Editor,
Several articles and comments by politicians questioning the intervention of unelected members of civil society in the process of law-making, have appeared in recent times. They claim that only elected public representatives are empowered to make laws. My explanation on why civil society is demanding a strong Lokpal law is because, firstly, the present judicial system is too slow to act against corruption and too few corrupt people are behind bars. Secondly, if parliament enacts a strong Lokpal Act which will take into account the views and suggestions of a cross section of concerned people of India, the public are confident that it can check corruption to a great extent and the benefits of a less corrupt government/administration will greatly benefit the common man and the country as a whole.
But 43 years have passed and 8 attempts have been made to pass the Lokpal bill in parliament since 1968. With each failed attempt the corruption graph has spiraled from hundreds of crores to lakh of crores. The public have finally realised that it is the nexus between corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business people which has sabotaged all attempts to legislate this very important law. Therefore, since our elected public representatives have failed to legislate a strong law to check corruption, civil society cannot remain a mute spectator and allow the rot to continue. They must intervene and give full support to Anna Hazare as he takes on this corrupt establishment to put pressure through non violent means for the enactment of a strong Lokpal Act by parliament.
The Lokpal Act, may not be able to eradicate corruption completely but a process would have been set in place to persecute the corrupt. The Right to Information is the first step in this direction; the Lokpal will further strengthen it and I am sure with a more rejuvenated civil society now, more people friendly laws will be legislated which will eventually see India standing at par with developed nations of the world and our state Meghalaya, contributing towards making this objective a reality. For Meghalaya to play it’s part, the Meghalaya Lokayukta and Up- Lokayukta Act 2002 must be amended to make it a strong and independent body, after taking on board suggestions and opinions from all concerned citizens of the state.
Teacher performance in colleges
Editor,
Many letters to the editor have appeared where college teachers have expressed their indignation with the Education Minister for expressing his anxiety about teaching and education in the State. I congratulate Prof. RC Laloo for his bold statements. The MCTA leaders have always clamoured for better salary. But how many of the MCTA leaders will check on the performance of their colleagues – teachers/lecturers/professors or even of themselves. How many of them are regular for their college duties? How many of them stay on in the college campus as per the required norms of the UGC? How many of them prepare their classes meticulously to the satisfaction of students? How many of them will earn good assessment scores if there is a genuine grading by students?
Unfortunately everyone is afraid to state facts. Why are many of our good students moving out of the State to study? May be they don’t find the right faculty out here who are really committed. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam said that teachers must be walking encyclopedias who keep updating their knowledge so that the student can drink from this fountain of knowledge. Teachers enjoy maximum benefit in all respects, especially with the revised scale of pay. Don’t count the number of holidays, because they are too many; count the number of working days; sorry – working hours! Do they deserve all the money they are getting? Look at the disparity of pay among the deficit teachers, ad hoc teachers, contractual teachers and the private teachers – and consider their work load. Some of the contractual and private teachers really give their all to the institution.
I am a teacher myself. I have seen what is happening in many of our Deficit schools and colleges. In many of our rural schools, the so-called teachers don’t even go to teach. They make arrangements with someone else and give a small share of their salary. No wonder our education system never improves! We have the tendency to compare ourselves with other States vis-à-vis teachers’ status. But they sincerely work and deserve what they get. In our State when the government asks for accountability from the Heads of institutions, they are also on the back foot, because they are either in collusion with the teachers or are afraid of them. I think our children deserve much better than what they are getting. Children, who are supposed to be the centre of all educational processes are often ignored and kept at the margins.
Instead of finding out the source of this letter and targeting the individual who has written this unpleasant note, it would be better to engage in some soul-searching and introspection. Kudos to all great teachers who inspire their students through their teaching, life and good example and there are many in this category.
Yours etc
Name withheld on request