Conrad bats for timely guidance to children on career prospects
SHILLONG, July 27: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has accentuated the need to provide right career guidance to children during their early stages of school while maintaining that allowing them to follow their passions and dreams is the key to determine the success of a state and a country as whole. The chief minister said this during a virtual programme on Tuesday to launch Mere Mentor, an edu-tech venture. “It is very important to provide right career guidance to children while they are still in the early stages of school and not wait till they finish their high school or higher secondary school,” Conrad said. Maintaining that timely guidance on choosing a career is a sine qua non, the chief minister lauded Mere Mentor for counselling children from an early age. “We have recently passed the Youth Policy for the State of Meghalaya and it is very important for any state of India to have a policy for the youth because of the fact that our country has a large youth population and channelisation of the energy of the youths is going to determine the success or the failure of the state or the nation as a whole. If this energy of the youths can be shaped and channelised in the right direction, we can become the number one country in the world,” the chief minister said.
ADE condemns ‘sexual assault’
TURA, July 27: The Association for Democracy and Empowerment (ADE), Tura, has alleged physical torture and sexual exploitation of a girl living in Shillong and has demanded that the culprits be brought to justice. It may be mentioned that the incident of the alleged sexual exploitation of the girl, who hails from Dalu of West Garo Hills, came to light after it was reported in a local news channel. Condemning the incident, Association president, Dalseng Bira Ch Momin, said, “The poor girl was repeatedly raped and was physically tortured from 2019 to 2021 and was impregnated three times by her uncle. Moreover, she was forced to abort the children. The girl also informed that there were four other girls who are still trapped with the accused family and they are also being treated in a similar manner.” It has also appealed to the authorities to rescue the girls from the family.
Call for probe into financial deals
SHILLONG, July 27: The Meghalaya Confederation for Academic Welfare (MeCAW) has demanded an inquiry into the financial deals carried out during SK Srivastava’s tenure as the vice-chancellor of NEHU. “The MeCAW demands a comprehensive inquiry into all the financial deals of Prof SK Srivastava’s regime in matters of construction and purchase so that NEHU can be freed from evil nexus of corruption and malpractices initiated by him,” said MeCAW chairperson, Roykupar Synrem. The allegations that have been levelled against the former VC include diverting administrative inefficiency and gross mismanagement, diversion of funds, failure to conduct mandatory court meetings on time, not replying to an RTI application on VC’s inexplicable prolonged absence, irregular appointment of heads and deans, academic departments running on half or less than half faculty strength, among others.
Solidarity with TUR member
SHILLONG, July 27: The sit-in organised by Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) member Angela Rangad has got the state talking, but on Tuesday, Raijor Dal, a political party from Assam, expressed its solidarity with the struggle of Angela Rangad in delivering what was promised by the government to the daily wagers of Meghalaya. “We are in complete solidarity with the demands raised by Rangad. We hope that taking cognisance of the democratic and resilient protest of Rangad, the Meghalaya government fulfills the promises that it had made to the workers of the state and releases their rightful funds immediately,” the party in a statement. The TUR member is demanding immediate release of financial aid promised to the daily wagers and the marginalised sections by the Meghalaya government, in the context of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns and economic distress. Last year, the Meghalaya government had announced income support to daily wagers to help them tide over, in a small way, the lockdown during the first wave as part of the Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss. Each beneficiary was supposed to get Rs 2,100. However, the disbursal of the funds has not been carried out so far.
New NEHU VC takes charge
SHILLONG, July 27: Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, on Tuesday, took over charge of the office of the Vice Chancellor of the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU). Prof. Shukla was felicitated by the outgoing VC Prof SK Srivastava in the presence of staff of the VC’s office.
Caution against ransom demand
SHILLONG, July 27: In the wake of reports about many receiving calls and messages on WhatsApp from unknown numbers giving death threats and demanding ransom, the Meghalaya Police has warned the citizens against entertaining such calls or messages while advising them to report about the matter to their nearest police outpost or through social media on www.facebook.com/meghpolice, twitter.com/MeghalayaPolice or www.instagram.com/meghalayapolice. The police have assured that the identity of the informant will not be disclosed and will be treated with strict confidentiality.