Editor,
What is going on in Tura these days? Bandhs of different durations, called by different kinds of associations and organisations! It looks as if each one is trying to outdo the other in holding the town to ransom. The two-hour daily bandh is supposed to have been called by the ANVC(B) against the alleged goings-on in the GHADC. In these two hours those who suffer are the poor, petty shopkeepers and vegetable vendors. Office goers go about their business as usual. There is no change in the attendance in office. Vehicular traffic is moving as usual The ANVC (B) is not going to achieve anything from this. P K Sangma and Brigady Marak are surely not going to flinch or resign because the shopkeepers are not going to rise up against the duo in protest for their daily losses. They suffer silently as they are the soft targets! When will the ANVC (B) act with more maturity and stop harassing the poor petty traders to achieve their ends?
Next on the agenda is the arrival of the Trade Fair. We in Tura have no entertainment or exposure to markets at all and these kind of events are what the Tura people look forward to with delight. Now the Traders of the Super Market are up in arms against the Trade Fair because it supposedly affects their sales. This is utter nonsense. To start with the goods displayed and sold at the Trade Fair are not available in the Tura Super Market. Even if it were, can’t the traders face a healthy competition or is it just that their President John Leslee K Sangma is trying to flex his muscles and making his presence felt after a bout of silence due to his differences with the organisers of the Trade Fair, The Achik Entertainment Society? While in conversation with different sections of the market, one can conclude that almost every shopkeeper is not at all happy with the decision of downing shutters. The two hour closure is causing a big loss to them but they have no option but to go with the flow and listen to the diktat of their bossy and arrogant leader. There are no grocery shops or vegetable shops or hardware stores at the Trade Fair so why should these shops also be forced to down their shutters? The Deputy Commissioner should not cancel the permission given for the Trade Fair. It should carry on as scheduled.
The brave voices of Tura who dared to come out in large numbers to defy the GNLA bandh in May seem to be just quiet now. Come up once again oh brave hearts of Tura to defy diktats from any other organisation that disrupt daily peaceful living. We the general public appeal to the United Christian Peace Forum, the Women’s Associations and like minded organisations to organise a rally to free the people of Tura from being endlessly harassed. Together we can do it.
Yours etc.,
Samson A Sangma
Dobasipara, Tura
Another goof-up by MPSC
Editor,
The recent goof up by the MPSC in conducting the exams for the post of Research Assistants in the Department of Programme Implementation and Evaluation has come as no surprise to those who closely follow the functioning of the Commission. One cannot deny the fact that the Commission has been doing a decent job since the a new Chairperson took over but the problems never seem to fade away and are haunting this Commission as usual. The printing mistakes (as the Commission claimed) pertained to skipping/jumping of Question No. 108 and repeating of No 148 in the Series III Booklet. A reliable source informed that in many rooms of a particular exam centre, the candidates were not told about the mistakes, were not aware of what’s going on and they came to know only when the same was reported in the press. I would request the Commission to revisit some of the Question papers of Series III Booklet whereby (i) all the options for Question No. 61 were wrong, (ii) Question No. 157 confused most candidates as instead of Keibul Lamjao National Park, it was written as Kaiblamzao National Park, (iii) and again Question No 188 pertaining to the Nobel Peace Prize of 1994 all the options given were incorrect. Then when all the options were wrong, how can the candidates choose the correct answer? It is obvious that if there is a slight change in the Serial Number of Questions, then all questions and answers that follow subsequently will change. Hence whatever correct answers the candidates give will never tally with the questions asked. Now the big question is how will the Commission scrutinize the papers when it couldn’t even frame the right questions with the correct option of answers? It will be interesting to know how one software can detect the mistakes of another software? How are they going to know which answer is for which question? Can a fair and transparent result be expected out of this mess? Is there any responsibility and accountability for the mistakes committed? Pushing the blame to another agency is no solution. The Commission will do well to understand that there are candidates who are extremely good and intelligent and would detect the slightest of mistakes in the question papers, therefore it can never play hide and seek for long. I can’t wait to see the result of this particular examination !
Yours etc.,
A. Rani
Shillong-13