Editor,
Sunday’s issue of your paper (ST May 7, 2016) has rightly given the lead story on the non-functioning of the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission, though it has completed one year of its constitution. It is only fair for the public to question this Commission. It is sad and most unfortunate that the Commission has no office of its own and till date its full strength has not been filled up. It is the Human Rights Commission for Meghalaya yet, it functions from Assam and the last meeting was held at Guwahati on May 2 last which was presided by the Chairman and attended by the Secretary and another member. This is unacceptable.
It was reported in the news that the Commission has received very few complaints and took up only one. This means it is not busy at all as it has very little work to do. The question is how can the Commission justify its existence and how can the members justify drawing their salaries from the Government of Meghalaya? If there is work then they deserve to be paid. If there is little work done then the salary also should be according to the quantum of work. And if there is no work, there should be no pay. That is the logic and fair play. It was also reported that the Commission has conducted awareness programmes. We want to know what sort of awareness programmes the Commission conducted and how many times. For whom were the awareness programmes conducted and what was the total expenditure incurred? The public want to know. The Commission should remember that it is very much under the scanner of the public as it is constituted for public purpose and it is funded from the public exchequer. It has to show action and has to be accountable to the public of Meghalaya.
I also appeal to the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues to immediately fill up the vacancies in the Commission to ensure its proper functioning.
The Commission is expected to carry out its duties and not just be an armchair Commission waiting for people to come to it with complaints of human rights violations. The Commission is expected to take suo moto cognizance of human rights violations in every nook and corner of Meghalaya.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marweiñ,
Shillong-2
India needs a secular President!
Editor,
Apropos to the letter ,” Maligning the BJP ” by B B Chettri (ST May 8, 2017) it should be understood that every political party has its rights to align and elect a candidate of its own choice based on various factors. That non-BJP parties have begun to align in selecting a secular candidate as President is a welcome step so that the balance of authority and power as per the Constitution itself remains strong. Sudden emergence and explosion of nationalism as the writer has mentioned is an overstatement and that the majority Indians do not consider the BJP as ‘ communal ‘ is a matter of observation. So does he mean to imply that before the BJP all Indians were non-patriotic or lacked nationalism? Then how come this new-found nationalism suddenly transformed into violence, false implications and unwarranted arrest for expressing open opinions? Take for instance over- zealous ‘nationalists ‘ accusing Christians of conversion, beef ban and all sorts of ban. Why doesn’t the government ban such elements who in turn are a nuisance to society and a threat to the secular fabric of the country?
Yours etc.
Dominic S. Wankhar
Via email