Editor,
A lot of debate has been ensuing the couple of days with respect to the question, “Is Meghlaya a Christian state?”. For many, this may turn out to be a sensitive inquiry driven by immense emotions, which sometimes cause factual arguments to be overshadowed by common majoritarian understanding. When we turn to the established provisions of the Constitution of India, which can be considered the Supreme Law of the land, or colloquially, the Holiest Scripture of India, it clearly states that India shall be a secular state. . Through court rulings, in Kesavanada vs State of Kerala (AIR 1973 S.C. 1461) and in Indira vs Rajnarain (AIR 1975 S.C. 2299) the Supreme Court has observed that by secularism, it is meant that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of religion only and that the State shall have no religion of its own. Meghalaya, we cannot deny, is a constituent unit of the Union of India. Thus, reasoning through the law of transitivity, to claim that Meghalaya is a Christian State would tantamount to contradiction of the very structure of the Indian State. Through same reasoning, it would imply India too is undoubtedly a Hindu State. Truly, Meghalaya may have a sizeable Christian majority that makes up its population, but to call it a Christian State would undermine the presence of all other religious groups such as the indigenous faiths and others. The majoritarian attitude most of us have should be completely done away with. Let’s stop this politicisation of religion once and for all. Meghalaya is a secular state and India is a secular country. Let’s not even bring religion into the picture. It surely doesn’t do any good to anyone, not for me at least.
Yours etc.,
Keith Nongsteng,
Via email
KC School at its best!
Editor,
Education is one very important medium that is vital for every person right from childhood and every person whether young or old continues to expand his or her knowledge in many ways. Likewise, schools are not suppose to be just a ‘ students classroom ‘ for bookish knowledge but more self involving and motivational. One such school is Kiddies Corner run by Brian Wahlang and his team of dedicated staff members. The methodology and pattern of educating children is far different from what is practiced and taught in most urban schools of Shillong. In fact there is a mixture of introspective, enterprising, skill-intensive and motivational curriculum in this school and I encourage other schools too to take a leaf out from such schools so that we are able to bring out genius and talented youngsters in society.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-3
Is Shillong ready to be SMART?
Editor,
As we see the impact of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 in every part our country, I was very happy to know of a village named Dhasian, a few kms from Mumbai in a show of Zee News named DNA where this demonization has transformed the whole village. This village has come out as a cashless society. Every shop owner isprovided with a card swiping machine and Bank of Baroda has made every effort to make the debit card available to every villager. The problem of “no change” is completely removed. Even more surprising was that even for a chocolate for Rs.1, the debit card could be swiped. But even a shop like RB Store in Police Bazaar would not accept debit card payments if the amount is less than Rs 100. We see numerous shops displaying “Paytm accepted here” in Shillong these days. This brought a smile to my face and I was determined to buy stuffs only from these
shops. But a visit to one of the shops in Keating Road, named Patanjali Store which also showed such a sign showed a dismal picture. I went to the shop, chose a few items, spent a few minutes on adding money in my Paytm wallet, and then when I proceeded to scan the QR code displayed, they stated that it was not working. I was very angry at the shop
owner and warned him not to show such a sign if they are not in use. Shillong has been unsuccessfully competing for the Smart City project for three times in a row. I believe that if the Government could put up an effort to educate people regarding the usage of debit card and cashless society which a village could achieve, that would be our first step towards the Smart City project. This would further remove the queues in Banks and ATMs. I believe cashless society can only solve the problem of “getting a chocolate or kwai when no change of Rs 1 , Rs 2 or Rs 5 is unavailable. So again I ask, “Are we ready to be Smart?”
Yours etc.,
Suraj Neupane,
Via email