Editor,
Gandhiji had said that when a man is educated, only an individual is educated but when a woman is educated the whole family is educated. And thereby the whole society is educated. Such is the impact of the presence of women in any field. So too in the field of politics! When a man assumes a decision making role it is seen as a normal process since we follow strong patriarchal norms. But when a woman comes to power, she sets an example for the whole generation and also the coming the coming generation. They display that women are able in every field. Only when women are part of decision making can they be called empowered. But there are aberrations like Mayawati who bring shame and dishonour and make people question the integrity of women. This in the long run could question women’s capacity to handle politics. Undoubtedly there are many able women in politics but it is human nature to remember the negative things more. Women who come to power should not only think of their selfish needs. They should also think about empowering other women by influencing them positively.
Yours etc.,
Priyanka Chakrabarty
Guwahati-24
Aquaculture mission
Editor,
While appreciating the initiatives of the State Government to introduce the Meghalaya Aquaculture Mission, I feel that the projection is over ambitious and lacks the ground reality assessment. In the first place the government has to convince itself that it has the missionaries in place as most of the present field functionaries in the Fisheries Department are used to the Government style of functioning and therefore will not have the missionary zeal for such a big venture . Secondly, it is ascertained that fish pond culture in Meghalaya has never given the desired production that one expect them to in spite of best efforts and therefore cannot be viable enough to be the sole means of livelihoods. If the cost benefit ratio of fish pond culture as worked out by the Mission is based on new technologies , then the priority of the Mission in the initial years is to convince itself that these technologies work not only on paper but also in the field . This is to be subsequently followed with demonstrations for the right choice of beneficiaries and thereafter build their capacities in order to guide them on the right track . This means time and painstaking effort and dedication. But then that is what is expected of the Mission to in order to really achieve genuine success. Merely aiming at achieving huge targets within a time frame is typical of many Government projects where success is always gauged by financial achievements whereas there are no tangible results in terms of output. The 1000 Ponds Scheme aimed at increasing fish production never made any expected impact in spite of the hype given to it when it was introduced by the Government. This is because of hasty planning , poor vision and non pragmatic approach. It seems that we never learn from experience. Again, while welcoming the Aquaculture Mission I would still go by that old adage, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Donbok Syiemlieh
Shillong -3