Editor,
I write to express deep concern regarding the recent inter-school Taekwondo tournament for children aged 8 to 19 years, organized by Army Public School Umroi in collaboration with the Meghalaya Taekwondo Association. As a concerned parent, I feel it is imperative to highlight the serious issues that marred this supposedly celebratory event, which was meant to be an opportunity for young athletes to showcase their talents and skills.
To begin with, the tournament’s organization left much to be desired. It was distressing to witness an event meant for over 400 participants unfold with such lack of preparation and foresight. The most glaring concern was the sub-standard food provided during the event, which can be best described as third-class. It is disheartening to see young participants, some as young as 8 years old, subjected to such conditions, risking their health and well-being due to inadequate nutrition.
Furthermore, the decision to host the entire tournament in just two days seemed impractical and ill-conceived. With such a large number of participants, it was evident from the outset that time would be a constraint. Regrettably, this lack of proper scheduling and planning led to the event culminating at an unreasonable 5:30 a.m. in the morning. Such an extended duration was not only physically and mentally taxing for the young athletes but it also put their safety at risk, particularly considering their age group.
As a result of the disorganized schedule and inadequate food provisions, it is deeply concerning that many of the participating children fell sick during the course of the tournament due to hunger and sleeplessness. These young athletes put in tremendous effort and dedication to compete, and it is truly distressing to see their enthusiasm dampened by such preventable circumstances.
Moreover, the scarcity of time meant that some registered participants were unable to compete at all, depriving them of the chance to showcase their talent and hard work. This is deeply unfair to those young athletes who had trained and prepared for the event, only to have their dreams dashed due to poor planning and mismanagement.
In light of these issues, it is crucial for the organizing committee of the Army Public School Umroi and the Meghalaya Taekwondo Association to take immediate action. It is imperative that they conduct a thorough review of their organizational practices and implement necessary reforms to ensure the well-being of the young athletes and the success of future tournaments.
I urge the concerned authorities to address these problems transparently and responsibly, taking into account the safety and welfare of the children. We must strive to create an environment that fosters healthy competition, provides adequate support to young athletes, and upholds the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play.
It is my sincere hope that this letter draws attention to the pressing issues faced during the inter-school Taekwondo tournament and initiates positive changes for future events. Our children deserve better, and we, as a community, must work together to ensure that they are given the opportunities they need to thrive.
Yours etc.,
GG Momin,
A Parent
Via email
Time to replace GDP with GPI
Editor,
The special article ‘Meghalaya Poorest State: Difference in Perception” by HH Mohrmen, (ST July 24, 2023 made interesting reading. Mohrmen raised a very valid point that, “if the farmers constitute 70 percent of the population of the State, then the majority of the people in the State are rich”. I think the retired bureaucrat who proudly proclaimed that 70 percent of the population depend on agriculture have not studied the composition of the population as presented in the Census of India for the State of Meghalaya. The last Census (2011 as the Government of India did not conduct Census survey in 2021 due to the pandemic) data for Meghalaya shows that 23.35% of the population depends on agriculture of which cultivators are 16.67% and agricultural labourers being 6.68% out of the total workforce of 40 percent. So why should not government jobs be attractive when people are made to believe what is incorrect, just because someone is from the government?
According to the Period Labour Force Survey (PLFS), July 2019 – June 2020, National Statistical Organization, Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the percentage of households involved in Agriculture in Meghalaya is 41.31 percent of which 35.12 % are self-employed and 15.5 percent are casual labourers. In absolute term the population dependent on agriculture in Meghalaya as per PLFS survey referred to above is 12,78,626 which is 41.31% of the total population of the State and certainly not 70 percent.
Mohrmen brilliantly drew attention to the story of a banker’s perception of happiness and that of a fisherman’s and rightly concluded that, “In the human pursuit for wealth, nature and the earth in general are exploited and ultimately destroyed.” This is a universal problem with economic development today where ecology is not factored in when measuring Gross Domestic Product. The architects of the GDP — John Maynard Keynes (U.K.) and Simon Küznets (U.S.) — did caution against using GDP as a measure of the welfare of a nation. In 1962 Küznets lamented that, “the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined by the GDP…goals for ‘more’ growth should specify of what and for what.” Some 57 years after Simon Küznets’ lament, Redefining Progress was established to address the challenge Küznets posed. This economic research think tank developed the Genuine Progress Indicator, by Clifford Cobb, and co-authored by Ted Halstead and Jonathan Rowe, the 1994 U.S. GPI results created a minor tremor in the U.S. economic machine.
Genuine progress was considerably different than years of torrid economic growth. For the first time, a holistic measure of the welfare of a nation had been constructed — revealing the true state of the nation’s natural, social, human and human-made capital. Mainstream media were lukewarm about these new ideas, wondering what the GPI had to do with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching new phoenix highs. For a nation so obsessed with economic performance, this cold shower was strange but honest.
Today, the economic mantra that more economic growth (more production; more consumption) and increasing productivity automatically leads to improved well-being, continues despite an honest accounting of the state of real wealth. The GPI gives concrete expression to something many sense about the economy; that we are living off natural, human and social capital. We are cannibalizing both the social structure and the natural habitat to keep the GDP growing at the rate the experts and money markets deem necessary. Yet the nation’s economic reportage and debate proceed as though this erosion of real wealth does not exist. The indicators that should alert us to such tendencies serve to hide them instead.
Yours etc.,
VK Lyngdoh,
Via email