State Resource Centre for what?
Last year the State Government set up the State Resource Centre with the objective of looking more closely at women’s issues in Meghalaya. The person heading the SRC is a former official of the Social Welfare Department who seamlessly transited from her position as a serving officer to the present post after superannuation. Every rule in the book was bent by the Government to ensure that this officer was appointed. Last week the SRC in collaboration with the National Commission for Women organized a workshop on legal awareness for women at a local hotel. Interestingly, neither the media nor the leading women’s organizations or women’s rights activists were called to the meeting. The Chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women said she went there as an invitee. Apparently the Member of the National Commission for Women from Meghalaya spoke at the meeting but made no sense at all to those who are ingrained to think of gender equity. One of the worst sins about political appointments is that a woman with no understanding of gender and its intricacies is made the champion of women’s issues in Meghalaya. This is a great disservice and it is only because in Meghalaya women are still hesitant about speaking their minds and creating a ruckus that all kinds of undeserving individuals are appointed to important posts that are at the cutting edge and should actually change the status of women in Meghalaya. One reason why the more prominent activists were not called is also because they had made a huge noise when the CEO of the SRC was appointed last year. So she has managed to get her pound of flesh by debarring them from her meetings! In Meghalaya the SRC is just to a re-employment agency. That’s it! Is this why the last Social Welfare Minister lost his job? Alas! The bureaucrat who dug in his heels to make this happen is suiting pretty. What an injustice indeed!
Meghalaya Assembly and the swearing- in drama
The budget session of the State Assembly which will resume after the recess on April fool’s day is not a fool’s paradise in comparison with the term. Some of the sleepy Joes (Friday Lyngdoh and Founder Strong Cajee) have made a quiet exit. Now perhaps only three veterans will compete for post lunch siesta. For observers its much more fun to watch the proceedings now with Paul Lyngdoh, Jemino Mawthoh, Ardent Basaiawmoit and many other younger MLAs thundering in the House. It’s a welcome change from the days of Sangma versus Sangma where only Conrad Sangma and his brother James would be seen cornering their beta-noire Mukul Sangma. Shillong Jottings also learnt that the Umroi MLA, Ngaitlang Dhar, the richest candidate from amongst all who filed their nominations this time for Assembly elections, did not turn up for the oath taking ceremony ostensibly because he was unwell but because he is unable to read English. Some of his friends and business colleagues had in fact warned Dhar that it might be embarrassing if he did not know how to read out his oath. Dhar at first thought that he would only have to read out his name as in …….” I, Ngaitlang Dhar ….do solemnly swear”…. Dhar thought that he would only have to speak out his name and that the Governor would do the rest but he was told categorically that the Governor would only say, “I…… and that Dhar would have to read out the rest of the oath himself. So he decided to play truant on oath-taking day. Now how a tribal like Dhar is going to represent his brethren even inside the state assembly when he does not know how to speak the language of discourse in the Assembly is to be seen in the next five years! Money certainly cannot buy everything!
Secretariat
This time March 31 fell on a Sunday and banks were at work. One bank employee said, “ I will never allow my children to work in a bank. It’s a dog’s life and there is no time for anything and anyone else.” In a society where the work culture is so tenuous such comments may be taken seriously, but in the new India where people put in 12 hours or more of work, many would be scornful of such statements. It’s the easy work culture in government employment and the lack of accountability that makes people even pay lakhs of rupees for a job. With the entry of private banks and their efficient customer service, the nationalized banks too have been feeling the heat. This is the 21st century and if work culture in Meghalaya does not improve how can we expect the State to progress? And as usual the Main Secretariat and other state government offices were seen lit up late into the night as departments closed their accounts. It’s an old story that Government tries to spend as much of its unutilized funds on March 31 so that it can account for some action.
Some of the spending is superfluous of course but who is to know and who is to account for such extravaganza! And even if the Comptroller and Auditor General were to point out the anomalies, nothing much will happen. This is an old game where the Government has learnt to skate down the slippery, icy slope.