Editor,
Through your paper I would like to comment on our recent long hours of power cuts.
It is amazing how crores of rupees meant for paying the power suppliers just vanishes and yet no one is booked or brought to task. No investigation is conducted I assume and yet the public suffer although most of us pay our bills. Somebody somewhere must have known and did nothing and still continues to do nothing. Your newspaper has so often written about governance, well that too like most of the money has vanished or maybe in this instance did not even exist.
This Government and so have previous ones failed the people in every department….
Just before students are due to appear for their exams we have power cuts. Most of our streets have no street lighting. Our pavements are no longer fit for walking. In all of this what is most intriguing is when our MLA’S and Ministers say they go to WORK. What exactly is their WORK? And when they are in their offices if at all they are there, what exactly do they do when there is failure on all fronts?
Yours etc.,
Christine Nonghuloo,
Shillong-3
Load shedding not the solution
Editor,
The Government decision to effect load shedding for 8 hours in the State seems to be one taken in haste and without proper analysis. It’s well known that the Board exams are banging at the doors of the students and therefore, the decision needs to be revisited. Load shedding will dim the light at the end of the educational tunnel as it will hamper students’ schedules and eventually reduce their efficiency levels. This happening in an era where digital education is heavily promoted is surprising. Businesses will suffer the most because of this. The time 12:30-4:00 is peak time for businessmen and as such, load shedding will have a severe impact in this sector. It is also inconvenient for people to make changes to their schedule, especially when there are multiple working people in a family. I request the concerned authorities to reconsider the decision and come up with a more pragmatic intervention to meet the power crisis in the State.
Yours etc.,
Pratham K Sharma
Shillong-3
Violence in universities
Editor,
This refers to the letters, “Systematic attacks on educational spaces worrying” by Meghalaya students of JNU and “JNU mayhem” by Gendra Galla Narzinary (ST, January 13, 2020). I feel helpless when I think about the current law and order situation in the country. It has come to such a pass that now our children and teachers are not safe even within their university campuses. The incidents happening in university campuses during the last thirty days or so starting from Jamia Milia University to Jawaharlal Nehru University make me feel like living in a reign of terror.
The Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University should immediately be dismissed and a fact finding committee should be set up to look into his role in the JNU mayhem. The role of some television channels and some political leaders also needs to be scrutinised by an independent body as they constantly vilified the students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University and instigated violence against them.
The Ministry of Home Affairs should answer why the Delhi police who are smart enough to find out lost materials of VVIPs within a short period of time, has been unable to identify and nab the masked culprits when video footage of the brutal violence in JNU, eye witness accounts and the tapes of a sting operation conducted by India Today have been available.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email
CAA violates the Constitution
Editor,
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2016 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955. It seeks to make illegal migrants belonging to the same six religions and three countries eligible for citizenship. It was given on the basis of citizenship by birth, descent or registration. The new Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 that has come into effect with the law giving due recognition to persecuted migrant belonging to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist faiths etc…except for Muslims belonging from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan suggest a departure from the secular aspect of the Constitution. To set this in motion the National Register of Citizens seems to have been set as the benchmark for granting citizenship to those in the NRC list and those outside would be deported or sent to detention camps to face trial. The question is how does the NRC become the only benchmark for granting citizenship or for that matter those left out of the CAA? Or how can the CAA seek to grant citizenship only on the basis of one’s religion? The Preamble itself should be the benchmark rather than allowing flimsy laws to trample upon the Constitution and it’s ideals.
Yours etc..
Dominic S. Wankhar
Via email