Editor,
The news report in your esteemed daily captioned, ‘Class IX Question papers leaked in West Jaintia Hills (ST Nov 25, 2015)’ poses a very real question for the future of our young generation. Why on earth should question papers leak? Is it because the Government is always too lenient when deal with such offences? Or is it because some people are so greedy that their conscience is blinded so they decide to make a few extra bucks through such offensive practices? The questions may go on and on. To me this points to the failure of the whole system. The MBOSE has no system to ensure that Question Papers are kept with supreme secrecy. The Government is always too busy dealing with the culprits, be it a staff of MBOSE, or a Government official or a teacher who sets these question papers. The crooks always get away with their crimes, be it question paper leakage, the infamous use of white-ink by the Education Department to include the names of some who did not qualify to be teachers and to remove those that have qualified etc., the list can go on. But nothing substantial has been done from the part of the Government.
Only the public at large is filled with disgust. Have we also as responsible citizens turned a blind eye to such crimes? I cannot imagine parents and guardians who are in the know of such leakage but who would encourage their children/wards to get hold of the leaked question papers and write their examination. Are we not culprits too for keeping silent? It seems that our moral values have deteriorated beyond repair. We are happy so long as our children get through the exams even by unfair means. What value will they learn from us? Aren’t we giving them a future based on cheating and falsehoods? Or are we going the BIHAR way where parents etc climbed up ladders to help their children practice maximum cheating. My request to the authorities is to give exemplary punishment to whosoever is involved in this heinous crime.
This is not the first time that such an incident has happened. Even last year according to your paper the same thing had happened. Had the law taken its lawful steps such things would not have been repeated. To the parents, may I make this humble appeal; We should not encourage our young ones to use unfair means as we may be doing them more harm than good. And to the students: There is no short cut formula to success so don’t be deceived. Let us fight together to make our state free from the practice of unfair means during examinations, because in the end ONLY HARD WORK PAYS. Yours etc., M. Nongrum Shillong 2 Cycling is healthy! Editor Recent clamping of bicycles by Police in Shillong is really surprising and unfortunate. The clarification by the Superintendent of Police is nothing but damage control only. People all over the world respect cyclists on the road. Almost all the big cities like Tokyo, London, New York have separate lanes for cyclists. Bangalore has one of the worst traffic problems but still one sees a lot of people using bicycles and people respect them. One can understand the amount of pressure on traffic police. Besides controlling the traffic, they have to do additional duties like checking of the drivers to ensure they wear seat belts, helmets etc. But punishing a cyclist by clamping is demoralising and unacceptable. As our SP says that most of our cyclists are in the age group of 10 to 15 years; children of this age group cannot be arrested for many crimes. Shillong is a small place and most of the areas are accessible by cycle. We should rather encourage more and more people to use cycles. I also request the Traffic Police to keep areas for parking of cycles free.
Yours etc.,
Dr Ashim Kr Das.
Shillong
Blue rivers a cause for alarm in Meghalaya
Editor,
The national media reporting on acute acidity in riverine water turning them sky blue is a matter of great concern for Meghalaya and her fragile ecosystem and environment. The Lukha (East Jaintia Hills District) and the Myntdu rivers (West Jaintia Hills District) have been critically impacted over decades and the acidity level have risen to alarming proportions to turn the river water blue. Such deadly acidity levels in the water will decimate the rare aquatic flora and fauna inhabiting these rivers. Even global media has been reporting of this incident. Unfortunately neither any concern nor any efforts are visible on the part of the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board nor the State Administration or the state Environment Department. It is unfortunate that a state so abundant in natural resources, flora and fauna is not taking any action to mitigate the adverse effects of exploitation of natural resources. The public should vehemently protest against this procrastinating attitude of the State Government and for neglecting such a serious environmental crisis that will certainly have severe long term impacts on both the lives and livelihoods of the local people of the State in the long run.
Yours etc.,
Saikat Kumar Basu,
Lethbridge AB Canada
T1J 4B3