Editor,
One of the reasons private players were allowed to charge road users a fee for using certain roads was because they were also charged with the responsibility of building roads and maintaining these. I had the misfortune of travelling in the GS road over the weekend and was shocked to see that huge stretches of the highway were covered with potholes and even broken surfaces. Quite a few stretches were operating as a single-lane making it prone to accidents. Road signage was minimal if not absent. At the Jorabat junction, one could easily miss the turn to Shillong as the signage was hardly visible. The worst was the toll gate itself which had only one lane functioning and the other lanes were blocked with tin drums. In spite of the pronouncement of the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Mr Nitin Gadkari that if at any toll gate, vehicles have to wait in queue for more than 10 seconds no fee will be charged, we had to wait for 10 minutes while going down and 15 minutes while returning, paying the toll both times. Perhaps the Government of India’s diktat does not apply to Meghalaya !
The toll gate operators should either repair the roads and make passage through gates of the fast tag era seamless or stop charging for a service they are not providing. Can the government absolve itself of its responsibility on this?
Yours etc.,
Sanjeeb Kakoty
Via email
Inconsiderate decision
Editor,
We’ve all been struck by the pandemic harshly. People’s lives have changed drastically, and loved ones have been lost. Out of these, students’ academic careers have experienced the hardest blow. We have been deprived of two years of proper classes and regular school. Grasping at straws, we opted for online classes to complete the syllabus. These were ineffective as compared to regular offline classes, and a wide range of students have experienced their share of problems. Of course, many parts of the state complained of having barely any network connectivity and hence a number of students had no access to online classes. As stated above we were deprived of two years of proper schooling, thus making us unable to lay down the foundation for class 10 courses. Conceptual learning and interaction between students and teachers have been largely compromised. We have been informed that MBOSE will not take back its decision of including 100% of the syllabus, and that the SSLC will be held in March of 2022, giving us approximately 1-2 months to cover at least 50-60% of our syllabus and revise the ones already covered. Even a child can do the math and figure out that this is nearly impossible. Not only is this decision inconsiderate, it is also completely oblivious to the hardships the students face during these trying times. “Self-study” of chapters that are yet to be covered is almost impossible for neuro-diverse children and children with learning disabilities, but nobody cares about them, right? When will we ever acknowledge children with cognitive disabilities? This decision might as well be a mockery of the students’ mental health. “As long as you’re not bleeding to death, you’re fine,” has been said indirectly. We have lost some of our dear friends to this sort of academic pressure, and they’ve been blamed for “being too weak.” But just this instance, can we take our time and just think that there might be something wrong with this system that leads to young hearts taking such drastic measures? We need a reduction of the syllabus for the SSLC examination. We need a considerable amount of reduction. We didn’t subject ourselves to misery. The pandemic wasn’t a joke, so stop treating its hindrances as one. We didn’t stay home because we wanted to. And we believe every human being with a mind and a heart understands that. We unanimously write to the newspaper in hopes that the people in power read and acknowledge it.
Yours etc.,
Group of Class X students,
Names withheld on request
Via email
Climate finance for action
Editor,
COP26 -the 2021 edition of the United Nations Annual Climate Change Conference is scheduled to be held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12, 2021. World leaders who gather there will renew and strengthen commitments to the 2015 Paris agreement goal of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. COP consists of parties that are the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC). This treaty consists of 196 countries and the EU. The 26th meeting of the parties poses a big question: will it bring about important effects ?
The central focus of the summit will be on climate finance for action and to reduce emissions to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius and abandoning fossil fuels. The most important agenda of the meeting is the $100 billion climate finance commitment. Another agenda is to produce long- term strategies to achieve net zero. Despite the fact that there is an urgent need to put the world on a path to net zero emissions, many developed countries are falling short of their responsibilities. It must be acknowledged that UK, the host country is already showing leadership with clear plans to reduce emissions and reach net zero by 2050. India’s actions are more progressive compared to the largest emitters.
It is a fact that climate change is affecting every region of the globe necessitating an urgent action to reduce emissions. If the countries succeed in cutting global emissions to net zero in 50 years, there would be a great chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees to help lessen the effects of climate change. Hence, the Glasgow summit is an important occasion for countries to reinforce commitments to the Paris Agreement and find solutions to achieve net zero.
Yours etc.,
Venu GS
Kollam