Editor,
As a Pnar and as a woman, I am proud of the fact that I belong to a matrilineal society and community; a society that draws its lineage from the mother. This is what makes us different from the rest of our fellow brethren in the country. Do I want to compromise my identity and exchange matrilineal to patrilineal? No! When the Nairs gave up matrilineal system, I for one was elated in this belief that we the Khasi-Pnar will hold on very dearly to our matrilineal system. I remember, as a student, my classmates from mainland were highly impressed and were in awe of the society and community that I come from. This gave me a feeling of pride of how beautiful and unique we are. The beauty of being a Khasi-Pnar lies in the bare fact that we are a matrilineal society and a change to patrilineal system will make us no different from the rest of the country and the world. Yes, we are moving along with the passage of time; be it food habits, clothes we wear, houses we live in, transport and communication, education, etc., but does this mean that retaining our roots means that we are old fashioned, backward and obsolete and depriving the rights of our male counterparts? Well no! What we need is to come together as a community and preserve our matrilineal system and nurture our children to be firmly rooted to the society they are born in.
Yours etc.,
Jenniefer Dkhar,
Via email
It’s a bleak future for the country
Editor,
This is in response to Mr AL Hek’s assertion that it’s bleak days for the Congress in Meghalaya and at the Centre. Ironically it’s been real bleak days for all Indians since Nov 2016. Making electoral gains through polarisation and yet there are more Indians today living with BPL status; this is definitely not a sign of development. India’s development agenda has been hijacked and it’s been replaced by bigotry. The dream of becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy can only be achieved when there are no second class citizens in the country. The agenda that has been adopted since 2014 has actually been detrimental to the economic growth of this nation. A course correction is urgently required. And when that’s the real story in the rest of India, Meghalaya is definitely not an island .
Yours etc.,
Tyrone D’Brass
Tura
Individual racism not systematic racism
Editor,
I am writing to contest the article “Systematic racism alive and kicking,” (ST, Jan 14, 2021) by Deepa Majumdar contesting my article “Woke but not awake.” Systemic racism is really a morphis term. It could mean that the institutions of today like police departments are racist in which case everyone with the right mind would oppose them or it could mean that all inequalities are based on a racism which is not a sustainable argument.
The argument to the infamous unfortunate death of George Floyd is how he would be treated differently by the police if he were white! Well what happened to Mr. Floyd was indeed unjust and brutal and I do believe that if the police personnel irrespective of which country are unjust to your actions and your pleas for surrender, he or she should be tried and condemned if found guilty. What happened to Mr Floyd was not an example of systematic racism rather it was an example of individual racism. Individual racism revolves around the nature of a human being and how he or she was brought up. Systematic racism in the United States revolves around the concept that all unjust things happening to African Americans in the United States in the 21st Century is because of racism which is absurd.
What the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is doing right now is causing a massive stereotype that all police personnel are bad and racist people irrespective of facts and statistics not backing up their absurd claims. What the left is doing is influencing victimization and feelings over hard evidence and facts.
Yes I do agree that individual racism exist but I strongly disagree that systematic racism exists in the United States in the 21st century. You cannot judge an entire community of people based on the actions of a few handful individuals because good cops do exist and good people too. Our liberal friends would rather create discrepancy amongst the people of society rather than try and help unite it with good. A good act does not wash out the bad nor the bad the good.
Yes law alone is adequate to guarantee social justice from systematic racism because there is not one law in the constitution of the USA that discriminates against any particular race. Law however is not adequate enough to guarantee social justice from individual racism.
With all due respect, you cannot disprove my former argument and you cannot prove the claims that you have stated for your argument when you have stated no facts or statistics that back up your claims in your disputations.
Yours etc.,
Jyohana D. Nongrum
Via email
Corruption endemic in Meghalaya
Editor,
We had some hope when the BJP became part of the NPP Government that corruption as happened in the past would come to an end because Prime Minister Modi vowed to fight corruption. Demonestisation was supposed to put an end to black money and cleanse the system. Later we found out that it was only a ploy to win the UP elections. In Meghalaya we find that the two MLAs of the BJP are quite comfortable to carry on with the MDA government despite its blatant acts of corruption on all fronts but more so in the manner in which the funds from the GHADC have been siphoned off to schemes that have produced no results. It seems that there is a disconnect between the BJP as a party and the MLAs. Recently the Meghalaya BJP team went to Delhi to meet the higher ups in the Party and brief them about the state of affairs in Meghalaya.
For us common people it is painful to see that our State of Meghalaya is getting nowhere and is only going downhill. I am saying this as an elderly citizen of the state who had taken part in the Hill State Movement. We feel betrayed and defeated by the manner in which the government is being run in the present day. It seems to be that we are hoping in vain and that every election turns out the worst elements to run this State. I despair and so do many others but we don’t know how to retrieve the situation.
Yours etc.,
Juliana Marpna,
Via email