Editor
Shillong has lost its ‘beautiful’ tag because of certain selfish elements operating as “NGOs.” I am a young man earning my living in a middle level position. Two years ago I was a university student and I have seen politics at play in every sphere of life in Meghalaya. What’s worse is that the dirty side of politics is absorbed very quickly by our youth. I have watched, confused, by the deterioration of not just law and order, but the values of life in general, here in Shillong. I owe no allegiance to any political party or groups, but only to God and humanity. In a civilised society, there can be no obstruction to the normal flow of life. No government or NGO has the right to deprive the common man of his daily livelihood. For the disruption of the normal life in Shillong and the state as a whole, due to the current impasse over the Inner Line Permit the “pressure groups” have to take the blame! And the government, to an extent!
I have travelled widely across the region. Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh are some of the most under-developed states in Asia. These states have no social life, no good educational institutions, hotels and even English newspapers are hard to come by. If I am lucky to find an edition it is one-day old. I had to pay double what I pay here! In the ILP states the cost of everything including food is three times the amount we pay here. Water is scarce and so is electricity. No investors or companies would come and there are hardly any tourists. How many would bother running for an inter-state permit when you can go to any place you want as a citizen of this country? Perhaps the pressure groups want to import all the negative traits of these states which include drugs, to Meghalaya.
I have seen hundreds of patients running to Guwahati each day for medical needs. There are no health facilities worth speaking of in these states. I sincerely feel that those who favour the ILP should experience what it is to live in an ILP enforced state before condemning us all to a life of backwardness. The fact is that most of the young people who shout, “No ILP, No Rest,” have never lived in Mizoram, Nagaland or Arunachal Pradesh.
Meghalaya is on the path of development but strangely, a few selfish persons are trying to pull all of us down. A huge number of students and elders from the ILP states that come here are reluctant to leave. Why? It’s because they have no life in their states. There are no facilities even for sports. We all love football. Many well known footballers are playing for our teams in the I-league. Do you think good footballers will want to come here with an ILP expiry date hanging over their heads? How many non-local footballers do you find in the Mizo, Naga and Arunachal leagues? I suggest that all the pressure groups and their followers go and enjoy the ILP atmosphere and try staying there at least for two weeks. Not in hotels but in a rented house and then come and decide if they want the inter-linked poverty here.
Influx is a problem, yes. But framing one law after another will not help because genuine citizens suffer. Sadly all our governments have done nothing to curb influx. The Rangbah Shnong blindly issue permits and certificates. Student leaders of the past have done business with non-tribals. So what are they talking now? Are government agencies screening the floating population strictly at the check points? Once in a while, a sleepy policeman gives a look into the Sumo vehicles at Byrnihat and then waves them away. And who checks them at Ladrymbai? Excuse me if I am wrong…but I never found anyone checking whenever I have travelled.
We need industries and companies, to bring infrastructure and development in a clean and transparent manner by adhering to laws. No voters ID card should be issued to anyone who is not a bonafide citizen of Meghalaya. Lastly I would say that we are not alone in this world. We are inter-dependent. Besides, in this day and age we can’t live like we did in the in the 19th century. Not if we are a civilised society. I want no illegal influx and criminals taking shelter in my state. I want to live a normal life with my family. Is that not my right?
Yours etc.,
Marty Muztafa
Should the cycle continue?
Editor,
There are umpteen laws but a correspondingly umpteenth number of crimes against women. The likes of Tarun Tejpal lurk around everywhere. In the plush glass panelled work places, in the narrow lanes and by-lanes, in the private space of the domestic, in buses, trains, cars, auto-rickshaws and the latest even lifts! What a shame! We all hear, watch and perhaps even gossip about these stories happening everyday from the corners of Garo-Hills, to the capital of the country, from the mills compound in Mumbai to a minister’s bedroom in Jaipur! The act is the same, the scene similar, the crime earth shattering- the loss of dignity and self esteem of a human being. The fact of the matter is that we have completely forgotten that a woman is a human being first and a woman second. But in an already deeply gendered society what more can you expect? So we watch, generations of women, abused, beaten, exploited, violated, raped, killed…. All because it’s a Man’s world! And women?… oh yes women, well they are there for most part in the kitchen, the bedroom, the toilets in the garb of house-maids, escorts etc., She is after all just a carrier to help increase the size of humanity! Her possessing a uterus after all makes her “the other”. So how does it matter what her dreams, aspirations, and roles are? She is fit to be violated from the womb to the coffin (by the way dead female corpses are also raped)! So we are onlookers with occasional black flags, rallies, protest marches, virtue filled speeches, plenty of heated debates on prime time television, murmurs in coffee shops, gossip in kitty parties, bold neta- giri and finally those laws, plenty of them. Lately some call them draconian too! Thus the cycle continues and we watch on… but should it be always like this? Do we continue to watch all the screams of help, the shame of guilt, and a lifetime of stigma? Can each of us not become the catalyst to change, to bring back the lost dignity, protect, prevent and stand up? Isn’t it time for change? Just because 22 women are killed each day in dowry-related murders, a rape every twenty minutes, female foetus being found lying in farms, floating in rivers, wrapped up in jute bags should not numb our sense of outrage. Yet, should all these remain as mere statistics and figures for lurid read? Should November 25th be the only day when we open our eyes wide and speak a word or two because that is the “official day” to commemorate elimination of violence against women? Isn’t is time to open our minds instead, flush out all the patriarchal dirt that is lurking inside, stop being the pretentious gentleman and the sati savitri woman? Can we not instead rally behind a victim, form a support group, stop the shamming, shaming, scrutinising, and stigmatising the woman! Let us become the channel to change, speak up and help. Let us recover the woman from obscurity and shame. As Bob Marley sang…. Get up, stand up, stand up for your (our) rights!
Yours etc.,
Moushumi Dey,
Via email