Editor,
Apropos the letter to the editor, “The sham of Swacch Bharat” by B Mawrie, while I fully agree that Meghalaya and India needs to be cleaned up, I do not agree with blanket statements made such as the irrelevance of marathons in an event like this. I personally feel the activity of running or marathons is more relevant than some PR event to clean up the Wah Umkhrah which the author felt strongly about. Cleaning up the Wah Umkhrah is another matter altogether and I am sure a number of readers here know about the gravity of the situation and the issues concerning Wah Umkhrah. Running or exercise in general cleanses the BODY and MIND. Especially in a place like India, the rubbish in one’s mind is more damaging than the filth on the streets.
Yours etc.,
Gerald Pde,
Via email
Curiosity on the next VC of NEHU !
Editor,
North-Eastern Hill University is without a regular Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Finance Officer. Of these three important posts, the appointment of the Registrar and the Finance Officer may be done at the University level while that of Vice-Chancellor of NEHU (a central University) can be appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a 3-member search committee constituted by MHRD, New Delhi. It is noteworthy that because of the sluggish and apathetic approach of the MHRD, the Vice-Chancellor’s post in NEHU has been lying vacant for over 16 months and many policy matters, selections, promotions etc. have been pending. In the last one month, some initiative has been taken by the Search Committee to provide a regular Vice- Chancellor to NEHU, and because of this news, a lot of discussions are going on in the University regarding the prospective appointee. It is learnt that the Search committee recently invited the candidates to New Delhi for interaction and has shortlisted some names. As usual, the potential candidates are trying their best to establish personal and political connections to influence the Search Committee so that their names are included in the panel for recommendation to the President of India.
Dr. S.B. Lall, in his article “Class VCs can make a difference” published in ‘Power Politics, Jan. 2010, page 42′ mentioned, ” They appoint such people on the basis of caste, region, religion, political affiliation, muscle and money power as would resist and undo all acts aimed at reforming, rejuvenating and re-energizing the system’. He further mentioned, ‘ Each year the VC’s academic, administrative, financial and social performance should be audited’. It is the general feeling among the NEHU community that new Vice-Chancellor, (whosoever is selected) should be honest and work selflessly for the progress and interest of the University. In fact, the NEHU community cannot forget the self serving attitude of last two Vice-Chancellors who deliberately followed statutory irregularities/ violations, financial irregularities and promoted nepotism and favoritism at different levels at the cost of quality. Many of these actions were highlighted by newspapers and journals at that time. For his self interest and to please MHRD, the then Vice-Chancellor deliberately tried to stop the payment of HASA to the employees and violated the concerned Ordinance. The self interest did not stop there. Even after the completion of his term of 5 years, he tried to continue as VC of NEHU in an unauthorized manner violating the concerned Statute which was not accepted by NEHU community and he was ultimately dethroned. After that the next Vice-Chancellor, who was already the VC of a Central University having more than a year left for the completion of the term, was hurriedly appointed as the VC of NEHU. This decision of the then Search committee resulted in destabilizing the previous University and at the same time this attitude of Search committee/MHRD was not well accepted in NEHU also. This led to unrest and in the third week of October, 2010 MHRD had to rush a high level 3- member team comprising the Vice- Chairman of UGC (presently Chairman of UGC), Chief Secretary Higher Education, MHRD and the Joint Secretary, Higher education, MHRD to Shillong. The meeting of the team members was held with the NEHU community at the Meghalaya Secretariat, Shillong and they promised that next time whenever the appointment of the VC of NEHU or any other central University is considered, the Search committee would visit the University and take the views and concerns of the stakeholders. However, till date there is no news on this. The next VC left NEHU for his personal interests after completing only half of his term. It is difficult to understand why MHRD encourages this attitude in a VC? Because of this mind-set of MHRD, NEHU is without a regular Vice-Chancellor since June 2013 and in the process the academic quality has further deteriorated. This uncaring approach of MHRD regarding the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor should be stopped.
The Vice-Chancellor should work for the interest of the University and should not act as the puppet/agent of MHRD/UGC. If, there is undue pressure from MHRD/UGC to do something wrong against the University Statutes/ordinances and academic interest, he should be ready to resign from the post. At present NEHU is at a very crucial juncture and the ball is in the court of search committee/MHRD to recommend the right candidate for the appointment as VC who will lead NEHU ahead and not drag it further down.
Yours etc.,
S B Prasad
NEHU,
Shillong-22
Callousness of NHAI
Editor,
The tragedy at Umling on October 5 last is culpable homicide by the NHAI and the Meghalaya Government. To think that the engineers, the NHAI and the Meghalaya Government did not foresee such a catastrophe is unacceptable. Whether they are an incompetent lot or monsters who take chances with human lives, they should be charged with murder. This is not the first time that human lives have been lost. First it was the boulder that took an innocent life. This time it had to be a landslide! Either the NHAI have not learnt from their mistakes or they simply don’t care about human lives. They are least bothered about the possibility of a public outcry against such gross negligence.
Now, I clearly understand why projects such as dam making, uranium mining etc. have been opposed. What a joke it is for the Central Govt to think that uranium mining and the Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project will be safe and environmentally friendly, when they can’t even execute a small project like the four- laning of the Jorabat- Umiam road, without any death and casualty. When even the obvious is handled this way only God knows what environment catastrophe awaits us on the four lanes? May the soul of the dead rest in peace.
Yours etc.,
Peter Lunthang
Shilllong-5
