Editor,
I happened to glance through the textbook for Social Science prescribed for Class X of MBOSE and was shocked by what I read. Written by three author Arun Kumar, Manju Goel and Tinku Bhattacharjee and edited by Biana W. Momin, the book is full of inconsistencies, factual errors and atrocious English. For instance let us sample a verbatim reproduction of some sentences picked up at random.
“This gives rise to another problem- downfall in the employment in agriculture” page 189
“How does the Criminal Procedure could (1973) safeguard women rights?” page 359
“Write the purpose of women trafficking” page 359
“The Meghalaya subtropical forest ecoregion encompasses the state” page 247
“ …the British incorporated Meghalaya into Assam in 1935” page 248
“ Meghalaya’s Gross State Domestic Product was estimated at US$4.20 billion for 2014-15 and US$ 4.17 billion for 2015-16” page 251
“ The word democracy has its origin in two Greek word ‘demos’ and ‘krasis’. Demos means ‘the people’ and Krasis means ‘power to rule.’ Page 347
Contrast this to what the Britannica says. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratiā, which was coined from dēmos(“people”) and kratos (“rule”)
When I googled up the meaning of the word krasis that was used in place of kratos, the Merriam Webster dictionary had this to say : “Definition of krasis : the act or practice of mingling water with wine in the Eastern Orthodox Eucharist.”
This is just a small sample of the quality of the Social Science book in question. By providing such wrong information and giving students such sub standard books as the MBOSE text books, the state has engaged in criminal negligence that would mar the future of thousands of students of MBOSE. Is this sheer incompetence or a criminal conspiracy against the future of our state?
Yours etc.,
Prof Sanjeeb Kakoty
IIM Shillong
Resistance to the CAB 2019
Editor,
It is a very unfortunate that the BJP led government has passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bill is contemptible as it violates the democratic ideals of India. Introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, its primary objective is to amend the current Citizenship Act 1955 to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship for a certain category of illegal immigrants and not for the benefit of Indian citizens. Additionally, this bill relaxes the citizenship criteria for such immigrants and merges the categories of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). This Bill is not acceptable to the people of the North East. When Prime Minister Modi said, “I want to assure the people of Assam and North East that their rights will not be hurt after passage of the Citizenship Bill,” I wonder what rights he is talking about, when we are treated unjustly and undemocratically.
Rather than worry about citizens from other countries why doesn’t the Government of India resolve the problems faced by people of the NE region some of which like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are unconstitutional. Mr Modi and the BJP should not burden the people of this region by passing such an illogical Bill. The eight states of the North East constitute an area of 262,230 square kilometres which is only 8 percent of that of India. This region is like a different country because racially we are different. In fact there is nothing common with India other than being Indian. The food, life-style, cultures and traditions, environmental and geographical factors etc are all unique. This Bill will affect the indigenous people of this region and is a threat to the identity and cultures of the North East.
In fact, the North East should be better protected and safeguarded because only 4 % of its borders are with India while 96 % is with foreign countries. It is a sad fact that we are living in a broken democracy with self-seeking leaders. If India cannot feel our sentiments and keeps on heaping injustice on the people of the region then sooner than later there will be repercussions.
Yours etc.,
Chongtham Thangamba Meetei,
Teacher, St. John Higher Secondary School &
Advisor, Shillong Manipuri Students’ Union
India not a garbage dump for foreigners
Editor,
The real objective of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 of the BJP led NDA Government is crystal clear for every Indian to see. If passed by the Rajya Sabha this Act law will make lakhs of foreigners, especially Hindus who settled in India even for a brief period of only six years, citizens of this country. Foreigners are foreigners; they cannot become citizens of India and they ought to be detected and deported forthwith to the countries from which they have come from. Moreover, how can there be special exception for any particular people such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians? The population of India is now touching around 1.35 billion and by legalising the above categories of foreigners who settled in India the population will again shoot up by several lakhs and in no time India will be the leading country in terms of population. And we very well understand its impact on the country’s socio-economic and socio-political scenario. Again, by legalising the foreigners of the above particular groups of people the majority of whom are in the North East, this region will become the dumping ground for foreigners. Apart from Tripura and Assam which house the maximum population of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Meghalaya also is not far behind. It is estimated that the illegal foreigners settled in Meghalaya are approximately 9 lakhs out of 35 lakh, and almost all of them are Muslims and Hindus coming from Bangladesh and Nepal. Hence, this Bill is dangerous for India and disastrous for the North East in particular. Thankfully the Bill is yet to be passed by the Rajya Sabha.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via email