Editor,
I must thank you for publishing the write up “Musings of a so-called non-tribal” by Biswajit Ghosh (ST Oct 31, 2020). I also thank the writer for having gathered courage to speak the truth. For me, it is a rare counter-narrative from the minorities living in Meghalaya. I appreciate the tone of the letter especially when he said, “Love begets love,” and called for maintaining “brotherhood.” The example of blood donation is absolutely spot on to drive home the fact that all human beings are essentially the same at birth. As we grow up we tend to change due to religion, language, ethnicity and the prevailing political climate.
The write-up has some errors, though. One such error that he has since corrected is about who coined the name “Meghalaya”. The other error is about the non-tribal population when Meghalaya was born. According to the 1971 census, the areas that constitute Meghalaya now had 20% non-tribal population, and not 38% as stated by the writer. Over the years, such population has fallen to below 10%. The question obviously is: Why so? According to the census norms, every community has a minimum growth of 2.5% per decade. That means the non-tribal population should have naturally grown by another 12.5% in the past five decades. In reality, there is a negative growth of 2%. This in itself is a pointer to the fact that the popular notion of our tribal brethren that there is influx of outsiders and foreigners is not borne out by hard facts. As I see it, it is a profitable political issue to keep stoking the sensitive communal cauldron and keep the target groups on tenterhooks.
My family has moved out of Shillong after living there for over 75 years. Normally, anybody who resides at a place for such a long period of time is naturally and legally assimilated as a local resident. But not in Shillong! There is a palpable air of being unwanted, whether spoken explicitly or not. The well-behaved tribal brethren with whom we lived from childhood are today a changed lot. Their attitude has changed. The old generation is gone and with them the sense of tolerance that we experienced has dissipated. The new generation has other ideas. I can’t blame them totally. They are victims of the continuous falsehood and venom poured into their ears. Today, in Shillong it seems it pays well to be a hate-monger. Look at the way the houses, shops and business establishments that once belonged to the non-tribals have passed on to the rich tribal families. I don’t grudge them this change of fortune. But it pains me that they first created a reign of terror among the old non-tribal residents for easing them out of the state. This is plain ethnic cleansing. I had hoped they would live happily and peace would return. But the recent portents suggest that the profitable business of keeping hate-crimes alive is unlikely to die down soon.
Yours etc.,
RK Chakravarty
Via email
Shouldering the economy
Madam,
Yet another inspiring journey by Klestar Syiem, (58) from Khliehmawlieh West Khasi hills, Nongstoin was brought to the limelight by The Shillong times. I believe in the saying, ‘God helps those who help themselves’. To me the farmers are the real soldiers of our economy. Without any uniform their continuous battlefield being the cultivation field, with their fruit bearing spirits of ever fighting with their farming equipments, while placing nutritious food on our plates day in and day out.
Bah Klestar Syiem, we are informed was not able to walk properly since the age of 13, however his disabilities did not stop him from fulfilling his dreams as he was determined to do what needs to be done. Here I need to add that ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’. When Bah Klestar Syiem, was made a laughing stocks, the reading from the Scriptures came to my mind, ‘God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful’.
Bah Klestar Syiem, presented two buckets of Sweet Charlie Strawberry which he planted in his garden. Now that I say is a miraculous blessing for self and others too. The Almighty always tells us to be a fruit bearing person, which Bah Klestar Syiem really is. He is a blessing to us and the farming fraternity.
Thank you for bringing out such wonderful news of the journey of a farmer which keeps us motivated and inspired for doing greater deeds.
Yours etc.,
Joydeep Sharma
Shillong -2
Watch out! Two tremors in a month
Editor,
On November 2, at precisely 1:15 am there was a strong jerk of 4.4 on the Richter scale as reported on TV news. Are we disaster prepared? The answer is disappointingly, No! We need not go far enough taking the Qualapatty church building fire as an illustration (1) We were not prepared with narrow body vehicles like jeeps to have access to the building on fire (2) From 1972 till date we have just two fire brigade stations (3) The people in the station on night duty ignored the frantic calls for help.
Thus on every aspect of disaster we are wanting in all departments. Let us learn from the Turkey earthquake which was 7.1 on the Richter scale. The rescue operation by earthmovers was unhampered as well-planned wide roads are available, hence many lives were saved in spite of the magnitude. For the rat holes in our state there is little one can do as cavities tend to resonate with slight tremors and these would collapse like a packs of cards.
Dams are vulnerable to earthquakes. The one many years ago in Italy is a lesson for us. But a suggestion in The Shillong Times by a concerned person, to install battery operated alarms that automatically trigger in case the dam collapses, to warn those along the swelling waters to run to higher ground was not taken seriously by our Government which is in deep slumber and currently mired knee-deep in the coal controversy after the NGT ban in 2014.
Hospitals should be equipped with one week back-up of inverters or diesel generators, especially for operation theatres to deal with casualties. Walkie-talkies should be ready in the event of towers tilting. In our homes we should be ready with an LED torchlight which works efficiently with dry cells and not the rechargeable variety as there may be power cuts. Above all we should not panic. More casualties occur due to panic.
Yours etc.,
Manbha Diengdoh
.Via email
Changing face of fascism in India
Editor,
Frankly speaking, I do not know whether the arrest of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Mr Arnab Goswami earlier today was as per the laws of the land, or was a blatant misuse of power by the Maharashtra state govt. Whatever may be the case, it pains the heart to see a man once so elevated, plummet to such lows and why would it not? He is, after all, one of Assam’s favoured sons, who in his formative years as a journalist made not just our state but the entire country proud. But, it’s not his arrest that I want to comment on today (as I’m confident that the law will take its course). Rather, it is the inexplicable outburst by one after another BJP leader that we saw throughout the day today that has compelled me to pen this.
I’m baffled by the manner in which the party has come out in support of a journalist who in recent years has probably been the loudest custodian of ‘Independent’ journalism in India and apparently has zero political affiliations.
Yes, any citizen or political party has every right to speak up against any injustice happening anywhere in the country. However, was the arrest as big a deal as the BJP made of it? The Union Home Minister Amit Shah believes that the arrest is an attack on the freedom of press. In fact, he went to the extent of calling it an ’emergency’ in a country that has seen the same party selectively turn a blind eye to countless rapes and murders (of journalists included) not so long ago. A notion that is hard to fathom, also because Arnab has been arrested for allegedly abetting a suicide and not for his journalism (or lack of it).
So brazen was the BJP’s support for Arnab today that it seems as if it is only the Prime Minister of India who’s now left to come out denouncing the arrest.
Yours etc.,
Fahd Hazarika
Guwahati