By H H Mohrmen
Next Monday will be December 25, which is going to be Christmas day, and the Monday after that will be January 1, 2024, hence this will be the last working Monday for The Shillong Times till 2024. It will also be my last column for this year. The next column will be in January of 2024 and January has its connection with the Greek god Janus. The first month of the year derives its name from the god in the Greek pantheon of gods which has two faces one to the front and the other to the back. The first month of the year was named after Janus to remind us that this time in the New Year is the time to look forward and also look backwards. It is therefore imperative that as we look forward to 2024, we also look back at what happened during this outgoing year.
First Year of the MDA 2.0
If we are to start from home, that is the state of Meghalaya, in the last election which started at the beginning of the year, the people of Meghalaya did not give a clear mandate for any party to run the government. Very fortunately for the NPP, just as the coalition drama began, the party managed to get a shot in the arm when HSPDP rendered support to the party and NPP continued with the second term of the MDA government. The media called the second term of the Government under the leadership of NPP, the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance 2.0 or MDA 2.0. The only thing that can be said about the first year of the MDA regime is that the first year has not seen the government launching new projects. The first year saw the implementation of old missions and projects from the last MDA government and most of the projects were loans the government took from the different international funding agencies.
All the projects that this government boasts of completing and making functional are national projects supported by the Central government. Projects like Jal Jivan Mission, Smart City project, and Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) are a few central schemes that the state government is implementing. The MDA government also did not introduce new projects this year and continued with the same projects from the previous MDA government.
The Chief Minister Elevate is also like old wine in a new bottle, or rather it is just a bouquet of old flowers rearranged anew just to make it attractive to the beneficiaries. The CM Elevate is all old government schemes and projects put together for easy access of the beneficiaries. Hopefully, in the second year of the government, the state will see new schemes and projects that will help the farmers, the unemployed youths of the state, the women, and the weaker sections of the population, gainfully employed, improve their living standards and enhance their income. As the population in the state grows, the need of the hour for the government of the day is to give its all-out effort to create employment for the youth of the state.
Artificial Intelligence,
Chat GPT, and Other
Technological Developments
In the middle of this year, I met a young friend who asked me if I had tried ChatGPT and I responded in the negative but told him, I am aware of it from reports in the media. Now Open AI is launching ChatGPT Plus which is a conversational AI that can chat, answer follow-up questions, and other activities. 2023 is going to be remembered as the year when AI got the limelight and the battle for AI supremacy has also started. What does AI have in store for the future? Your guess is as good as mine, but it is certain that it is going to largely influence the way people live and work in the future. There is fear the development of AI machines will lead to machines taking over many activities that people are engaged in and that it would also displace many jobs, but it is too early to say how much disruption AI can bring. It is however safe to say that 2023 marks the arrival of AI in the internet space. The other side of the debate is also on the need to have some kind of a mechanism to monitor and control the use of AI, which is also very relevant. Hopefully, the country and the world over will be able to come to some kind of agreement and come up with a policy to monitor and control AI and ensure that it does not have control over humans.
As the rat race for AI begins with the Open AI launch, its version 4, the race for quantum computing and making quantum computers is also on now. The battle for AI and quantum computing supremacy is on. One thing certain is the fact that there is no turning back on the technology be it on AI technology or quantum Computing or quantum computers.
Climate Change
and COP 28 at Dubai
Initially, there were criticisms as to why of all places COP 28 was held in Dubai the Mecca of oil production and export. It is the wrong place for any COP at all. But COP 28 was hailed as the beginning of moving away from fossil fuels. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference, more commonly known as COP28, was the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference and was held at Expo City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The conference was held from 30 November to 12 December and unlike the previous COP, the outcome of COP 28 is welcomed by many. The United Nations press statement said that the Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed with an agreement that signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. It also stated that the conference lays the ground for a swift, just, and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emission cuts and scaled-up finance to achieve the goal. It also stated that in a demonstration of global solidarity, negotiators from nearly 200 Parties came together in Dubai with a decision on the world’s first ‘global stocktake’ to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade. The goal is the overarching aim to keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach. It is therefore heartening that at least on the climate change issue, 2023 ends on a positive note and we are expecting that the increase in temperature will be under control.
At the Global level
the Two Wars
However, the disheartening news comes from Ukraine and Palestine where the war is going on. Israel’s attack on Palestine has compelled the churches in the area to cut down on the feast and fanfare in celebrating Christmas in the region this year. Christmas in the area where Jesus was born will not be the same as any Christmas before this year. Whether the world will see the end of wars or conflict in different parts of the globe is a question that no one can answer, but one hopes that in the year 2024, we will see the end of Wars and battles in the conflict zones all over the world and peace will reign all over.
Come clean go green
In the state where we have festivals organized left right and center and almost every day, the Winter Tales festival was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike other festivals, it is a festival of arts, food, and music, but it is more than that. The festival is also different from the other fests in the state because it was promoted as a green festival, where even the sheds and all the arrangements in the festival were made of sustainable materials like jute, bamboo, etc. The festival was organized by DaKti and was led by prominent artists of the state, Rida Gatphoh, Careen Langstieh, and others. Perhaps it is the first time in the history of the state where a Festival also organized a panel discussion on waste management. The theme of the discussion was also very aptly titled, “Come clean, Go Green. Waste is also going to be a very prominent issue in the years to come.