Editor,
Gone are the days when the office of the District Transport Officer here in East Khasi Hills was subjected to public ridicule and accusations for various reasons. Now this has changed drastically. The credit goes to the officers who man the office and the staff who take up the task of working to ease the plight of common people. There is a perceptible change and now it also has a help desk and information centre which had been highlighted earlier by few columnists and readers. We look forward to total digitisation and e-payment services for all forms of taxes and permits that people require to apply. It is hoped that when we talk of e-governance it also implies more action, less words.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar,
Via email
Modi or anything but Modi
Editor,
We Indians are moving towards this binary of labeling of citizens swiftly and unknowingly by adopting the American psyche of Democrat and Republican supporters. How many people are there who can support and criticize the government with equal energy? Unfortunately we all fall prey to this labeling and internal attachment to a side, thanks to the environment created. It’s strange that once this bias creeps in, a human being irrespective of his knowledge, status, power, position, aligns his ideology , to the one he can attach himself with. Once this is done, the next stage occurs naturally i.e, cementing the attachment. Then comes the stage where one will go to any extent to blame or defend the object in question. Now, where did I observe this? On every debate on television, social media comments, news presentation, it’s right there everywhere in everybody’s mind. Those not interested get aligned due to their kins’ allegiance. This is there at every level. Political representation is one level. I’ll take up the case of Modi to explain it.
Supporters will go to any extent to defend any decision or act of the Government while the haters will come up with strange statistics and new knowledge, ideas to oppose the act/move. This may sound hypothetically good in a “Democratic set up” but do we ever reflect that this conditioning of the human mind is the root of communalism, riots, terrorism etc. Every such act on this planet takes place due to this conditioning of the mind. One man’s belief against the other. History is created fundamentally by conflict of beliefs. Civilisations have been wiped out. Deep analysis reveals that theory of relativity is universally applicable and the social and psychological aspect too is governed by relativity. The fact is true freedom comes from freedom of the mind where one overcomes the internal biases, moves beyond the binary of ‘right and wrong,’ weighs the pros and cons equally with a free mind and assesses situations both objectively and subjectively. This can be brought about only by sheer self observation of the existing reality, self questioning and walking on both sides of the binary of labeling.
I gave the Modi example because that’s the trend today. There are those who love him and others who have a visceral hatred for the man. Now this conditioning of our brain needs a serious relook and analysis. Governments will come and go but will we ever move beyond the limitations of self identification and labeling? When will we humans accept each other as humans and not by our ideologies? Today it’s the social media which is the battleground of beliefs, religions, cultures, identity, thoughts, etc. And the messiah seems to be unbiased Memes.
This might sound idealistic because we will argue – “Even if I’m ready to think as a humanist, others are not ready to0 do so, hence I’ll be at risk.” I say, venture out on this mind path; there is lots to discover and it’s free of cost.
Yours etc.,
Gaurav Deb,
Via email