Editor,
On June 10 there was a huge gathering of civil society of Garo Hills at Chandmari ground, Tura led by the Garo Mother’s Union. People spoke out against militants and even proposed that the army be brought in because the police have failed. This requires a lot of courage and determination in view of the ongoing climate of impunity in Garo Hills. Your paper shunted this news to an insignificant corner of page 10 of your paper. This shows that your newspaper is not in sync with the chain of militant aggression and the suffering and complete helplessness faced by the people of Garo Hills, especially its women and children. This is even more pathetic since you are yourself a woman and formerly an activist. And also because you claim to cover Garo Hills extensively! From what we know, all your reporters are Tura-based hence you really have no one in the other districts to give you reports from the ground. Is this how a newspaper functions?
The situation in Garo Hills requires accurate coverage which means that your reporters have to be spread out to the scene of action but it appears that your reporters never visited the exact location in Chokpot where the barbaric crime against womanhood happened. There is too much of armchair reporting for which your paper must take responsibility.
In contrast another regional paper has given better coverage of the Chandmari protest and hence provided a voice for the people of Garo Hills. Your paper has in recent times chosen to report only the activities of militants and given a go-by to any positive stories of civil society initiatives. Do you think people like to read those stories of who said what in the Assembly? Don’t we know that these are all political shenanigans where politicians make statements they don’t mean and the Opposition ask questions only to make brownie points, a case in point being James K Sangma (NPP) and his personal attacks on his political rival – Mukul Sangma. We in Garo Hills have lost complete faith in these elected representatives. They all live in Shillong and come here as visitors. This is not the reason why we elected them. Next time Garo Hills will see a complete change. Just wait and watch!
Yours etc.,
J K Marak
Via email
Think for the youth
Editor,
Our sympathy goes out to our brethren of Garo Hills. The past few weeks have witnessed escalation of tensions and bloodshed in this part of the state. Having experienced almost similar kind of situations in my home state Manipur, I am very much sure it is the youth who will pay the price for the prevailing environment. I still bear the scars in my psyche of those days when guns and violence were the order of the day and when parents were hesitant to send us to school fearing for our security. Such kind of fear psychosis is still affecting my thought process even after so many years. It is time for all stakeholders to allow the youth to breathe fresh air and inculcate a sense of security in their minds. The situations that the youth face during this phase of their life very much shapes their future thought and confidence. I just pray that peace and tranquility prevails and that the youth go out to the open to enjoy the sweet aroma of life.
Yours etc.,
Thanggoulen Kipgen
Department of Sociology,
NEHU Shillong- 22
MBBS entrance Test
Editor,
I would like to thank the Government of India for making a policy of open entrance test for admission into the MBBS course. I for one am in favour of the open entrance test which enables everybody, especially those who genuinely want to serve the people, to compete for the admission not by a mere score in the 10+2. We have observed those who score high marks in the 10+2 always consider it a matter of right to admission in the MBBS colleges and after passing the course they are the ones who are reluctant to serve the people in the rural areas. To them serving at 3rd Mile Upper Shillong Dispensary is considered as ‘rural posting.’ Anyone who visits the OPD at Civil Hospital or Ganesh Das Hospital at 10.30 AM will not find any doctor on duty. Doctors attend their duties at 11.30 am and leave the hospital at 2.00 PM but enjoy full salary. They dedicate more to their private clinics than to their duties. These same doctors consider it their birth right to a lavish salary, perks and other facilities and rebel against the government in the form of strikes, etc. without realizing that had they not been sponsored by the State Government they would not have become medical doctors. For the knowledge of the readers the Government of Meghalaya had to spend huge amounts for each MBBS student for their admission in medical colleges in the country and also over Rs 5 lakh a year for each medical student for the entire course.
Secondly, medical doctors like other professionals require good IQ. Hence Entrance Test is important to select students with better IQ. Medical Officers with good IQ can perform better especially when they reach the senior level of service when they have to run the administrative office like District Health offices and the Directorate level. The scenario at present is that medical officers do not have any idea about administration. Hence they are heavily dependent on clerks to run the offices that is why there is total indiscipline in the health offices in Meghalaya, where even the process of reimbursement of a medical bill takes over six months. I have come across a case where a medical bill of a person could be reimbursed only one month before his first death anniversary.
Yours etc.,
Korbar C Hynniewta
Shillong -14