Editor,
Chief Electoral Officer P Naik has suggested a good solution to increase the voting turnout in the State. The solution would reduce cost and the hassle of moving men and materials and make things easier for the dance of Indian democracy. The Election Commission of India should explore the idea of CEO, Meghalaya. After all an idea costs 75 paisa and to implement the same all you’ll need is another 25 paisa. It is worth exploring the possibility of biometric cards for voters and election ATMs. What an innovative idea.
Yours etc.,
Vijay Lyngdoh,
Shillong
Child Rights in Meghalaya
Editor,
I am shocked to note that it is almost one month since your esteemed daily carried the news that the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is still non-operational (“No full-fledged child rights panel yet”, ST, March 17th 2014). Even more shocking is the fact that no one seems to have anything else to say on the matter. The news seems to have died there itself. Child Rights violations take place on a daily basis in India, even in our fair state. The state of child rights may not look too bad from outside the borders but inside, we know what the ground realities are. Article 24 of the Indian Constitution speaks against employment of children “in any hazardous employment”, but we still have children employed in coal mines and factories and even in our own homes. Article 39 (e) of the Directive Principles of State Policy protects children against abuse and economic enslavement, but we still have children forced to work because of poor economic conditions in the most deplorable of conditions. One in every three malnourished child in the world lives in India. Parliament has recently passed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2006. Why did it take so long and why is it not working?
The scariest statistic of all is that India has the world’s largest number of sexually abused children, with a child below 16 raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 every 13th hour, and at least one in every 10 children sexually abused at any point in time. Do these facts and figures mean nothing to the people? Are people in Meghalaya so confident in the purity of their society that they do not see these statistics in their midst? Then there is also the danger that these crimes do not end here. Lenore E. Walker developed a theory in 1979 regarding how this cycle of abuse actually propagates forward with the abused victim becoming an abuser. How many more generations of children do we need to sacrifice before our leaders and the people understand the need for speedy actions? I am devastated by this delay in one of the most important developments in the state. I will also be ashamed if people start politicising this issue by clambering for posts, which in our state is expected and encouraged by the general masses.
I urge the government to waste no time in making this Commission functional and also to restrain from selecting politicians, Congress party sympathisers and bureaucrats as its members. We all know how little work is done when these people enter into a new Department or Commission. I also urge the general public to continue to monitor the progress made by the government in establishing this Commission. Any further delay means many more childhoods being lost and destroyed. Maybe next time it won’t just be another strange name in the news. Maybe next time, it is someone we know and love who gets hurt.
Yours etc.,
Gabriel B Nongsiej
M.Tech (Computer)
IIT Kharagpur