Editor,
The letter by Marbiang Rymbai ( ST dated 22nd July 2025) underscores a pressing challenge: reconciling Meghalaya’s vibrant cultural heritage with the imperatives of constitutional governance. While festivals are a cornerstone of our identity, the coercive shutdown of central government offices and essential services during such events (even on local holidays) raises legal and ethical concerns that cannot be ignored. Recent incident is the forced closure of a postal office on the occasion of Behdeinkhlam.
Central institutions like banks and post offices function under Union laws, including the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, and directives from the Reserve Bank of India. These statutes establish a uniform framework for operations, ensuring equitable access to services for all citizens across India. Attempts to override these provisions through pressure tactics not only lack legal standing but also risk destabilizing the federal balance envisioned by India’s Constitution.
The human cost of such disruptions is significant. When essential services are forcibly halted, vulnerable groups—farmers awaiting crop loans, students needing time-sensitive documents, or elderly citizens reliant on pensions—face tangible hardships. The very communities these festivals aim to celebrate are often the ones disproportionately affected by such interruptions.
A proactive approach is needed to align cultural observances with institutional integrity. Clear communication of Union laws to local stakeholders, coupled with mechanisms to mediate conflicts, could prevent unlawful encroachments on national institutions. Equally critical is fostering a culture of advocacy that prioritizes dialogue over coercion. Cultural preservation, at its core, should strengthen social cohesion, not fracture it.
Meghalaya’s enduring strength lies in its ability to honour tradition while upholding the principles of justice and inclusivity. By rejecting methods that impose exclusionary demands, we ensure that our cultural pride becomes a bridge—not a barrier—for unity in diversity.
While many NGOs in Meghalaya claim to act as guardians of cultural heritage, their role in coercing central government offices to shut down—even for local, non-state holidays—demands urgent scrutiny. These organizations, often self-appointed custodians of tradition, exploit community sentiment to advance demands that not only lack legal validity but also undermine national institutions. By weaponizing festivals as tools of pressure, they prioritize symbolism over substance, disregarding the very citizens they claim to protect. Farmers, students, and pensioners bear the brunt of these disruptions, their livelihoods and dignity sacrificed at the altar of performative culturalism. True advocacy requires dialogue, not diktats. NGOs must ask: Does cultural pride justify violating federal law? Does tradition thrive when it silences the voices of those it marginalizes? Let us reject the conflation of coercion with celebration and demand accountability from those who abuse their influence.
Yours etc.,
Dr Omarlin Kyndiah,
Via email
Need to address stark poverty
Editor
I write to show my deep appreciation, yet horror for Salil Gewali’s article, “Story of a Mother and her Daughter,” TST (July 23, 2025). Appreciation for this most moving article; horror that in a world of mega billionaires, some do not even get enough to eat. That here we are at the threshold of the twenty-first century, and yet, a young mother and daughter must make do with sharing a gift of three pieces of toffee for breakfast. How did this mother feed herself when pregnant with her daughter? How many pregnant women in rural Meghalaya lack basics, like food and medical care?
Is it that difficult to pull people out of such grim levels of poverty? What is wrong with providing every impoverished mother, especially single mothers, a base salary, alongside subsidized or free food, medical care, and education? Where there is a will, there is a way. All it takes is for the stakeholders to show grim determination, genuine altruism, and less corruption.
That a young mother and her child have to make do with three pieces of toffee for breakfast, sometimes lacking even this, is grounds for shame for all who have enough to get by. The dignity and integrity of the poor in India have always moved me.
Yours etc.,
Deepa Majumdar,
Via email
All roads need policing
Editor,
With reference to your report, “Extortion Rides Road Accident Trick in City” (The Shillong Times, July 23, 2025), the rising incidents of drunkards and suspected drug addicts staging fake accidents to extort money from drivers is alarming and demands urgent attention. These scams, occurring mainly in specific areas, pose a serious law-and-order challenge and reflect a deeper social issue linked to drug and alcohol addiction.
Drivers, if they remain alert and cautious, can avoid falling victim to such scams by not engaging in physical confrontation, informing the police immediately, refraining from making on-the-spot payments, and using dashcams for safety. Patrolling in vulnerable areas needs to be intensified, and rapid response teams should handle such incidents promptly. Strict enforcement of laws against extortionists and regular public awareness campaigns through social media, schools, and community programmes are important deterrents.
Drug awareness drives are conducted occasionally but need to be more frequent and result-oriented, involving community leaders and rehabilitated individuals to motivate addicts to seek help. Strengthening rehabilitation centres with medical detox, counselling, and vocational training, along with mandatory rehab for addicts involved in petty crimes, is essential to address the root cause.
Such measures are necessary not only on Shillong’s roads but also in other towns and vulnerable areas of Meghalaya to ensure public safety.
Yours etc.,
Jairaj Chhetry
Via email
The Dhankar surprise
Editor,
The editorial “Dhankar springs a surprise” (ST July 23, 2025) made interesting reading. The editorial highlights a pivotal moment, and one that echoes a broader tension between constitutional institutions and political authority. According to Congress leader P. Chidambaram, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar’s admission of impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma crossed a political line, severing trust with the government. Though Dhankar cited health concerns upon resignation, the absence of fanfare or formal farewell in the Rajya Sabha suggests estrangement rather than graceful exit. The Deputy Chairman’s muted announcement of vacancy and the rapid procedural closure further reinforces that interpretation. Viewing this within a systems framework, Dhankar’s confrontation not only exposed the fraying threads of executive-judiciary relations, but also challenged the informal code that constitutional functionaries are expected to follow: discretion, alignment and institutional restraint. His stance however principled or procedural seems to have threatened the governing equilibrium.
Yours etc;
VK Lyngdoh,
Via email