Editor,
Writing this letter has to its credit a sense of concern and urgency as a senior and informed citizen of Meghalaya. As we all know, the 2021 MCS officers were recruited by MPSC on April 29, 2021 and they took charge of their office as government officials since July1, 2021, which was the date of advent of their training program. Surprising to note however, that I have come to learn from people in the Government that the MCS training programme is supposed to span a period of 6 months! As a tax paying citizen, I ask the Meghalaya Government whether it is even required to keep the new MCS officers on training for such a long time, when the senior MCS batches such as those from 1986, 1994, 2000 and 2010 were given training of not more than two-three months, and they are presently doing a good job at their respective places of work? Is it not a waste of time and also of the public money? Sometimes we are left flabbergasted when we ponder on the mind of the Government and their decision-making, for it keeps us wondering whether they even retrospect on the consequences of their actions. Funny to note that many districts have plenty of ADCs but very few EACs, so the poor ADCs are practically doing EAC related work. The time is ripe to depute the new batch of MCS officers for public service immediately.
Yours etc.,
Robert Marpna,
Upper Shillong
Beware of environmental dangers
Editor,
Our luxury comes at a price. Unless we hurt mother earth, we don’t get our easy appliances and gadgets. Don’t we already know that innumerable industries across the globe ceaselessly emit millions after millions of gallons of obnoxious gases every single minute? We get our swanky cars, computers, washing machines, mobile, rockets, trains – anything you name, only after irreparably polluting the atmosphere. If we look at it deeply, we are all to blame for this environmental mess.
No wonder, all these years, we have danced to the tune of the “capitalists.” After a couple of years, we change our mobiles; every 4-5 years we upgrade our micro-ovens and washing machines! What will be the consequence of this style of living? It is a very ominous question that confronts modern civilization. I’m afraid, we have been taught how to get our day-to-day works done quickly with gadgets, but we have never been effectively informed that this all goes to quicken the climate tipping points. We followed the ads by Ranveer Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham, Shah Rukh Khan and we changed our vehicles, refrigerators, TVs as we change our clothes. This is the most disastrous trend catching on among the increasing number of consumers. One may or may not agree but the final impact of our blind infatuation with celebrities and the endorsed products has fallen on Mother Earth! Moreover, we have also become slaves to consumer goods. They have virtually “consumed” our human prudence. We have not only polluted our atmosphere, but we have weakened our minds and self-control. What will happen if our youths don’t get to check facebook/social media updates for two days? They get restless, they are disturbed – some to the point of suicide. Our mental calmness is just hanging in a dangerous imbalance.
Here is my question. Have the members of COP26 ever thought of changing the “MINDSET” of people? Have they left the Glasgow meeting with a vow to impose a complete restriction on selling and buying consumer goods? Have they pledged to punish those capitalists and celebrities who have misled each one of us for money? The answer is an resounding ‘NO.’
Yes, I totally agree with what the Secretary-General of the United Nation – António Guterres said at the recent COP26 conference. In desperation he burst out saying, “We face a tough choice, either we stop it or it stops us and it is time to say enough — enough of brutalizing biodiversity, enough of killing ourselves with carbon, enough of treating nature like a toilet, we are digging our own graves.” These words came directly from his heart. Very frankly speaking, unless we turn our backs on the theory of “consumerism” the earth will not HEAL. We must rid ourselves of the luxury of any kind at the earliest possible. We must move from Toyota to bicycles. There is no other ways. What is the point of our royal lifestyles now if our children will suffer from the “HEAT of HELL” on Earth?
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong
Modi’s COP commitment a tall order
Editor,
Going by the announcement made by PM Narendra Modi at COP26, India is committed to a net-zero goal by 2070. However, this ambition poses many challenges for India. Modi described net-zero by 2070 as one element of the “panchamrit” to deal with climate change.
In fact, achieving net-zero for a country of India’s size is not at all easy. For example, Coal India is poised to become a net-zero PSU. Considering that Indian government wants Coal India to produce more coal, it is evident that it is an enormous task. Reducing fossil-fuel based power generation and replacing it with renewable energy is very expensive and exclusionary.
India’s another target is installing 500 GW of non-fossil fuel electricity generation by 2030. The target is ambitious as India will have to add about 38 GW a year. India’s another target is meeting 50% energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030. It requires immediate, substantial and sustained increase in the installation rate of solar capacity. Another target is that India wants to reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030. It remains to be seen how the government will achieve this target.
Even though the Paris Agreement of 2015 requires the developing nations to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change, that promise is yet to be fulfilled.
Yours etc.,
Venu GS
Kollam