Editor,
There has been a lot of focus and funding on building football stadiums in the state. This is great for the sport of football but other sports such as athletics and their respective athletes are being ignored. The running track at JN Stadium has been lying in shambles for the past couple of years. Local athletes don’t have any place to practice track-specific training, as there is no other running track in Shillong. Runners often use the JN cricket ground but that is full of cricketers in the winter and is flooded with rainwater during summer. The city roads are the only places to practice but they too are hazardous with increasing traffic and insensitive drivers. The government should expedite the process on completing the JN running track so that local runners can have a good secured place to practice.
Yours etc.,
Gerald Pde,
Via email
Politicians under RTI, three cheers!
Editor,
The Central Information Commission’s (CIC) order to bring all political parties under the Right To Information (RTI) Act is a welcome move. This will go a long way in ridding the country of political corruption. It empowers citizens to demand information on donors to political parties, something previously unheard of in Indian politics! Predictably all major political parties including the Congress, BJP and CPI (M) have opposed the CIC’s order, claiming that it will hamper their activities in one way or another. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) however supported the CIC order and further demanded that all political parties should publish donor information on their websites in a transparent manner just as they have done. Civil society members and RTI activists have roundly criticized the political parties for their opposition to the CIC order. Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has rightly stated – “If RTI is applicable to the government, then those who form the government must also be included. Political parties are not above the law.” It is ironic that the Congress Party which has been blowing its bugle for introducing the RTI Act has now run for cover and refuses to come under its own Act! The BJP too has put its foot into its mouth in similar fashion by demanding that the BCCI (an independent body) be brought under RTI, in the aftermath of the IPL spot-fixing scandal. They are now refusing to come under RTI because they are ‘not a govt. body’! It will be interesting and possibly hilarious to hear the reactions of our own regional parties to the CIC order. No doubt some will attempt to brazen it out, but none will truly welcome it.
In the Meghalaya context, the CIC order needs to be expanded to include NGOs and religious bodies. There needs to be financial transparency from these bodies considering that they too subsist on public funds and play a significant role in society. So far their sources of funding have been shrouded in secrecy. Repeated demands for sharing this information in the public domain have been met with a stony silence. MKSS’ Aruna Roy echoes this sentiment when she says – “We have always demanded that NGOs, trade unions, political parties, religious bodies and cooperative societies who are using public funds should be brought under the RTI Act.” If these organizations have nothing to hide and their funds come from unblemished sources, then why are they reluctant to share this information? We need transparency and accountability not only in the political system but also from all organizations using public funds. This is the only way to free ourselves from the shackles of corruption which has permeated every strata in society!
Yours etc.,
Daisy Kharkongor,
Via email