By Albert Thyrniang
The Shillong Times, one of North East India’s oldest English daily newspaper, turned 79 on August 10. On its online home page the newspaper that was launched in 1945 a poster appears reads, “Today, we turn 79. Thank you for being a part of our journey.” The Shillong Times has indeed been on an incredible journey. From a humble beginning of a weekly to a daily then back to a weekly to again switch to a daily; from a tabloid-sized paper to the broadsheet format; from a treadle machine to a modern computer typesetting and offset web printing system; from black and white to multi-colour on the first page, the famed paper that been guided by four editors so far, has come a long way. On its 79th anniversary the paper also modified the online edition to make it more user- friendly.
The name The Shillong Times might have been inspired by the fact that Shillong was the headquarter of British-ruled Assam which included nearly all the north eastern states barring Manipur and Tripura. Hence the paper catered to the whole of the region. Of course, now that is history. The Assam province has become seven states. Shillong is now the capital of Meghalaya alone. However, to its credit, The Shillong Times has been covering not only the ‘Abode of Clouds’ but the entire block and in fact regional, national and international news are part of its content besides, the editorial page, sports and the weekly special feature stories. One can only imagine the challenges and achievements of this venture in its publishing journey. One guesses that reports on the glorious India’s Independence, the painful partition, the Constituent Assembly, the first general elections, the drafting and approval of the Constitution filled the pages of the young The Shillong Times. On its turf the Hill-State Movement, the creation of Meghalaya and other states and thereafter, the twists and turns, the highs and lows, the ups and downs, especially of this state and this region, have the story of the 78 year old. Currently, ST is giving wide coverage to the excruciating ‘Manipur story.’ Besides the news stories, numerous articles, letters to the editor and a couple of editorials on the man-made tragedy have appeared on its pages.
The Shillong Times is a platform for varied points of view. The debates and counters on its opinion page are fascinating. Perhaps, few provide such a stage. The “Letters to the Editor” section is perhaps the most popular. The brief presentations penned by members of the public are the favourite spot for readers.
This writer has seen this paper only in its present format. In high school, in the last three year of the 1980s, that too in a residential set up, one didn’t get the opportunity to read newspapers. It was only from 1991, while in the Pre-University (PUC) stage, that The Shillong Times became a daily read. Those that stood out were the columns by the current editor. With three years in Dimapur and four years in Bangalore the ‘friend’ had to be left behind in the late 90s and early 2000s. When one returned to the state the connection was re-established. To cut the story short one is now associated not only as a reader but as a contributor by way of ‘letters to the editor’ and articles. Thanks to The Shillong Times for the platform to express my thoughts.
This author missed the “Citizens, Constitution and Law” event on its 79th ‘Birth Day’ on the August 12, evening where political and social thinkers, activists, writers, educationists, politicians, and columnists assembled to listen to and interact with the famed lawyer Vrinda Grover in person. One missed the opportunity to meet the human and women’s rights activist who has fought many a battle for women and children, victims and survivors of communal massacres, extra-judicial killings among many others. She has presently taken ups the cases of the sexually assaulted women in Manipur. It would have been wonderful to lend one’s ears to the ‘Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people’ (2013) who forcefully elucidated that “Secularism and our rights are in grave danger.”
The miss was not intentional. A meeting on ‘migrant workers’ in Guwahati that was fixed well in advance was the deciding factor. The deliberation made the participants aware of the facts about migration in the country and the need to act. Referring to the report by a media house in 2020, necessitated by the mess following declaration of the COVID lockdown, a resource person details the large-scale movement of migrant workers even today. There are as many as 45.36 crores of migrants or 37% of the population consisting of both interstate migrants and migrants within states. As per the 2011 census the size of the workforce is more than 50% of the population, out of which 20% or 10 crores are migrant workers. NSSO and the Economic survey data show that there are 65 million interstate migrants, 33% of them daily wagers. It is also estimated that 29% of the population of big cities are daily wage workers.
Migrant workers include daily wage earners or self-employed workers. They are low income workers. They lack formal contract. There is no protection whatsoever in case of abrupt cancellation as unveiled by the COVID lockdown. Expensive and unhealthy conditions of living means that migrant workers move without their families. Hence these workers move back and forth between their place of work and their villages twice to three times a year.
The highest sector that absorbs migrant workers is construction, at 67% in urban and 73% in rural areas. Modern services account for 16% in urban and 40% in rural settings. Statistics tell us that the average monthly earnings of daily wage workers are (1) Rs 2000 – 22%, between Rs 2000-3000 – 32%, between Rs 5000-1000 – 25%, between Rs 10,000-20,000 – 13% and over Rs 20,000 only 8%.
The destinations for workers are cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and others. Migrant workers come mainly Utter Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, It is obvious that less developed states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand record more out-migration rate of workers while more developed states like Goa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat are Kerala have few of their people moving out to other states. The same applies to districts throughout the country. Richer districts have low out-migration while in poor districts workers migrate to more developed districts within a state.
Now, surprisingly the report left out the North East completely. There is no mention of the region at all. When one enquired about this information gap about the North East, the newspaper cited lack of data from the states. Probably there are little or no records with the Stare Labour departments. However, we know that there are a large number of migrant workers both to other states and within states. What would be the number of migrant workers from the North Eastern states outside the region? We don’t know. An activist who was present for the aforementioned meeting informed that a survey was conducted in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala but as he will be reaching his office only by the 23rd we have to do without data for the time being. How many workers from outside would Guwahati, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Shillong, Tura, etc., have? Actual data are hard to come by. Migrant workers move without any registration anywhere.
We who are from the region don’t care. But activists in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune etc., are quite alarmed at the sheer number of workers from the north-eastern states. This is hardly surprising because except for Manipur and Tripura all others are among the poorest states in the country. Meghalaya is the second poorest state of all. Workers migrate because there is hardly any opportunity at home. The fact that they migrate is normal but the concerns are something else. Living conditions are generally poor. In line with the statistics above the pay is usually low. Many are youngsters that dropped out of schools and colleges. They face exploitations and abuse but are unwilling to tell their stories. There are cases of minors being detected. Trafficking of young girls has come to light several times. These are among many other issues!
The discussion also touched on Manipur. The displaced people are in thousands. What do we do about it? Many are students. Those who stay put are out of school. They are with guns instead of books. A few are lucky to be relocated elsewhere. The Bishop of Bangalore has promised to provide free education to Kuki students. A couple of Church organisations and NGOs have followed suit. But what about others?
The plight of migrant workers is a major issue. The government should spend its energy on social causes rather than turning this nation into a religious entity as is evident from the brazen display of religiosity at the new parliament building inauguration.
For now, Congratulations to The Shillong Times for turning 79! May you continue to serve with distinction, the journalistic way!