Editor,
I was stunned to read the figure of a mere 2.98% unemployment rate given by our Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong when replying to a question in the Assembly recently. This means that unemployment in our state is practically non – existent. The Deputy Chief Minister quoted the figure arrived at by a so -called ” reputed ” agency by the name of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). I wonder what kind of methodology was adopted by this agency. Is it through sample survey? If that is the case then another question arises : What is the size of the sample?. In any case, sample surveys, especially of small sizes have been thoroughly discredited. We just saw how widely off the mark the exit polls ( based on sample surveys ) of the recently declared parliamentary elections were. I also wonder why our Government depends so much for advice on outside agencies who do not know anything about the ground realities here. To get an accurate picture, I invite the Government to conduct a house to house survey with the cooperation of the Dorbar Shnongs. I am sure that with a few exceptions, every family with adult children has at least one member who is unemployed and that youth unemployment is not less than 40 – 50% which is increasing day by day as tens of thousands graduate from schools, colleges and universities every year.
Nowadays, most of those employed cannot be said to be gainfully employed even in the Government sector. For example, the PHE department advertised for the contractual posts of Water Analysts and Laboratory Multi -Tasking Assistants for renumerations of Rs 15,000 and 12,000 per month respectively. Are not these kinds of renumerations for highly skilled technical personnel equivalent to slave wages?. These wages are not even equivalent to the government’s own notified minimum wages. This is the plight of thousands of young people employed as contractual workers in the government sector. In the private sector, the situation is even more dire. To cite an example, as per an advertisement in this paper recently, a private college sought the services of an Assistant Lecturer for a monthly salary of a measly Rs. 5000 only! And people are desperate enough to grab at every opportunity.
In rural areas, we can see that there is widespread under-employment and disguised unemployment, the principal reason being that large parts of the State have not adopted multi cropping system until now. We can also see that most villagers are forced to sit idle for 4 -5 months after they have harvested their single crop. The MNREGA scheme does help but it does bridge the gap only to an extent.
Coming back to the answer given by our Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister in the Assembly, I find it very shocking that all our MLAs did not choke when they swallowed this kind of answer unquestioningly. Are these MLAs so cut off from reality that they do not see the armies of unemployed roaming around in their respective constituencies? Don’t they realise that the high unemployment in our state is a ticking time bomb that may explode at any time?
Yours etc.,
Samuel Swett,
Shillong – 2
Empathy above all makes us human
Editor,
When gender-based violence and violence in the name of religion and country occupy the news and our mind space, we need to reassure ourselves with the scientific truth of human unity to rid ourselves of pettiness, prejudices, and pessimism. Often, this truth comes out before us like it did after landslides hit Wayanad. Amid the dance of death and destruction in Wayanad, humanity dawned. Darkness gets a relief when the sun softly touches it at dawn. Our pessimism and doubt in goodness in human beings similarly got a relief. It was when we read the report that some people on their own rushed to the danger zone in Wayanad and saved others at the cost of their lives.
They did not select victims by their clothes. It was a celebration of the bond of love and the truth that all of us have originated from one mother, Mitochondrial Eve, and, therefore, we all are brothers and sisters, irrespective of our religion, race, caste, class, and gender.
Now, let us move to the stage of real drama. Multiple downpour-triggered landslides caused death and devastation, almost completely wiping out Mundakkai and Chooramala villages in the picturesque Wayanad district in Kerala on July 30. Gushing waters, tumbling boulders, and demonic landslides swept away sturdy buildings, a school, many houses, living quarters of plantation workers, roads, and the electricity infrastructure beside uprooting trees.
Sharath, a 22-year-old young man, saw that the roof of his home had been blown away after landslides hit Chooramala. Immediately, he took his parents to a safer place. But he did not stop there. He went out looking for other stranded people. He rescued 18 before he went missing.
Prajeesh, a thirty something young man, ventured up the hill with his jeep the moment the first landslides hit Mundakkai, 3km uphill from Chooramala at the small hours of night. He ignored his friends’ warnings to make a trip up and down a treacherous hill amid landslides. It was pitch dark as landslides thrashed electricity connections. He made the second trip after rescuing many lives in his first mission. After his successful second trip, rescuing several lives, he was last seen in his jeep, setting off for his third attempt.
Prajeesh managed to return twice from the dark and furious Mundakkai in his jeep full of people. On being entreated not to make another trip, he said, “Lots of people are stranded atop the hill. Don’t stop me. I’ll go anyway.” Those were his last words.
Now comes a young mother. Bhavana, a mother of a four-month-old and a four-year-old, heard that many babies had lost their mothers in the Wayanad landslides. She immediately left for Wayanad on August 1 along with her husband to give the children who lost their mothers her breast milk. She said, “I am a mother of two children. I can imagine the situation when children are left without mothers. That’s what drove me to this decision.” Her decision inspired another woman to offer similar help.
Those two young men and two young mothers have reiterated the scientific discovery that says all living human beings are relatives and have originated from one woman. Research has shown that fragments of the mitochondrial genome carried by all humans alive today can be traced to a single woman ancestor living an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. This woman, known as “Mitochondrial Eve,” lived in Africa.
You and I, irrespective of our religion, race, class, caste, country, colour, or gender carry the same genome of that mother. This is a scientific truth, not man-made divisions. Even our difference in blood groups has nothing to do with our class, caste, and religion. It is time to embrace and celebrate the truth in the same way four extraordinary human beings celebrated it in Wayanad.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata