Editor,
At a time when the appointment of parliamentary secretaries is under judicial scrutiny and their validity under the Constitution of India is still being debated, the state government has gone overboard to add Salseng Sangma to the list of appointees. There have been many such appointments in the past particularly during the tenure of DD Lapang who appointed even unknown people from Delhi as so-called ‘ advisors.’ This time too under the current dispensation of Mukul Sangma it just got worse. The productivity and contributions made by such appointees is never measured and not known. The salaries, perks and facilities of these superfluous appointees could have been done away with. The money saved should have been used for the welfare of the deprived. The development and social welfare index is poor from what is projected annually in government reports. The lack of political will and courage to do away with such favours only shows the lack of vision of those in authority and their complete detachment from the ground realities. If we are to go by statistics produced by the state and those conducted by an independent organization, I think our politicians would be ashamed to know that we are lacking in all aspects. But what will it be like even after the 2018 elections is something we have to keep our fingers crossed.
Yours etc…
Dominic S.Wankhar
Shillong:
Support of godman’s ungodly act?
Editor,
The violence that had erupted after a godman rapist was convicted by a CBI court amply proved that Indians are in favour of the rapists. Women are just objects of enjoyment by the male to quench their thirst and lust for sex and nothing else.
Yours etc
- Pyrtuh
Shillong-14
Religion: the recipe for disaster?
Editor,
The article by Mankular Gashnga “No Place To Live And No Place To Die ….” (ST, Aug 19, 2017) is a rare and bold piece. I’ve not read such a write-up in the past. He has bared his soul to all and one. True, people should not disrespect any religion. But people could detest the dogmatic belief that one particular religion is the best. Of course, many feel hurt when their indigenous values are sidelined and belittled. The doctrine that other faiths can’t save anyone from eternal hell is not always pleasant to the rational mind. Yes, such blind assertion of exclusivity is viciously disastrous because it leads to hatred, enmity, and intolerance. If one forcefully claims that the merchandise of his company is the best and that all others are inferior, then he puts himself in the pit of self-deception. This only prevents him from focusing his gaze on other possibilities and innovations. He might be prone to intolerance and start to develop a sense of hatred when others appreciate the merchandise manufactured by other good companies. This way he gropes in the darkness of illusion.
How ironic and how sacrilegious that the evils of intolerance, dogmatism, and hatred ominously originate from the holy grounds of religion! A fierce sense of hostility that has often been seen to be developing among various religious sects naturally pushes many to become atheistic or agnostic than stay trapped in the dogmatic pool of religiosity. Needless to say, those who are very religious are usually also very intolerant, and they are intensely ill-disposed to other faiths.
However, a true religion, as a way to God, without any disrespect to other religions, should at the outset teach its followers how to burn out all prejudices and dogmatism to ashes. It should encourage them to see all individuals in the world, irrespective of their belief systems, castes and nationalities, as creatures of one Almighty. Truly, in its pious “mission” of knowing and loving the “divinity”, there should not be any scope that causes confrontation, vindictiveness, and fanaticism which at last pollutes the “mind” only! Every faith should primarily preach its adherents universal fraternity, tolerance, and magnanimity. No faith enjoys special privileges to have access into the realm of divinity. No faith can claim an exclusive monopoly on the blessings of the Almighty either. Very importantly, each faith should hammer into its believer’s psyche that there are “several ways” to one God. This will definitely save the society from proselytization — perhaps the root cause of many evils though some may not want to agree.
A close friend of mine from the Niamtre community deeply laments – “The rampant conversion from Khasi Niamtre to other religions in Meghalaya has noticeably punctured our society, culture and its values. The proselytizers often thrust their load of prejudices into our believing tribal people, making them confused and less respectful of their past practices.” The argument that by getting converted to one particular religion, be it Hindu/Christian/Islam, one can see heaven is in itself very absurd in the light of an infinite number of universes in which there are a countless number of earth- like planets — the fact which very recently, scientists have come to realize. Do the people of the planets of 100-light-years also follow the diktats from Banaras or Mecca or the Vatican?
Indeed, in the unimaginably vast scope of the “divine creation” there is no natural phenomenon that forces us to live in confrontation, vindictiveness, and fanaticism unless we choose to. God is great but our religious concepts are too small to encompass that greatness.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong-2