Editor,
Power cuts lasting 30 minutes to 1 hour have become a regular feature in Mawroh and especially, Umsohkhlur area .I fail to understand why is this happening when there is no wind, rain or storm. The usual reply from the station attendant at Polo is that it is due to overloading of the transformer. The line men did actually come and fix things but again the lights went off. Rightly so, because ten years ago when I first settled at Umsohkhlur, Mawroh, few houses were there and the same transformer was still catering to the hundred houses today. This is the same story in other localities, sub-localities in Shillong. I do not know how to appeal to the MeECL engineers on this plight. I would suggest that they please do their homework and assess the strength of the existing transformers considering the household and the usage of electricity as on the present day. Customers never fail to pay the bills on time and we humbly request MeECL also not to fail in their service delivery please, this winter.
Yours etc.,
R N Rymbai,
Via email
Health sector in bad shape
Editor,
Thanks to lack of government participation, involvement and control, health sector has, practically, been hijacked from the domain of the lower and middle class by the private players. Sky rocketing cost of medicines has forced 68 per cent of Indian citizens to live without access to medicines. Protection of life is a fundamental right which is enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. But an Indian patient’s right to have such a protection has, practically, been linked with the capacity of her/his credit cards. As a result, majority of our population are forced to learn the art of dying without having medicines and treatment. Now, government hospitals need to outnumber private ones to give the latter a run for their money. In addition, medicines should be made affordable by controlling their profit margins.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Whither Indian journalism!
Editor,
In spite of raising standards at the highest levels in the domestic front, Indian journalism has not yet been able to reach a highly reputable international standard. The main reason behind this is the lack of visibility of the Indian journalists, media houses and news agencies at any major international news platform. Rarely do we hear or see any Indian journalists working at high global flashpoint areas like North Africa, Middle East, SE Asia, Far East or even in any part of South America. Some bigger news agencies have some presence in continental Europe and North America to say the least. It is a matter of great despair that as a nation India has failed to throw up any world class journalist till date other than some TV evangelists who are more into theatrics than classic news coverage and some column writers who warm their chairs with wise opinions never traveling outside the safe borders of India. Most international news covered and showed in India is always second hand or even a third hand information source. For decades our news agencies have only quoted and copied foreign news agencies without been able to develop their own credible brand name outside India. The possible factors behind such apathy are mostly poor pay and insurance coverage provided by news agencies that are earning millions of rupees as revenues from advertisements; but do not want to pay journalists to cover international news. Furthermore, poor training and field experiences, lack of technology, available funding, source connections and lack of interest in investing in foreign news sectors only add to the dilemma. Without initiatives and investments and lack of vision Indian news agencies and media houses are lagging far behind their foreign counterparts at the global level.
yours etc,
Saikat Kumar Basu
