Editor,
With every new government, we see the Assembly Building issue coming to the fore. It’s been 17 long years and we are yet to have a new Assembly Building. Much time and resources have been wasted in discussions and deliberations over where to locate the Assembly Building. This time too, joining its predecessors, the newly formed MDA government has taken stock of the matter.
The Speaker has nominated members to the High Powered Committee to deliberate on the construction of the Assembly Building.
Just as a reminder to the people of the state; the Assembly Building was gutted down on January 9, 2001. In 17 years, successive legislatures have functioned firstly from the State Central Library Auditorium and later shifted to the Arts and Culture Auditorium in Rilbong. If for nearly two decades our legislators could have held sessions smoothly there at Rilbong, one feels that the present government could perhaps spare its time and public money by giving the present venue a facelift and converting it into a permanent venue.
That way, time would be saved and money would not be wasted on something that would perhaps never materialise. That money could instead be utilised in a more productive manner for numerous developmental works like health and sanitation, roads and communication, education, unemployment, etc. One feels that enough time, money and energy has been wasted on this matter without it being taken seriously by the governments in the past. Hopefully the MDA government will bring a close to the matter by taking a decision and most importantly implementing it. With this new government, can we hope to see more action and less deliberation? How about starting with this stalemate?
Yours etc.,
Jenniefer Dkhar,
Via email
Too soon to grill the MDA
Editor,
Your newspaper has correctly pointed out and justified that the ills and failures of the previous government led by the Congress has been unjustly pushed to the newly installed NPP led-coalition government. It is ironic that the past terms of the Congress led MUA government could not score much in resolving pertinent issues such as the border dispute despite having a neighbouring Congress state government in Assam to resolve the inter-state border. It is also surprising that those who switched over to the NPP had miserably failed in their previous stint and are now engaging in what we can call ‘ reverse engineering ‘ of old policies. The opposition members ought to introspect on the lapses which in the previous tenure they could not achieve and heaping the blame upon a new government in power is foolishness, except for a few respected ones who have accepted their party’s failure in dealing with public policies.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Via email
Reservation for backward class/caste a must
Editor,
This is in response to Partha Sarathi Gupta’s letter, “Burden of population” (ST, March 24, 2018). I would like to thank Partha Sarathi Gupta first, for responding to my letter, second for admitting that we still have a long way to go to eradicate caste discrimination and third for his rightly pointing out that the private sector should not be forced to abandon its preference for English as it is an international language.
Indeed, we cannot belittle the importance of English as it is not only the most accepted international language but also the most effective link language of India that can bind North – East India, South India and North India together. Therefore, every state of our country needs to give due importance to English education especially in non – English medium schools to create a level playing field. Moreover, free and quality English coaching must be given to the students of non – English medium schools to enhance their much – needed job – oriented language skills.
However, he has suggested that the benefits of the present reservation system should reach economically backward people only, irrespective of caste or creed. That means he wants reservation for backward classes and not for backward castes. But caste is a social reality in India. Lower caste students are still forced to sit separately from upper caste for their mid-day meal in a government school in Junagadh, Gujarat and such ugly practices prevail elsewhere also. It is not that all lower caste students belong to poor families. As a matter of fact, caste identity cannot be changed with the change of class or in other words with the help of money power. Those who practice untouchability will also not touch even a well-off Dalit.
Reservation is to ensure proportional representation of backward castes in government administration for the sake of pluralism and caste balance of power. In a similar manner parliamentary seats are reserved for every state of our country in accordance with its population for the sake of federalism and state balance of power. Thus, 2 parliamentary seats have been earmarked for Meghalaya and 42 for West Bengal. Will we now demand to reserve those seats only for poor candidates even if they belong to any other states? Or must we bat for meritocracy for Parliament? We should never demand such a thing as that will severely damage regional balance of power. Without reservation, and going only by population many states of India may not be represented in Parliament.
As reservation is absolutely necessary in securing parliamentary seats to safeguard the interests of all the regions especially the backward areas of our country, similarly reservation for Dalits and backward castes is also necessary to safeguard their interests. Reservation is there only in government sector so that Dalits and backward castes get represented in the governance process. The policy of reservation is to ensure governance without caste hatred. Reservation for Dalits is the protective barrier for them. If in spite of the existence of a protective barrier in the form of a main gate of a house, some men use a window of that house to commit burglary, then the house owner should take protective measures also for the windows instead of breaking the main gate!
As a matter of fact, in spite of reserving a part of the road for pedestrians to cross, we have failed to prevent jaywaking and road accidents. Now, what should we do? Should we eliminate zebra crossings or should we make those crossings more distinct and more in number? It is true that in spite of reservation policy, Una happened and some teachers are still using a stick or a ruler to touch a Dalit student to avoid physical contact with them (Pratichi Trust Report). That is why we still need the policy of caste reservation along with other stringent measures to weed out untouchability and age – old prejudices and hatred against Dalits.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata