Editor,
At the outset my heartfelt thanks to Bah Marbianglang Rymbai for his illuminating letters to the editor, namely, “Is a secret ballot actually secret?” and “How ‘money power’ during elections become ‘efficient’.” (ST Feb 25 and 27, 2023). The content is rich and valuable. Mr Rymbai has correctly observed that in absence of a Data Privacy Act, access to the election data by the privileged few tantamount to violation of the principle of natural justice as far as data privacy of the individual voters is concerned. He has rationally appealed for us to the Election Commission of India “to ensure that even after counting day, there is restricted access even by the district and sub-divisional officials to rooms where the Control Units and the VVPAT Slips are kept, until the day all this voting data is to be deleted and destroyed”. I hope the bureaucrats in the ECI take cognizance of these letters in the interest of an unflawed democracy.
Yours etc.,
V.K.Lyngdoh
Via email
Online voting facility
Editor,
The fundamental principle of democracy lies in exercising voting rights by all citizens. For a healthy democracy, one needs to cast a vote judiciously. But unfortunately, many lazybones just loathe to stand in queue and they do not bother at all to participate in this democratic process. This trend is quite catching. However, it is a delight to see many people returning home from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata to exercise their franchise with gusto. Even in my locality, many people have arrived to vote for their beloved leaders. These conscious citizens certainly deserve appreciation from the Election Commission. Of course, each citizen should contribute to making a strong government for a better future, — hopefully we have genuinely eligible candidates in the fray.
Nevertheless, rushing back to the home state for mere voting sounds quite archaic in this digital age. This involves lots of expenditures besides other troubles. Well, if we can buy our air/railway tickets online with a few clicks, if we can operate our day-to-day banking and share market transactions involving trillions of dollars online by just sitting at home, why can’t we have an online voting facility now? Have the multinational companies from US/UK not outsourced their major administrative and clerical work to India to cut costs? For over a decade, the internet outsourcing administrative/clerical work has brought about an unprecedented “revolution.” This online outsourcing work has been accomplished with cent percent precision and efficiency and is cost-effective. COVID-19 has further made us realize that the DIGITAL PORTAL can easily “replace” the structural offices. I think the government of India should give serious thought in this respect so far as “voting online” is concerned. Mr Sawkmie, an employee of a call centre in Bengaluru, laments his inability to vote online.
With the authentication through Aadhaar, Epic card and “mobile-linked OTP”, voting online carries more sense when 5G is at our disposal. If not for everyone, those who are “out of station” and the elderly and sick people, who cannot walk up to the polling booth, online voting will prove a real boon. Frankly speaking, those who are away from their home state are less likely to fall for delusive influences and are more sensible in electing the deserving candidates.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong
A step in time saves lives
Editor,
The horrific accident on February 26 where six innocent lives were lost, that of a catholic priest, four sisters and a driver coming from Barama Parish of Bongaigaon diocese, should remind all commuters that our roads are not safe. In spite of the four-lane highway, the fatal accident took place, all because of a truck driver flouting traffic rules. It is too common to hear of truck-related accidents in our state. How many lives have been lost on our highways? Wherever heavy loaded trucks ply the roads there have been regular fatal accidents. Take for example, the Shillong by-pass highway, how many people have lost their lives along this road just in less than a decade. The massive number of lorries plying between Jaiñtia Hills and Guwahati makes our highways potential killers. The nature of our hills roads where there are innumerable bends is another factor that causes more accidents by reckless drivers. How many more innocent lives should be lost before any decisive action is taken to eliminate this permanent threat?
As the old saying goes, “a stich in time saves nine,” I would paraphrase it as “a step in time saves lives.” It is true that when appropriate actions are taken in time to address certain issues, one can avoid any fallout or undesired complications. When it comes to road safety, it is evident that the only lasting solution to truck-related accidents would be the construction of a railway connection. In my opinion, what we urgently need is not a railway line to Byrnihat but a railway connection from Jaiñtia Hills to Assam through Karbi Anglong. Considering the fact that Jaiñtia Hills is presently the area that exports the largest amount of coal and cement, it is reasonable that a railway connection from here would serve best the purpose. Having a railway connection at Byrnihat or even Nongpoh would still mean that thousand of trucks need to ply on our highways which would defeat the very purpose of it. The railway facility from Jaiñtia Hills would definitely eliminate such inconveniences. However, one wonders if such a necessary step would be taken by the government knowing that a powerful lobby of truck owners would oppose such a move. It is evident that if a railway line comes up, 90% of these trucks would be off the road. Finally everything boils down to monetary gain. People and even the government would rather sacrifice innocent lives for material gain. How did we come to such a level of moral degeneration that we value money more than lives? I hope we get a morally upright government that would dare to ignore the demands of selfish lobby groups.
Apart from this, the failure of the government to implement rigorous traffic rules especially those related with speed limit and weight limits, puts commuters in greater dangers. Our highways do not have speed-monitoring cameras and no traffic police station to control speed offenders like in western countries. Therefore, the solutions to this threat to life could be: i) strict monitoring of speed on highways. This could be done also by putting more highway patrol police; ii) by a strict monitoring of weight limit of coal or cement carrying trucks; iii) by constructing strong and high cement road dividers on all bends along the GS highway; iv) and finally of course the permanent and sure solution would be the railway connectivity between Jaiñtia Hills and Assam.
We have just voted for our representatives to our legislative assembly and soon we will get the results. We hope to get a less corrupt government and a more development and people-oriented government. Safeguarding the precious lives of the citizens is the most fundamental duty of a government. Let us hope and see if the next government would take to heart this important suggestion. We do not know which government we are going to get after the 2nd of March, but one thing we would like the upcoming government to do is to find a permanent solution to this perennial issue of traffic safety.
Yours etc.,
Barnes Mawrie sdb
Via email