Editor,
Prior to the recent Assembly Election in our State umpteen SMS and Video Clips bombarded the cell-
phones to vote for a particular Party to make the state a utopia of Development.With the formation of the new Government came the ear piercing hooters of the VIP vehicles which were not heard of in this State since the Modi Government came to power in Delhi. The Supreme Court Ruling
permits only the Governor, the Chief Minister of the State and the Chief Justice of the High Court to enjoy the VIP privileges apart from an Ambulance on Emergency and the Police also only on Emergency.
The present dispensation in the State is certainly disregarding the SC Ruling. Is this the ‘Change’ we
voted for? By the way, the Supreme Court does not even recognise the Central Ministers as VIPs apart
from the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Yours etc,
Sajjad M. Ali,
Via email
Is food processing a viable proposition?
Editor,
It is amusing to hear that the Directorate of Food Processing is approved by the new government to start functioning in our state. The main aim of the new department according to the government is to encourage private parties and entrepreneurs to set up food processing units in the state. One such factory was already established at Amlarem Sub-Division almost two decades back by a private party (individual) perhaps with the assistance from the Department of Industries. But till date, only the factory is there without functioning. The main reason for it remaining non-functional is due to the unavailability of fruits.
It may be mentioned that for setting up of any factory (Preservation Factory) there should be surplus production of fruits, vegetables, etc. As of now, we don’t have any surplus of any fruits or vegetables when compared to other parts of the country. In our State oranges, pineapples etc., are sold at not less than Rs 10 apiece for oranges and Rs 20 Rupees for a pineapple. So the question of preserving fruits does not arise and is not economically viable. Further, potatoes and tomatoes are sold at not less than Rs 10 and Rs 30 per kilogram respectively, while in other parts of India these vegetables are sold at less than a rupee per kilogram and their production is always in surplus.
However, the government may help or assist the private entrepreneurs to establish few factories in Garo Hills to process cashew nut which could be consumed raw. Fifty years back, production of maize in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills was very significant and may be considered surplus. But during those days maize had to be transported outside the state because local people cannot consume the same. It is for the present Government to find out the reason why there is a decline in the production of maize today where at present the factories producing animal feed have to depend on maize from outside the state.
Yours etc.,
Mr L. Marbaniang
Umtong, Khyrim Syiemship
What do genes have to do with crime?
Editor,
It is an irony that when we try to evaluate a person’s quality, good or bad, with the help of gene theory, we tend to forget that we have a very powerful mind of our own and the game of permutations and combinations that genes always play. In our way of oversimplifying and limiting everything to casteist inheritance, we have been doing those honest ones a grave injustice whose ancestors resorted to criminal acts. An estimated one in five Australians has a convict ancestry. The figure is even higher in Tasmania as 74 per cent of Tasmania’s population are estimated to be descended from convicts. Now, what is the outcome of this? What is it about the level of corrupt and criminal inheritance in Australia in general and Tasmania in particular?
Victoria Parliamentary Report 2001 on crime in Australia found that Tasmania with highest proportion of convict descendants had the second – lowest crime rate in Australia. And Australia ranked as the 13th least – corrupt nation in the corruption perceptions index in a study of 180 countries conducted by Transparency International in 2018. Unfortunately, India is perhaps the only country that has been following the British raj legacy of tagging tribes as hereditary criminals. Many tribes helped freedom fighters with information, food and arms during the1857 mutiny. As a result, many tribes were branded as criminals after the mutiny. Eventually, 237 castes and tribes were given criminal – by – birth tag under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1931.
After independence, the government of India had replaced this Act with the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952. This Act makes many tribes live in fear and they have been made easy scapegoats and sometimes even replacements for criminals who the police fails to arrest. The National Human Rights Commission has recommended the repeal of this Act. The need of the hour is to immediately scrap such a vindictive and irrational Act.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata