Editor,
The news item in your esteemed daily (ST Nov 29, 2016 & Dec 6, 2016) on Mr. A G West and the Hon’ble Union Minister, Mr Rajen Gohain needs further pondering, since both appeared to be “inspired” news items and concern the development of the North East States as NEEPCO is one of the premier PSUs based in the region. To begin with, out of the 7 (seven) candidates who were shortlisted and called for interview by PESB, Delhi, for the post of CMD NEEPCO, only two candidates viz. Mr. West, then Director(Finance) and Mr. Borgohain, Director(Personnel) appeared. It is a mystery why five other candidates decided not to attend the interview. Mr. A.G. West, or as he decided to later write Mr A.G. West Kharkonger who had applied for the post of Director (Finance) in 2009, has no experience of working at project sites. His appointment was not considered for over two months after the retirement of the previous CMD perhaps considering the various issues over his candidature. It is widely known among NEEPCO employees that on his pleadings for help and commitments/promises to do justice and protect the interests of the Arunachal people, where NEEPCO’s present and future projects are located, the local Arunachal leaders and employees requested the Union Minister from Arunachal Pradesh to intervene and Mr West was given the appointment.
The Arunachal employees were shocked when two Arunachal tribal officers were denied due promotions in the DPC held in the third week of November 2016 – this being the first DPC under him. The perverse show of contempt for the Arunachal tribal employees and the leaders has become incomprehensible since it was because of them that he holds the present post. The Khasi Students’ Union should consider issues carefully so as not to hurt the sentiments of their fellow tribal people of other States. The NEEPCO headquarters being at Shillong, almost all jobs are taken by Khasi people in the name of tribal people though there is no single NEEPCO project in Meghalaya. On the other hand, the Arunachal people are deprived of jobs and now even regular promotions.
KSU may also like to know that 22 acres of land was purchased for NEEPCO HQ at Shillong but the local people have not allowed them to start work. The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union has been demanding the shifting of NEEPCO HQ to Itanagar since all important present and future projects are located in AP. This demand shall continue and is now under active discussion among the Arunachal people considering such ungrateful backstabbing by prominent Khasi officers. Further, NEEPCO is a central PSU and any other citizen should work freely and without fear to speak the truth. All the more reason for NEEPCO to shift its HQ to Itanagar! I humbly suggest the Khasi brothers and sisters to rethink their attitude
Yours etc.,
Taba Sharon,
Doimukh, Papum Pare Dist, A.P.
ThadwangPyndengrei Road
Editor,
We wish to express our deepest regrets with regards to the worsening condition of the road at Thadwang – Pyndengrei for over two years now. Since the opening of FCI at Thadwang and the transportation of at least 10 to 15 truck – loads of rice a day it has done a massive damage to the road. Don’t get us wrong but we are not against the coming of the FCI in the ‘Shnong’ for it has been a huge blessing to the locality and it’s people as a whole. The condition of the road during summer is muddy and during winter it is so dusty and a big challenge to pedestrians, local taxis and particularlly students passing by this road. Hence we request the ‘Dorbar Dong’, ‘Dorbar Shnong’ and the Government Authority to take up the matter seriously and repair the road as soon as possible.
Yours etc,,
Mickey Marweiñ & Overness Lyngdoh,
Via email
Unemployment scenario in India
Editor,
In his timely article, “India’s bitter harvest” (ST, December 3, 2016), Moin Qazi has, rightly, said, “India needs an economic movement that starts in villages, not one that bypasses them”. Indeed, villages are citadels of employment which is the panacea for solving all the problems of hunger, malnutrition, food wastage, farmer’s agony and market stagnation. But India is fighting shy of job creation. According to recent Labour Bureau data, India created only 1.35 lakh jobs in 2015 in comparison to 4.19 lakh in 2013 and 9 lakh in 2011. It shows that instead of growing, livelihoods are being lost in India on a daily basis. India has been losing 550 jobs per day in the last 4 years. On the basis of this report, a Delhi based civil society group, Prahar predicted that employment would have got shrunk by 7 million in India by 2050, while population would have grown by 600 million.Instead of protecting labour intensive sectors like farming, unorganized retail, micro and small enterprises that mostly contribute to current livelihoods in the country, we are going gaga over capital intensive technology. This has lowered the percentage of employment in agriculture out of total employment from 60 per cent in 1994 to 50 per cent in 2013 (World Bank report). The employment to population ratio is a clear indicator of what is the general outcome of big – investment – little – employment syndrome. While employment to population ratio was 58.6 per cent in 1994, it has, alarmingly, come down to 52.2 per cent in 2013. This syndrome helps carry coal to Newcastle leaving suicide door open for the unemployed who have, now, become almost half of the employable persons in our country. Unemployed persons receive a handsome allowance from the state in the countries like the United States of America but there is no such security in India. India badly needs a paradigm shift from the city centric, capital intensive “Make in India” to village centric, labour intensive “Make in Bharat” to relieve her unemployment pain in the neck.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De, Kolkata