Editor,
The protest against the age limit set by MPSC for the Meghalaya Civil Service Examination has caught public attention in the last few months.But what is more poignant is the gap between the current notification which came out in July this year and the last MCS exam.When the notification for the last MCS exam came out almost ten years ago, I was still in college, and like many of my friends,we missed out on the golden opportunity to sit for an examination which should produce administrators who under “normal circumstances” carry the burden of being agents of change and economic growth. And even though I and a lot of my friends are still eligible to appear for the exam, the vibe I am getting from most of them is that the drive,the hunger and the desire to do well in the examination has evaporated.
What is baffling to many is the reluctance on the part of the concerned authorities to conduct the examination on a more frequent basis.Almost all the North Eastern States now conduct the examinations annually thereby ensuring that only the cream of the crop gets selected. This in turn will lead to an administration with fresh ideas to run the State. Let’s hope that in the next few years, young budding aspiring candidates will not be denies the opportunity to be agents of growth and development for the State and flexible capable administrators will be selected on the basis of merit alone who we hope will also be given the priceless responsibility of aiding the government in the art of policy making.
Yours etc.,
Gary Marbaniang,
Via email
Illusion of Paradise
Editor,
India boasts of having one of the largest and expensive modern mansions in the world – second only to the palace built by the Sultan of Brunei. That belongs to none other than the filthy rich Mukesh Ambani. But very contrastingly, India has also often been disgraced for its maximum number of citizens who spend their nights, their weeks, their months and years on the open pavement even in the biting cold of winter. Yes, the country bears the burden of the largest number of poor people in the world – approximately 276 million people who live below poverty line. What a vast difference between the haves – the super-rich, and the have-nots.
The loot of nation’s wealth by the “ultra-rich” of the country had been going on quietly until the German newspaper brought out to the open the details from Appleby, the Bermuda-based legal service provider. Needless to say, for the ultra-rich, the name of the game is “tax planning”, offshore finance, the creation of off-shore entities, et al. In the eyes of our authorities, it is about “deemed lapses in corporate governance, alleged fund diversion, irregularities in disclosure norms,” and so on. One wonders, in this scenario, what is at stake for the common man?
For the common man, his humble “paradise” is being looted; his God-given right to share his due is throttled. His children’s chances to come up in life, if at all there are any, are choked. His right to a “fair living” is all a farce because the very means of his life is plundered by a few ultra-rich. His opportunities to grow and shine are just stunted in every respect. On a wider outlook, at the national level, the country’s wealth is burgled and robbed. Then who are these plunderers?
There are more than 700 of them from our country in the recently disclosed list of Paradise papers. The disclosure is still incomplete. Very funnily, these names include persons, who the common man relies on, worships, holds in high esteem and vows to give his life for. Film star Amitabh Bachchan, who is often seen as a super role model and worshipped too, Union Minister of State Jayant Sinha, BJP Rajya Sabha M.P., R.K. Sinha, Corporate tycoon Vijay Mallya, Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, Harsha Moily, son of former UPA Minister Veerappa Moily, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s wife Dilnashin, son of former UPA powerhouse and Central Minister P. Chidambaram, former Union Minister Sachin Pilot, and several others who are the who’s who of India’s Corporate world, politics, and other fields. Interestingly, even Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, Lord Ashcroft, the most prominent British politician, U.S. Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, Shakira, Madonna and notoriously disgraced Harvey Weinstein, (for his sexual wrongdoings) and so on and so forth.
In spite of strict regulations in every country, it would be interesting to know how these celebrities, politicians, multinationals, and the ultra-rich individuals are doing it. I’m not wrong that rules in every country have built-in loopholes. In other words, rules of every country have provided loopholes for the cunning and crafty to circumvent them. And we have got them in abundance. The very fact that our country ranks 19th out of 180 countries in Paradise papers is certainly not something that we can cheer about. The wealthy form shell companies, “foundations”, and “trusts” as a cover to hide their money from tax authorities. They form “offshore” accounts that are handled by law firms specializing in these “offshore’ investments. To the world, their forceful argument is “offshore” banking which is legal. But, this is practiced by only the ultra-rich to evade tax. They take advantage of the legal loop-holes by taking shelter under the tax treaties of our Government.
The trillion dollar question here is whether they will ever be able to “use” that wealth in their lifetimes? I don’t think it’s possible in the practical world. They can’t even see, touch and feel the wealth they have once dispatched. They might not “use” it at all even after 500 years — if they ever could live. Because these super-rich people already have mountains of wealth which are in their various kind of treasury vaults within their own countries. The offshore money is only in the ‘Paradise papers’. Is Paradise not an illusion then?
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Via email