Editor,
A propos the article, ‘Local languages should be part of Assembly debate,’ by the editor (ST Oct 30, 2020), the suggestive write up has appeared at a no better time than this. It took me back to 1968 when the Kothari Commission, in its main nine paragraphs writes, “The child should be taught in his/her own mother tongue as this would enable it to grasp the subject without memorization.” What a vision! Unfortunately for us the Khasis and Garos, we are much handicapped by the acute shortage of Science vocabulary unlike our Bengali friends. This is the reason why Bengal produced two world renowned scientists – SN Bose (Statistics with particle Boson named after him) and J. Bose (Electromagnetic waves). In recent times we had Amartya Sen and Abhijeet Banerjee as Nobel laureates in Economics. If our authors of Khasi and Garo society could divert more time in developing the Science vocabulary then parrot-like study may be eliminated as this has caused children to miss playing in parks and playgrounds in the evening.
The Assembly is the house of elected legislators where policy matters are discussed and debated for the betterment of the constituency and welfare of the state. It is really very painful to witness our legislators, who because they are educated in village schools, could never convince the House no matter how important their presentations are as ‘English’ proves to be an obstacle. So the legislators whose names are prefixed with ‘Dr’ and long tails thereafter, dominate the proceedings. Gone are those days when the rustic Mr Nit Shabong spoke in English on the Government’s faulty priorities. He said “At Iewduh near Motphran we build a bridge over a dry river but in Sohiong, my constituency we do not have bridge over wet river.” Those were the good old days when debates were very meaningful indeed unlike today filled with coal, coal and coal and the 34 lakh tons remain undiminished in spite of huge movement of trucks.
Let us not expect anything from the Eighth Schedule especially when the climate in Delhi is now thick with CAA, abandoned only temporarily by ModiJi and Amit ShahJi. We could expect a shivering wintry cold when the BJP in NPP clothing still rules us. Instead let us utilize the suggestion made in the article to have individual screens with subtitles in Garo and Khasi and of course English for the hi-fi legislators. I believe patriotism with mother tongue is more pronounced.
Yours etc.,
Manbha Diengdoh,
Via email
Window of no opportunities
Editor,
Having completed my graduate studies, I’m still tied between job applications and considering whether to take a break this year before delving into the employment phase of my life. While that is my problem, I’m still caught in utter shock at the window period given in certain job posts/ advertisements – the ones published in newspapers a day before, specifying the last date of applications to be the very next day! That’s hardly 24 hours, and these job applications require documents that may take a day or more to assemble for a mistake-free submission.
The unfortunate part of this cycle within the State of Meghalaya is that the common assumption of these job applications becoming a mere formality holds true. While my future can be dwindled in the hands of the authorities who put up one day window periods for employment applications, I still have to ask – why is this still happening within the State’s public job sectors and why isn’t something being done? I might already have the answer and it’s the same one I’ve been warned against for some time now (even when I’m writing this) – but with the employment situation like this, I’ve got nothing to lose when I call out on a few big wrongs!
Yours etc.,
Kathie Decruse,
Via email
No one’s above the law!
Editor,
Wikipedia defines a crime as an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. A crime is an offence that is harmful not only to some individuals but to a community, society and the state. Thus crime has legal bearing and if proven guilty, the perpetrators of crime must be punished as per the law. The daily newspapers, news channels, social media are flooded with reports of one form of crime or another committed by some person or group.
The impact of criminal acts is that we the general public are directly or indirectly affected as crimes penetrate deep down into the system and the society that we are all part of. We need to ask ourselves this question: Why are there crimes? Simply put, there are crimes because there are perpetrators of crimes. A crime can be committed for various reasons. For example, a person could be stealing to feed a starving family afflicted by poverty.
A crime can also occur as an act of self defence on being attacked; it could be a show of strength on the weak and feeble like women, girls and children. Crimes can also happen due to abuse of power especially in the administration through nepotism, favouritism, bribes, etc. Thus it may not be wrong to attribute crime to poverty, peer pressure, drugs, politics, religion, family conditions, the society, unemployment, deprivation, unfair judicial system. These are contributors towards crimes. The sad truth is that perpetrators of crimes have allowed their conscience to take a back seat. The criminal act overcomes their ability to think rationally. Hence criminals have no fear of the law and no humanity left within them and above all no longer fear God.
But whatever the reason behind committing a crime, the fact is that once a crime is committed, the perpetrator must be punished. When a crime is committed by an individual or a group of individuals it is imperative that they be brought to justice and the law must be allowed to take its course. If proven guilty, the perpetrator must be punished as per the laws of the land. The law must act with no prejudice and unfairness. It does not and should not matter if the perpetrator is an ordinary human being or someone high and mighty in the society. The purpose of the law is to judge one and all with the same yardstick. Therefore, a crime committed by anyone must not be brushed under the carpet but must be brought into the public domain for others to learn that no one can escape the long arm of the law as all are equal before it.
What are these laws? Laws are system of rules that a country or community recognises so as to regulate the actions of the citizens and if there are defaulters then penalties can be imposed. Why do we need laws and the legal system? The purpose of the legal system is not only to punish a perpetrator of crime but to provide justice to the victim and also to help curb such crimes from recurring. The law is also needed to ameliorate the harm done by the offender on an individual or even a society at large. The law does not only regulate behaviours of people but also acts as a deterrent.
For the law to act as a deterrent, it is important that a perpetrator of crime is brought to book and the victim is provided justice. But how is it that some perpetrators of crime go scot free, when others are victimised? Very often it is also a case of justice delayed and justice denied. These are times when the legal system becomes a farce and a mockery. However, the duty of every law abiding citizen is to abide by the rules and laws that govern the State and its people and if there are any violators, they must be punished. No crime is bigger than the one that condones crime and there is no worse criminal than the one that considers himself/herself above the law!
Yours etc.,
Jenniefer Dkhar,
Via emai