Corruption, biggest human rights violation
Editor ,
On Friday December 8, the Meghalaya State Human Rights Commission held an event to commemorate International Human Rights Day in Shillong. One of the biggest violations of human rights in India is corruption. Ironically the ugly term which dehumanises the victims was not addressed. Corruption denies every citizen her/ his legitimate rights and impoverishes the abused
Corruption must be seen in totality as a failure of the Executive to deliver and where the Judiciary too doesn’t cover itself in glory. There have been instances galore where citizens are languishing in jails in India and the powers that be have turned a blind eye or a deaf ear to such, much against the Fundamental Rights bestowed to the citizens. The media too has fallen short in raising issues where there have been violations of human rights.
Everything that a citizen is robbed off is due to corruption and unless this is addressed and the guilty brought to book, human right violations will continue unabated.
Yours etc.,
Tyrone D’Brass
Tura
Mohua Moitra’s expulsion undemocratic
Editor,
On Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from Parliament, the editorial, “Mahua Moitra expelled from Lok Sabha” (ST, December 9, 2023) rightly says, “This is clearly another instance of the BJP riding roughshod over parliamentary procedures to teach anyone who dares to question the Prime Minister or any of his crony capitalists, a lesson they will remember.” Earlier, Rahul Gandhi asked questions in Parliament about the government’s alleged patronage of the Adani Group. Then suddenly someone dragged him to the court of law for a comment that he made during an election rally in Karnataka a long time ago on April 13, 2019. Thereafter, he legally fought his way to get back to Parliament. There are other dots to join. NDTV’s Ravish Kumar had the courage to ask the government at the Centre important questions and to criticise crony capitalism. Then Adani Group took over NDTV and Ravish Kumar resigned. Also, many journalists have been facing defamation cases by the Adani Group. Given that the government has consistently failed to give clear answers to the ‘A’ questions that Rahul Gandhi and Mahua Moitra repeatedly asked in Parliament, the needle of suspicion does not therefore point to Mahua Moitra but to crony capitalism.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Who’s creating the fuel crisis?
Editor,
The news report that a fuel crisis has been created mainly because some groups in Ri Bhoi district are extorting money is surely a case that needs urgent handling. It reflects on the failure of the government to contain the plethora of so-called pressure groups that have mushroomed in Meghalaya and are extorting right, left and centre. Time is not far off when even government employees too will have to pay to these groups as is happening in Manipur and Nagaland. After all, we learn all the wrong things very quickly. The centrally owned road construction company is already unable to cope up with the extortion but it seems that the MDA-2 Government is least concerned. What is all this if not failure of governance? Meghalaya has seen corruption since early days but this state has never seen extortion at this scale where even small and petty shop owners are being fleeced. What are the police doing? Or have they also surrendered meekly? After all, the police too are seen extending their hands towards all truck drivers in all parts of the State. I see Meghalaya as a state that has failed on all fronts and the state is only going down a steep precipice. That is why Conrad Sangma has to keep inventing all kinds of festivals to distract people from real issues affecting the State of Meghalaya. Without the noise people will start thinking and asking questions and this is dangerous for any ruling party.
The unfortunate part is that the Opposition parties that are only bragging about who is more popular than whom are saying and doing nothing to point out the mafia rule in Meghalaya. Stop bragging VPP and do your job to bring order to the State!
Yours etc.,
Khrawkupar Diengdoh,
Via email