd President of Indian Republic, is celebrated as Teacher’s Day. Teachers deserve all the salaams they could get, or at least get their just dues, so that they could keep their body and soul together while striving to stitch together the sinews of the nation. 5th September is also Mother Teresa’s day. India always reveres people who give their all to the young and the poor, although entrenched establishment might shred their dignity to tatters and force them to do uncharacteristic flag waving.
Here is a question thrown at the teaching community as well. In today’s open knowledge ware scenario, the students are much more adept at corralling technology for their benefit and accessing what ever\ knowledge they want- good, bad and indifferent, without the mediation of a teacher. Will the teacher then become a dinosaur and left behind in the tar pit? I am afraid it will be so, if the teachers don’t update their technological prowess and are only worried about their careers and do not become mentors, offering the young the benefit of their experience and more so their life. As the American psychiatrist Karl Menninger says, “What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.”
Yours etc.,
John D Jayakumar,
Via email