Editor,
Meghalaya will go to the polls on Thursday April,11. This time there are 18,92,716 voters in Meghalaya (11,82,725 voters for 1-Shillong Parliamentary Constituency and 7,09,991 voters for 2-Tura Parliamentary Constituency). Judging from past records this time in order to win from Shillong seat a candidate has to get not less than 4 lakh plus votes and for Tura seat a candidate has to poll not less than 2.5 lakh votes.
We know that the two main rivals for 1-Shillong seat are MDA sponsored candidate Dr. Jemino Mawthoh of UDP and Congress sponsored candidate Vincent Pala. There will be more than two candidates vying for the Shillong seat but the main contest will be between the above two contestants. One really cannot predict who of the two will come out victorious. Irrespective of whoever is the candidate the Congress has got its own vote bank of not less than two lakh votes in the Shillong seat. On the other hand UDP alone has got a vote bank of one lakh plus. This time the Congress goes it alone while the UDP is supported by the NPP, HSPDP, PDF, NCP and others supporting it. In other words the UDP candidate has got the support of the ruling MDA partners in the run up to the elections. This is a great plus point. One does not really know how the elections are going to pan out but we are going to witness a very interesting tussle for Shillong.
As far as Tura seat is concerned the main rivals will be the NPP sponsored candidate Ms. Agatha Sangma and the Congress candidate Dr. Mukul Sangma. Ms Agatha Sangma has won the seat twice in 2008 and 2009. She defeated her Congress rival Deborah Marak by a margin of 17,945 votes. However this time the contest is different. This time she contests from the Meghalaya ruling party NPP and Dr. Mukul Sangma is a formidable candidate. He is a very senior Congress leader and was Chief Minister of Meghalaya for more than ten years with many political achievements to his credit. He is considered to be one of the tall leaders of Meghalaya and one of the top leaders of Garo Hills. Hence with his entry into the fray the contest is bound to be very stiff and highly contesting. May the best person win.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via-Email.
Corruption is uncontrolled greed
Editor,
It was my mistake. I thought I gave her twenty rupees. But it was actually two twenty rupee notes. They were stuck to each other so closely that I thought it was just one note. After a few minutes the woman came running towards me and returned one twenty rupee note after politely pointing out my mistake and then went away without giving me an opportunity to thank her. But could I thank her if she had given me the time? No, I could not because it had a shocking effect on me. Her old sari and her torn plastic-slippers were as rickety as she herself was. But she breathed a sigh of relief after returning the money.
The incident happened many years ago. But I could not forget it. Whenever I hear the story of corruption at the highest level, her face comes to my mind. This restores my faith that most of the ordinary citizens of our country are extremely honest. Indeed, their honesty has passed the test of poverty. This is really a paradox! When most of the poor people are showing exemplary honesty, some rich people who have nothing to worry about are resorting to unscrupulous means. Tagore highlighted this in his poem ~ “Dui Bigha Jomi” (My last piece of land). In the poem, Tagore said, ~ “e jagate hae sei beshi chae achhe jar bhuri bhuri” (“Alas, in this world those who have most want all”).
The face of the lady and this poem of Tagore came to my mind again when I saw a video which was made and circulated by UK’s Telegraph newspaper. In the video, Nirav Modi was seen walking freely around the streets of London sporting a handle bar moustache and an ostrich hide jacket. It is reported that the cost of the jacket is 10,000 pounds which is approximately Rs 9 lakh!
This had a chilling effect on me. Here was the billionaire diamond tycoon who was accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case! And ostrich leather is one of the world’s most expensive and also the toughest leather. It is as tough as the hard truth mentioned above which was Tagore’s poetic burden.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email
Seng Khasi College advertisement
Editor,
I refer to the Seng Khasi college advertisement which came out in the Shillong Times, dated March 12, 2019 in which the College had advertised the vacancies in three (3) Government sanctioned posts namely History, Economics and Mathematics. As per my information Seng Khasi College is only an Arts College at the degree level. The Commerce stream was introduced a few years ago and that too only at the HSSLC level.
The point I am trying to make here is that as per the new Semester System there is no Mathematics subject in the Arts stream as a discipline in Seng Khasi College so how can the College advertise for the post of Mathematics teacher as a Government Sanctioned post with all the requisite qualifications for an Assistant Professor whose job would be to teach Degree level students and whereas Mathematics in Seng Khasi College exists only at the HSSLC level? It seems that the management of the College is misleading the Government by advertising the Government Post in the department of Mathematics which is non-existent in the College. If at all it did exist, it was only during the annual system not in the semester system.
Hence I appeal to both the Government and the Management of the College to rectify the same and not to succumb to any favoritism.
This also is a testimony to the fact that Seng Khasi College is receiving preferential treatment when it comes to the issue of delinking HSSLC from the Degree College as a policy direction given by the State Government in total violation of all norms and guidelines.
Yours etc.
J Lyngdoh
Via email