Editor,
The recent Meghalaya High Court ruling in relation with the role of Dorbar Shnongs in our tribal ensconced society has brought in rather mixed reaction from all walks of life. Every sensible and wellmeaning individual would appreciate the ruling since it aims at plugging the loopholes in grassroots/village administration where some headmen think they are above the law. Moreover, bringing in a transparency and accountability by putting the Dorbar Shnongs under the ambit of RTI should be taken in the right spirit. Since the state government initiates public schemes through such tribal institutions. A system of checks and balances and auditing and accounting of all social programs should be open to public scrutiny.
The other part is that qualification should be of two categories one for urban and the other for rural areas where literacy levels of a minimum standard can be accepted (at least HSLC passed). Unfortunately the conglomeration of headmen led by the socalled ‘prominent elite ‘ are determined to undermine the High Court ruling by threatening an agitation which goes against all forms of social and political discourses and which may be construed as an attempt to show contempt to the Court ruling. The government should not step in before being caught on the wrong foot.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong -3
Should we be grateful?
Editor,
In the letter, ‘Cooperate not Pressurise’ by Pratham Sharma (ST Jan 15, 2016), he applauds the rumour mongers for their enormous help in creating awareness regarding future calamities. Had he paid some attention to my letter published on January 14 entitled ‘False Predictions,’ his wordings would have been different. The absolute aim of the rumour mongers sitting in Letters to the Editor must have the full name, address and contact number of the writer, even if they are sent by email. Only letters with the requisite details will be published. some corner of the country is to strike fear among the people of the North East and the areas surrounding the Himalayas. Hence the term ‘Environmental Terrorists!’ If Pratham thinks that the people of this region are thankful to the rumour makers for spreading fear among us then I am sorry to say that his thoughts way off the mark. We are living at a time when people can create havoc by simply posting rubbish on social networking sites. Rubbish is meant to be cleaned and we cannot thank the minds from where such rubbish originates.
Pratham states that there is a lot of research involved in the prediction of earthquakes. Let me elucidate that research is done by learned people and not by silly rumour mongers. What it takes to spread a rumour is just a bit of devotion on a social networking sites and the use of a keyboard! I personally do not feel that these people have done anything great to earn themselves ‘gratitude’ from our side. I have labeled these rumour mongers as ‘environmentalists’ as they seem to have the vast knowledge that even seismologists lack. This is plain and simple sarcasm from me. The simple fact that these so called experts did not exist before the Manipur earthquake proves how fake their theory is! Had they put their knowledge to use before the recent earthquake or the Nepal earthquake they would have saved thousands of lives! I do not think that people of North East India feel the need to thank rumour mongers. If Pratham thinks that way, it is his free will and no one is stopping him from doing so but he should not dictate us to be grateful to those from where these rumours have originated. To conclude I would again describe the rumour mongers as ‘Environmental Terrorists’ as they have just succeeded in creating panic among many people!
Your’s etc,
Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra,
Via email