Editor,
All of the prominent national dailies, apart from the Shillong Times, Sep 9, 2021, carried the news that Kongthong has been nominated as ‘Best Tourism Village’ by the Ministry of Tourism. This nomination has been submitted to the United Nations World Tourism Organization for the Best Tourism Village award. While we are justifiably proud of the unique tradition of Jingrwai Iawbei, the village itself has an alluring natural beauty. The adoption of the village by Bihar Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha helped place Kongthong on the national map, and the picture of him adorned with a knup has become an iconic image.
I recently learned about Silbo, the whistling language in the Canary Islands, located just off the coast of Morocco and south of Spain. With its terrain of high peaks and deep ravines, it takes a long time to walk up and down even over short distances and whistles carry and echo easily. Traditional shepherds still whistle to one another across mountain valleys that would take hours to cross.
The tuneful language has its own alphabet, vowels and consonants. Silbo has been a compulsory subject in schools since 1999. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic has forced schools to limit the classes as students need to put fingers in their mouth and blow the whistles. This is difficult with masks and the need to limit respiratory spread.
Whistled speech is used in at least 80 languages around the world, especially in rugged, mountainous terrain or dense forest, where whistles carry much farther than ordinary speech or shouting. According to linguist Julien Meyer, whistled speech can be understood up to 10 times as far away as ordinary shouting can. A complex whistling language in Mexico, Chinantec, has seven tones (high, mid, low, falling high-low, falling mid-low, rising low-mid and rising mid-high), and takes several months to learn. Some musicologists believe that fluency in a whistled language leads to better flute playing.
Whistled languages are probably an early form of speech, perhaps predating spoken languages. These early attempts at sound communication strengthened the voice box and the throat muscles to enable later speech. Other experts believe that whistling came after monotonal speech as a supplement, not a forerunner. Sadly, some whistled languages have become extinct such as the
Tepehua language in Mexico. Deforestation is one factor.
Perhaps a local linguist can make an audio documentation of the Kongthong whistles so that all of us locals and even interested tourists can learn this fascinating form of communication.
Yours etc.,
Glenn C. Kharkongor,
Via email
Rejoinder
Editor,
My attention has been brought by my colleagues and peers to your report Smart Meters: Another scam in MeECL!- ADB slams firm for faking completion certificate (ST Sep 9,2021), where reference· has been made to role of Advocate General in award of tender to one Satnam Global Infra-projects. It has been stated in the Article that “Advocate General had given green signal in awarding the tender.”
The article gives incomplete information and gives the impression that the award of tender to any particular party was endorsed by me which is incorrect and scurrilous.
The opinion sought from me was on the issue that whether tender can be awarded in law, in case of a single eligible bidder. Neither was the name of the bidders or any other information relating to the smart meter tendering process before me. I examined the applicable laws including an O.M. No. FEG49/98/145 dated 5.4.2002 of Govt. of Meghalaya and also judgments of the Hon’ble courts, including of Delhi HC where it was observed that there is no legal bar in award of tender to a single bidder provided there exists justification for the same and provided that the eligibility conditions are being met and the bid is not financially depressed. Therefore, I have only examined the legal position and provided my opinion thereon. There is no whisper of award of tender to a particular party in my opinion, nor were these facts before me.
By stating that I have given a green signal, the article gives incorrect impression and does so by selectively quoting the facts. This is neither proper nor legal and must be remedied immediately.
Yours etc.,
Amit Kumar,
Advocate General
Meghalaya & Khasi States’ territory
Editor,
The territory of the States of Khasi (Khasi & Jaintia) has been defined by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment Act of 1956 presently numbered 2 Assam(?) in the First Schedule referred by Article 1 as: The territories which immediately before the commencement of this Constitution were comprised in the Province of Assam, the Khasi States and the Assam Tribal Areas, but excluding the territories specified in the Schedule to the Assam (Alteration of Boundaries) Act, 1951.
Thus, the territory includes the area of the State of Meghalaya at present held by Assam, and, which is not de facto under Meghalaya’s control.
Yours etc.,
Morning Star Sumer,
Shillong – 2
Advocating cashless transactions during pandemic
Editor,
In this age of digital era, payments have become easy. One can make payments conveniently sitting at home, while travelling in a car, sitting in a bar or restaurant, etc. If one so desires, one need not physically visit the particular office to make payments for mobile /landline bills, electricity bills, etc. Similarly, one can place order for delivery of one’s favourite pizzas, other eateries/groceries and make payments online. Internet banking has really made life easier as one can transfer funds through RTGS, NEFT and other mode of payments offered by financial institutions and companies approved by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI)/Reserve Bank of India. All these are in line with the cashless transactions advocated by the Government of India.
The efforts made by MeECL in this regard is appreciable. One need not visit the MeECL office and stand in long queues to make payments of electricity bills as they have introduced an online payments system. However, other Government departments such as PHE, Municipal Boards in the State are yet to introduce online payments system. It is high time that these departments, especially the PHE Department take steps to introduce a digital payments system. This will not only save time and money for the public but also lessen the burden of visiting the department during this time of the pandemic.
Yours etc;
FR Marak
Tura