Editor,
In my quest to participate in the debate whether the no confidence motion moved by the opposition in Meghalaya, in the recently concluded autumn assembly, were toothless or not, in response to Patricia Mukhim’s column, “No-confidence motion looses teeth in Meghalaya” (ST Sep 16), I would like to state the following. The opposition do have teeth but they were all shaky which came out of their jaws during the course of the short autumn assembly or else why was the double no confidence motions withdrawn. Records speak for themselves and it has been seen that the taste of Meghalaya electorate has always been for national parties, mostly Congress, after the formation of the state. It is also a fact that what we have witnessed in Arunachal Pradesh recently was practiced and inflicted by Congress in the past on the local parties of Meghalaya post statehood when they hijacked all into their fold. And given the situation that stands today with the north east reorganizing itself into the saffron fold, Meghalaya may not be too far and more so when saffron eyes are set in this state from neighboring Assam. So it is time that the opposition here braces itself with real or artificial jaws since that will be required most in the days to come. A party without teeth might otherwise have to go the Sonia and Rahul Gandhi way. The duo are at the moment speaking only from the national capital. Teeth are vital whether in motion or no motion.
Yours etc.
PK Dwivedi
Shillong – 1
Habits are formed by rewards and punishments
Editor,
There is a famous saying, ‘Spare the rod spoil the child’. This letter is not meant to encourage severe punishment in order to stop crimes. Instead it is a personal feeling that if the state (government) follows the universal principle of ‘good must be rewarded and evil must be punished,’ then the mentality of the people might change. Long ago I had written a letter to the editor on the slowness of the legal system and how it encourages crime yet, our legal system continues to be tardy. The case of the murder a young girl from Upper Shillong (Umlyngka) has not seen justice till date. For the bereaved family it is a case of ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Before this case could be solved another murder case has been reported of a young girl from Lumparing, then the kidnapping of two young girls from the BSF camp at Nongmynsong – a case still shrouded in mystery. Why is the legal system so slow in our country? The Chief Justice of India has urged the government to speed up the recruitment of judges in order to give justice to thousands of cases pending in different courts in our country, but the Government pays no attention to this serious issue of the judicial system. Similarly it is quite surprising to see the sudden rise of many other crimes such as thefts, rape and drug peddling particularly in our state of Meghalaya within these past few months. Many say that it is because of drugs that all other crimes arise. But the question is why do young people in our region suddenly go for drugs? Frankly speaking we the inhabitants of Meghalaya are rich in ethics and morality but today we find all those teachings of our ancestors rapidly disappearing from our society. Perhaps the youth think that with the development of science and technology and communication, all those teachings and values of the old generation are outmoded. My personal view is that, the causes of rising crime in our society today is because parents and elders are not using the rewards and punishment model in their children’s upbringing. As a result the young generation feel no qualms in committing any crime. Let us question ourselves how we forming the younger generation? Have we as parents, including the church elders as reported in the Shillong Times dated 17th Sept, 2016 lost the sense of morality?
Yours etc.,
Aiborlang Nongsiej
Mawkyrwat
South West Khasi Hills