Editor,
Of late Shillong city has seen a growing menace in the form of drug trafficking and the growing number of drug addicts. This is a serious issue which should not be taken for granted by the authorities concerned. It is affecting not only individual lives but the community as a whole. Drugs ruin the future of our youth and saps away the energy and potentiality of the community. When our youth take to drugs, our society is doomed. Today drugs are being sold almost openly in some corners of the city and Polo Bazaar is one such place. What is worse is that girls and women are also involved in this racket. There is a huge network of drug peddlers in the city involving locals and non locals as well. Many of the suppliers are from Manipur and Mizoram and they have link persons among the locals. Mawlai of late has been haunted by this social evil and in many localities of Mawlai, drug peddlers and drug addicts are rampant. This menace cannot be resolved by the police alone, but in my opinion, the village traditional bodies in the form of the rangbah shnong and his council can become more effective in tackling this problem.
I wish to commend the efficiency and resoluteness of Mr. Sylvester Kurbah, the rangbah shnong of Mawlai Phudmuri who succeeded in containing the problem in the locality. Due to his efforts and decisive actions, drug peddlers have been nabbed and drug addicts have been sent to rehab centres. I hope that other rangbah shnong will follow such an example. The village dorbar is such an effective body of administration and discipline that we have inherited from our ancestors and it should be utilized to the maximum. My humble suggestion is that all rangbah shnong of the city (those which fall under the traditional administration) should really come together and network with each other to root out this problem. Sharing of information and strategies could be one important approach towards this goal. Each rangbah shnong and his dorbar is familiar with the situation and persons of the locality. They can easily track any outsider and also monitor the activities going on in the locality. So if each local dorbar is aware of this menace and they identify the culprits, they can share such info with the other localities and in this manner it would be easy to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book. If all rangbah shnong work together as one body there is no problem that cannot be overcome. Church leaders should not shy away from this problem instead they should speak about it in churches and gatherings and conscientize people about the short terms and long terms effects of drug addiction. I would emphasize that this is an urgent task both for the village authorities and for the police as well. We have to save our youth from the danger that is affecting them today.
Barnes Mawrie sdb,
Via email
Enough of symbolism!
Editor,
The Government of Meghalaya has declared a holiday every year on July 17, to commemorate the death of the renowned Khasi chieftain of Hima Nongkhlaw who led from the front the battle to flush out the mighty British from the Khasi land. Ironically no official functions are lined up for the day to mark this special occasion. And its not as if Meghalaya has too many heroes whose lives we can celebrate. The whole purpose of declaring a particular day as a holiday is to facilitate the observance of that day by citizens and government officials. If we can observe Gandhi Jayanti in so many ways then why can Government of Meghalaya not organise a public functions and also exhort schools and colleges and other institutions to celebrate Tirot Sing’s life and achievements. In fact an excellent institute of learning in art and literature or a state of the art hospital offering free health care for the poorest of the poor ought to have been set up by the Government in honour of this great hero. Somehow, none of these things have been initiated by the Government and neither has there been any private initiative. I know of only one school – the Tirot Sing Memorial Higher Secondary School at Nongkhlaw set up some years back but it is far from being excellent. It should have been the best school cum college in the entire North East, where students from all over the country and the world would flock to since it has a historical background and is situated in Nongkhlaw the famous capital of U Tirot Sing’s Syiemship.
Again, laying of floral tributes at the base of U Tirot Sing’s memorial pillar is too insignificant an act and not befitting his greatness. In fact on this day, every year, there should be a series of noticeable charitable works being done for the poorest of the poor in every hamlet and town all over Meghalaya, especially in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, by NGOs and Dorbar Shnong, KSU Units, FKJGP, HNYF, HYC and all those who claim to be the protectors and defenders of the Khasi race. In fact, if we want to follow in Tirot Sing’s footsteps we should be doing tjhrice the amount of work that we do on other days so that we can build the state and our Khasi-Jaintia and Garo land more rapidly. This is real patriotism and nationalism.
A mere holiday and floral tributes are just not symbolic gestures that do not do justice to the memory of U Tirot Sing.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via email