Editor,
By treating the roasting of Graham Staines and his two young sons in their car, the gang-rape of a Catholic nun, the massacre of Christians, etc in Odisha and elsewhere which had sent shock waves to every nook and corner of India and to some parts of the world, as small incidents, Musa Purno has definitely commended himself into the hands of the demons and the religious fanatics. Let us wait to read the reactions of the Reverends such as PBM Basaiawmoit and Barnes Mawrie whose explicit support to PA Sangma to be the next President of India had appeared in the print media.
Yours etc.,
A Pyrtuh,
Shillong -14
Wanted an Indian as Rashtrapati
Editor,
In response to B Mawrie’s letter (ST June, 25, 2012) I would like to tell him that it is high time leave behind the tribal sentiments. The need of the hour is ‘Change’ regardless of whether a tribal or a non-tribal becomes President. Why can we not ask for a better candidate in terms of performance and capability, instead of simply emphasizing on the word ‘tribal’? This is just too offensive and unexpected from a citizen of a multicultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic country.
The President of India holds the highest position in the country and there is no reserved quota on which one can contest the presidential elections. I am not in support of either of the candidates, given their previous nature of performance. I judge the capability of the President of India only on the basis of his or her potential for performance, leadership skills and assertiveness to serve the nation with honesty and integrity, and certainly not because the person is of tribal or non-tribal lineage.
Yours, etc,
Jayashree Dutta (Purkayastha)
36 Columbia St.
Portsmouth, USA
Why is civil society of Garo Hills silent?
Editor,
The civil society and the NGOs in Garo Hills are fast losing their relevance. Now it is the anti-social elements that are calling the shots. First the GNLA and now it is the ANVC (B) that is in the news. The latter led by a choirmaster turned rebel raised the issue of the malfunctioning of the Garo Hills District Council forcing its Chief Executive Member to make an assurance that the functioning of the Council will improve. Can you believe this? Personally I smell a rat here. Actually, a deal has been struck between the two involving huge money. Will we see a better functioning District council in the near future? If not, will the outfit raise the issue again? The outlawed organization has also raised the issue of illegal trade, price rise, etc. Most recently it made an issue of the increase in Sumo and bus fares. These are issues which are to be dealt with by the NGOs and the civil society. Why have we not done it? I do not know but we have allowed unconstitutional organizations based in the jungles to play Robin Hood.
Now the night blockade against the MLAs who have not ‘solved the problems of the common people’ is on. The ANVC (B) has threatened to go for a total non-cooperation movement if their demand is not met. Earlier in this column someone had stated that the ANVC (B) cannot be trusted. After the GNLA were forced to call off their strike due to public upheaval, Rimpu has hailed the courage of the people. His organization is now threatening for a total shut down. Should we bow to his diktat? Should we not come out in the streets against this curtailment of our rights and freedom? The ANVC (B) and the GNLA or any other underground groups are the same. We cannot trust any of them.
According to me these illegal groups are standing on high moral grounds including demanding a separate state and greater Garo Hills et al. It is humbug! They are fooling us. Their sole objective is to extort money from us. They want to become rich. They want to rule by the gun. They want to become soldiers by proxy. They want others to subject to their will. They want to be the bosses. They want to instil fear in us. I was surprise at the stand of the government on the spilt of the ANVC. A central government official recently stated that the government is not alarmed with the development. They are only a fraction he confidently said. Certainly he does not come from the moon. It was the state government which had advised him to say such non-sense. It is alleged that the ANVC is aligned with the Congress and the GNLA is with the NCP. The government is using the ANVC (B) to fight the GNLA. If it wants it can catch the culprits involved in the attempted kidnap of Sr. Rose in Mendipathar. They are all well known. But the police have not done so for obvious reasons. This is a dangerous game. It will back fire. But why should the government care? It is the people who will suffer. Sad but true!
All right thinking citizens should not allow any space for anti social elements. If we do we will be doomed. Let us stand up against these groups which are mushrooming. Let us stay relevant. It is our democratic and constitutional right. Let us not surrender this right to anti-democratic and anti-constitutional fringe elements.
Yours etc.,
Dengchira H Momin
Tura Bazar
Future of MBOSE students
Editor,
With reference to the letter, “Bleak future for MBOSE students” (ST May 31, 2012), I would like to say that MBOSE and CBSE have the same syllabus. The only difference is that in the CBSE board exams, students can write their answers to the point and sometimes even one word answers will do. Whereas in MBOSE, I find that such is not the case, except in English where both CBSE and MBOSE have the same pattern of questions. This therefore creates the impression that it is easier to score in CBSE, when both boards have the same syllabus and indirectly, students start arguing over the state quota seat allotment. My suggestion would be to give the state quota engineering seats based on a student’s performance in their AIEEE examination and not based on their board marks. In a student’s AIEEE scorecard, their respective state ranks are given, so why not use that rank for the state quota seats?
Yours etc.,
Shainam Kharumnuid,
Via email