Editor ,
We talk about the soaring unemployment in our State and are concerned about reducing it, and then the very next step we take is to shut companies that provide employment to a considerable number of youths. The state predominantly suffers from structural unemployment. According to a report – Meghalaya has the largest pool of people of employable age, and an equally large number of students to enter the job market when they finish their education and training.
It’s the structure of development of the economy that helps in creating employment opportunities and also the way it structures a healthy competition between different start ups and companies in the market . Making the market more open to competition drives the youth and the people to higher productivity – or, at least, with higher productivity growth. Making jobs more productive, in turn, generally increases the wages they command.
The concerned authorities should look at these matters from an employment generating perspective and not push it in a thought- policing way , because in the long run , our state would do better and our employment rates too would grow!
Yours etc.,
Manisha M Pala.
Shillong.
Potholes and manholes in Laitumkhrah
Editor,
Laitumkhrah locality which is considered as the seat of learning in Shillong is, today, fast becoming one of the most neglected localities of Shillong, particularly in respect of garbage management, street hawking, suffocation and the presence of pot-holed roads. As one who frequently visit this locality I am dismayed to find that the internal and arterial roads of this famous locality are in a state of complete disrepair and are worsening day by day. There are several potholes and at times I also noticed manholes at regular intervals. I am aware that the MLA of North Shillong, Ampareen Lyngdoh, resides in this locality and is famous for taking up public issues and addressing local problems but I fail to understand why she is blind to the lack of these basic amenities like good roads, an efficient garbage system and a well managed street hawking system. Even the footpaths are in a pitiable condition and in most places there are no footpaths at all. I wonder how the people of this locality can tolerate all these lapses. I hope the MLA will act immediately on these issues and that the problems faced by the people of this locality will be addressed by the authorities concerned at the earliest.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via email
Evils of iconoclasm
Editor,
The act of some goons of smashing the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar to pieces in a street of Kolkata was an attempt to vandalise our evolutionary progress. Just after Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the name of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar comes to our mind as a pillar of the Bengal Renaissance. And College Street where the incident happened was the heart of the Renaissance that showed the light to India.
Unfortunately, those who have a vested interest, brainwash us into believing that the past was very good ~ Satyayug and the present is very bad ~ Kaliyug ~ so, we need to march backwards. There is nothing to worry about as evolutionary progress keeps on giving us great reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who fought against the prejudices surrounding girl’s and Dalit’s education and widow remarriage.
I had learnt Bengali alphabet through Ishwar Chandra’s book ‘Borno Parichoy’ (Introduction to the letter) and Sanskrit through his books ‘Upakramonika’ and ‘Byakaran Koumudi’. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a philosopher, academic, writer, social reformer, translator, printer, publisher and had oceans of knowledge (Vidyasagar) and in the words of Michael Madhusudan ‘ocean of kindness’ (Dayar Sagar) within him.
He opened the gate of Sanskrit College for the non-Brahmin students and did everything for women’s education from establishing schools for girls to door to door campaign requesting parents to send their daughters to school. It was his efforts that got the Hindu Widow’s Remarriage Act, 1856 decreed. He even married his son Narayan Chandra to an adolescent widow to set an example.
No one can destroy Vidyasagar who was a man of exceptional character ~ who never bowed his head to high ranking British officials,’ to colonial mindsets or to inhuman rituals in our society.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email
Ill-mannereddriver
Editor,
There is an exponential rise in the number of two wheelers in Shillong. Through your esteemed daily, I would like to point out an incident that occurred on the 17th of this month. As I was walking in Dhankheti near Bawri Mansion a scooty bearing registration number ML 05 L 4868 came from the wrong side of the road and started honking from behind. I gave way and told the rider that he is driving on the wrong side of the road. After I took a few steps the rider stopped and started arguing with me and abusing me. I would have loved to use the footpath but as usual it was occupied by hawkers, but it was not right on the part of the rider; he should not have used strong language. Pedestrians have to walk between the footpath which is meant for walking and the road which is dominated by ruthless and ill-mannered drivers and riders. People are buying cars and two-wheelers every day despite the fact some drivers don’t know driving/traffic rules; some don’t have a driving license and most drivers know what a zebra crossing is but they simply do not care. I can understand that the Shillong Traffic Police has a shortage of manpower but despite that they are doing the best they can, but I urge the Department to sensitize the public at large especially the drivers and riders on a larger scale apart from the traffic awareness week. Also, I request the ministers and officials of the government to take time and walk the streets of Shillong so that they may understand the problems faced by the common pedestrians.
Yours etc.,
Name withheld on request
Upper Shillong traffic snarls & the death of logic
Editor,
An overturned truck in Sawmer, Upper Shillong was the cause of the huge traffic snarl that happened on the May 17, 2019 which afflicted the punctuality of many commuters who were on their way to work and college. The problem caused a spill-over effect whereby most of the adjoining areas of Shillong city were also affected. Today’s incident could have been the talk of the town as it had impacted the schedules of many Shillong residents but this is a common problem particularly for the residents of the Upper Shillong areas and other surrounding villages who every day, have to converge at the ‘bottleneck’ at Umshyrpi bridge, as we all try to enter Shillong. It is very clear that the two lane roads that serve the people in Upper Shillong are no longer adequate for the kind of vehicular traffic that flows through every day. There was a proposal to make a four lane highway from Umshyrpi to Mylliem which I believe is currently under way. This would at least solve the problem of congestion in a way seeing how the traffic jam is heightened in such cases as was seen today; where the drivers of four wheeler vehicles were so swift in abandoning their reasoning and in showcasing their foolishness by overtaking the long line of cars, which led to the worsening of the situation. I can never understand such people who at first glance, appear to be “educated” but their actions contradict this. They seem to think that they are the only ones who have deadlines, who have kids, who have plans, who have programmes and places to get to, like the rest of us just hopped into our cars that day and decided to get stuck in traffic! This part could at least be solved if the four lane road was in place (along with a proper divider). The Government needs to speed up this project to alleviate the problems of the people of the state as well as tourists who typically visit places like Sohra, Mawlynnong, etc. for they have to traverse this stretch of road.
Yours etc.,
Rishan Kupar Rangslang
3 & 1/2 Mile, Upper Shillong