Editor,
Article 19 of the Indian Constitution has bestowed upon us citizens the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression with the rider that we do not demean or defame someone, is significant when legislative privileges are considered. It may be noted that very often such privileges conferred by the citizens of this nation through the power of the Constitution has been misused to camouflage their non-performance. So when we have such legislators who fail to do their homework and do not take up issues of concern and yet usurp public money with foreign trips and studies, the result is negative. Legislators who are the representatives of the people are in the real sense ordinary men and women like any of us, the only difference being that they sit in the Assembly or Parliament and some represent us in the Government. Government policies must come under public scrutiny when they are enacted or drafted in a half-baked manner without proper analysis and understanding of the future impact, and it is legislators whom we elect that should debate and raise queries wherever and whenever necessary. Unfortunately, this is not what we have witnessed. Issues that impact the state and the community are not discussed in the Assembly so how can governance improve? This is why we fear that we shall continue to inherit legislators with a half-hearted approach who hide behind the guise of privileges.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-7
Yogi Adityanath – good choice or disaster?
Editor,
Apropos your editorial, “Proactive Yogi Adityanath” (ST- March 29, 2017), it reveals that there are some who are upset and have disdain for a leader chosen by the people but the choice as Yogi Adityanath as CM indicates that the Ram Mandir promise is a clear and present priority for the ruling party. His Lok Sabha profile says he is a “religious missionary and social worker.” Adityanath played a key role in the passing the 1989 resolution which asked for the construction of a Ram temple on the site of Babri Masjid. He has supported strong laws for cow protection and is known for his firebrand politics. It seems Yogi’s choice is bound to create a perception in the public mind on the front-staging of issues such as cow protection, ‘love jihad’, and forced religious conversion. Adityanath’s elevation can strengthen BJP’s ‘Hindutva’ establishment in UP but may provide enough fodder to the opposition to attack the saffron party on lines of ‘divisive politics’. No doubt, he is a person of passion and obsession and these factors will empower a person for positive governance in UP but it may be premature to say if it is a good choice or a disaster.
Yours etc.,
Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad – 15
Just in jest
Editor,
When I read the headline, ‘Speaker admits privilege motion against ST editor’ (ST March 25, 2017), I thought that the reason should have been because the writer forgot to add ‘low intelligence’ to the list of connotations # ‘Meghalaya Assembly Debates: the banal, the bizarre and the boring’ dated 17th March 2017… Oh wait, she did mention it # ‘Education in the doldrums: stop blaming students, Ms. Minister’ dated 24th March 2017…
Yours etc.,
- Thangeo
Shillong – 22
On teachers and education
Editor,
Apropos the editorial “Meghalaya’s poor educational outcomes” (ST March 22, 2017), I agree with the editor’s view on the need to assess the teaching method and teachers’ performance in order to raise the standard of education. However, in my opinion to arrest the downward trend of learning we need to simultaneously address the issue at both school and college levels, because a bad college education and a bad school education form a “vicious circle”. Also perhaps Indian government should come up with a plan to compulsorily retire the inefficient and incapable teachers at 50 years of age or after 25 years of service whichever is earlier, similar to its latest plan for the inefficient IAS and IPS officers. But I am afraid if some daring government comes up with such a plan, then I say more than 60% of school and college teachers would have to be prematurely retired. Anyways, it would be a good plan to periodically weed out incapable and inefficient teachers for reforming the education system. The editorial also spoke of the need to assess whether the teacher’s salaries are commensurate to the educational outcomes. Well, if this is to be done, it should start at the college level. And with due respect, as a citizen, I’m so perplexed to see and hear that in our State “many” government and UGC sanctioned college teachers are supermediocre having no teaching skills and no mastery of their subjects and spend on an average hardly three hours a day in campus; they undertaking no research work whatsoever, yet they are enjoying very fat salaries. Does the Government and the UGC know this? Something is definitely very wrong with the way teachers are recruited. Sometimes I wish teachers are recruited through a more rigorous and robust selection process.
Yours etc.,
T Fightingstar Mawlong,
Via email