Guwahati: Miss International India 2016, Rewati Chetri, India’s face at Miss International 2016 in Tokyo Japan, has been officially appointed as `Visit Japan Ambassador’ by the Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency, Ministry of Tourism, Land & Infrastructure and Transport of the Japanese Government.
Rewati Chetri who hails from Assam, had left for Tokyo on October 9 last and is now in the last leg of the mega event. With Just 3 days left for the mega grand finale Rewati Chetri has appealed the Indian subcontinent and fellow Indian to follow her in social media facebook and instagram to like, comment and share her post so that she can grab attention of judges in social media.
‘This is my third pageant and I have always been elected as ‘Miss Multimedia and Miss Popular’ based on my popularity in social responsibility and it all due to my fellow Indians back home who have always prayed for my success and blessed me with likes, comments and shares and inviting their friend list to like my page’, said an Rewati from Tokyo on Monday.
Rewati recently met Miss International organization president Akemi Shimomura who is heading organizing committee of the coveted 56th Miss International pageant in Tokyo, Japan in an interaction program of leading entrepreneurs and later she was awarded the Visit Japan Tourism ambassador certificate to promote Japan Tourism.
Rewati Chetri appointed Visit Japan Ambassador
Centre plans ‘mobile air dispensary’ for NE
Imphal: In a first of its kind service, the Centre is planning to launch a ‘mobile air dispensary’ for the Northeast, with a helicopter, fitted with medical equipment and doctors on board, flying in remote areas for the benefit of people.
Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said the mobile air dispensary with a doctor, necessary equipment and medicines will fly to remote and far-flung areas on regular basis specially where patients find it difficult to reach a doctor and basic health centre.
The experiment, which would possibly be the first of its kind in the country, can also be replicated in other hill states and remote areas having poor connectivity like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, he told reporters here.
On the first day of his two-day visit to Manipur, Singh had a review meeting with state administration and appreciated Governor Najma Heptulla for endorsing this idea by citing the example of ‘Royal Flying Service of Australia’, popularly known as ‘Flying Doctors’, which is meant to provide aid and primary health care service in rural and remote areas.
The Minister said this idea has already been discussed with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, who has indicated feasibility of such a scheme, according to an official release.
Singh said he has already held discussions with management of some of the leading helicopter companies in the country.
He said soon, the officers of DoNER Ministry, North Eastern Council and the Government of Manipur will discuss the issue with officials of Union Ministry of Health to work out the modalities.
Singh also discussed issues related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to set-up a sports university in Manipur. This will help in grooming the Northeastern youth in a professional manner, he said. (PTI)
Manipur CM attacked
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday escaped unhurt after shots were fired at him and his entourage as he was getting out of his helicopter at the Ukhrul helipad. Ibobi Singh was supposed to inaugurate a 100-bedded hospital at Hunphung amongst other activities. The Chief Minister had to cancel his programme and fly back to Imphal. The hospital proposed to be inaugurated was apparently incomplete and the people of the area had warned that pending completion, no inauguration would be allowed. On Sunday evening, a day before the inauguration some people had also detonated a bomb near the newly constructed hospital, thereby destroying completely the space where the public meeting was to be held.
The chief minister’s team could not move out of the helipad as protesters had blocked the road to the project inauguration site about 1 km away. The perception among the Tangkhul Naga tribes is that Ibobi, a Meitei, is anti-Naga and the inauguration of a half-done hospital was only aimed at garnering votes for the forthcoming assembly elections. Those who have visited Ukhrul would testify that this is one of the least developed districts of Manipur although a former CM – Rishang Keishing hailed from there. Conflict ridden Ukhrul is home to the NSCN(IM) supremo Thuingaleng Muivah but the road to his hamlet in Somdal village is almost non-existent. People are poverty stricken and practice subsistence agriculture although of late due to the intervention of the IFAD – NEC project some livelihoods have been created. The Tangkhuls are enterprising people and a good number have moved out of their villages to seek livelihoods elsewhere. The much trumpeted Naga Peace Framework means nothing for the people of this area if their lives are not going to get better. Their only aspiration is for their children to be educated in good schools, colleges and universities which are not available to them. The Government of Manipur has been accused, and rightly so, for giving a step-motherly treatment to the Naga inhabited hills of the State. Ibobi Singh’s attempts to make amends political amends did not go down too well with the people of Ukhrul who feel a deep sense of alienation. The firing was only an intimidatory tactic. Much worse could have happened had the sharp-shooters been serious.
Aberrations in our Celebrations
Paramjit Bakhshi
About a century and a quarter ago Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “God is dead”, adding a few sentences later, “What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?” Having witnessed the Durga Puja celebrations in the city, one is sure that God could not be dead, and even if there are but few festivals of atonement, many a sacred game still gets played with boundless zest. It is only some mere mortals who die during these festivals-some even because of them. Coming back from Cherrajupunjee on the evening of the tenth instant, in the middle of the Durga Puja celebrations, one witnessed an ambulance removing a patient from Umtyngar. As one reached upper Shillong, a massive traffic jam awaited us. It took us three and a half hours to reach the Civil Hospital from there. One wondered what happened to the ambulance and the patient it carried. Of course the death of twenty or so people at the Varanasi stampede recently made national headlines.
It is indeed ridiculous that religious fervour is allowed to spill onto the streets and bring the city, and all movement on its roads and highways, to a grinding halt for hours and days on end. If bandhs have been banned by the courts because they bring everyone’s daily life to a complete stop it is time that the judiciary had a look at the way festivals are celebrated everywhere. My festival cannot become an excuse to make your life miserable. Religion should be a private affair, a personal tete e tete with the Almighty, confined either to the home or a place of worship. There is no valid reason for it to become a public nuisance and appropriate every public space. Yet one routinely sees religious processions winding leisurely down the city streets. Stadiums and even the golf course have been used to hold religious rallies. The mullah does not consider it inconsiderate, when he uses a loudspeaker to wake up, not just his flock but folks of all persuasions, early in the morning and neither do priests and pundits when they expound their doctrine or sing their bhajans at deafening decibels at all hours of the day, evening and night. Even though we might rave and rant about middlemen in business and commerce, we all confer special privileges on our intermediaries to God, even when it becomes evident that their words are often what divide men from other men. Some of them of course, cross all boundaries and exhort people to hate and kill rather than be voices of compassion and love. As Jonathan Swift put it, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”
The freedom of religion envisaged in our constitution surely did not mean that we lose all sense of civic responsibility. Sometimes one gets the feeling that all major religious celebrations are little more than shows of strength. Just as politicians round up people for their rallies, the organisers of religious events also like to have as high a head count at their shows, even if that dilutes the sobriety of the occasion. The trouble is that though political rallies take place once in a four or five years, religious gatherings are regular annual events. Such occasions do little to take us closer to heaven or to mokhsha or jannat but surely do prevent us from carrying out our earthly obligations. Every year at some pilgrimage or other there is a stampede that kills scores of people. In their overzealousness to deliver people to heaven in the afterlife, the religious authorities often do not care about people dying as a result of unregulated religious assemblies or inter religious strife and condemn many families to a living hell in having to cope with the loss of loved ones. To quote the Punjabi Sufi poet, Bulleh Shah, “Going to Mecca is not the Ultimate (solution), even if hundreds of prayers are offered, Going to river Ganges is not the Ultimate, even if hundreds of cleansing baths are taken, Going to Gaya is not the Ultimate, even if hundreds of verses are chanted, Bulleh Shah the Ultimate is, When the ‘I’ is removed from the heart.”
It should be the primary duty of the organisers of these religious extravaganzas, to ensure that their faithful, do not jeopardise the freedom of movement of other people. But one has rarely, if ever, seen our religious leaders preach public decorum, in the masses they seek to lead. In many parts of the country highways are blocked every Friday, because the faithful gather to say their prayers on them, and even in a rented house at Laitumkhrah our gate was routinely blocked by people, parking their cars to attend service every Sunday. “Religion is the opiate of the people”, wrote Karl Marx more than a century and a half ago, and judging from most people’s behaviour, it still continues to be so.
Since the organisers of religious fanfare wash their hands off being responsible for their followers’ behaviour, it is incumbent upon the executive to impose appropriate strictures while granting permission for such events. As things stand though, that idea is mere wishful thinking, because the executive in the state has been in a condition of perpetual slumber. As children we used to wonder how Rip Van Winkle could sleep for thirty years, but as grown-ups we seem to have taken the four decade long somnolence of our government with a total lack of incredulity. Rather than doing their duty, our elected representatives were themselves busy, visiting the pandals. Thankfully for us, all but one unelected VVIP, confined their visits to the day light hours, when traffic was manageable. This gentleman however chose to go around in the evening, thereby adding to the traffic snarl and to the woes of the perplexed traffic cops, who sweated to bring some order in the chaos. Surely if he had eyes to appreciate the idols, he would have also seen the discomfort of the lesser mortals as his cavalcade passed. Seneca voiced an eternal truth when he said, “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful.”
Religion is a sensitive topic for most of us so perhaps one can stop at this point. It is not one’s aim to denigrate religion, but to make people aware that what is one man’s meat could be another person’s poison. For a few days Shillong turned from being a Compromise City into a Completely Clogged city. This being in reference to my last piece titled, “Compromise City”, to which a number of people responded. One responder suggested quite aptly that our hometown be called Cab City. After all it is the cabbies that rule the roost on our roads and nothing is more ubiquitous in Shillong than the bee coloured cars. Digressing, perhaps not too subtly, from the main theme of the piece, here are some more suggestions on what the present day Shillong could be called. Sticking to the alphabet ‘c’, one has already touched upon- compromise, confrontation and cab. Another one which comes to mind is, Coal city. After all the character and the look of the city altered completely when cash from the black diamond started flowing in. Assam type cottages with neat lawns and flowers gave way to concrete monstrosities. Coal also brought more trucks, cars and cabs on the narrow streets of Shillong and introduced us to traffic jams. Also in the reckoning would be Corruption city or Crumbling city with the first being the cause and the second the result. Since another opiate has recently become very popular, amongst our young, and not so young, the tag Cannabis city could also be considered. With Diwali around the corner there is also a possibility that for a while we might become Claustrophobic City. Religion will become some peoples excuse to add to the noise and air pollution.
The other ‘c’ which is in the race to be prefixed is Cafe City. Cafes are a welcome addition to the cityscape and provide the right space for the young to mix and mingle minus alcohol. Some of them offer live music and some like The Grub also serve awesome food at very reasonable prices. Sadly these are largely confined to the kilometre or so stretch along Laitumkhrah. Hopefully these will contribute quietly to what one would like Shillong to truly become- a Colourful City.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected].
Dam on Xiabuqu, concerns for India
By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg
On September 30, China announced that it has blocked the Xiabuqu river as part of a major hydroelectric project, the Lalho hydroelectric project at Shigatse. Xiabuqu River is a major tributary of Yarlung Tsangpo, the upper stream of Brahmaputra river flowing from Tibet. The Lalho project has an investment of 4.95 billion and the construction is scheduled to be completed by 2019. It is designed to store upto 295 million cubic metres of water and would help irrigate 30,000 hectares of farmland. The strategic value of the Lalho project lies also in the fact that Shigatse is only a few hours driving distance from the junction of Bhutan and Sikkim, and the city from which the Chinese plan to extend their railroads to Nepal.
The project however has raised concerns in the lower riparian states of Brahmaputra –India and Nepal. While insisting that the project is a run of the river project, the Chinese official agency Xinhua clarified that the construction of the project will not impact water levels in lower Brahmaputra. Yet in the absence of a comprehensive water treaty between China and India, the construction of this dam has undoubtedly raised new concerns. Since 2013 China and India have been sharing water details through an Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) which coordinates on trans border rivers. The construction of this dam however raises new issues into the efficiency of the Expert Level Mechanism.
The concerns of India are in essence threefold. The first is the traditional question of water itself. When rivers are trans boundary in nature, lower riparian states are always at a disadvantage. This is because upper riparian states can restrict the flow of the water and effectively curtail the water rights of the lower riparian states. In this particular case, however, the issue is not limited to the Lalho project alone. This project is only a pointer of the years to come and how it might affect the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra river system. Both India and China have embarked on a massive hydropower energy generation path, yet in the quest for lower carbon footprint, such a race might completely destroy the ecosystem of the rivers. The Chinese plan to construct over 40 dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo. If China achieves this, the character of the river would be permanently altered. These dams could alter the geographical character as well. These dams would be built on slopes with a gradient of as much as 60 degrees and on the meeting point of three of the youngest mountain systems of the world. In essence, the case of an earthquake would be a calamity waiting to happen. If a major earthquake were to hit the mountains, millions of people would lose their lives. The Kedarnath disaster of 2013 in India would be a grim reminder of the dangers in trying to tame the Himalayan river systems.
The second concern is the character of the Brahmaputra river itself. The rivers of the Himalayan ecosystem are younger in nature and by character adventurous. In the last 250 years, the Brahmaputra has changed its course a number of times. The char areas in Assam are fascinating examples of this phenomenon. Every few years new islands appear in the Brahmaputra while old ones disappear. The inhabitants of the old islands are often unsure of the country they belong to. This often gives rise to political unrest in North Eastern states. Any move to control or shift the Brahmaputra course might accentuate the political problems in the North East India.
The third concern is the larger role that the river plays in the life of people in the North Eastern region of India. A number of tribes along the rivers have built livelihoods around the course of the river. They centre their lives around fishing and other activities. For example, lumberjacks from Arunachal Pradesh cut logs in the mountains and transport them through the Gai, Ronganodi and Subanshiri rivers (all tributaries of Brahmaputra) via rafts. It makes for a fascinating sight when people sail on rafts for days till they reach the plains with logs tied to the bottom of their rafts. The influence of these rivers in the lives of the people would thus be immense.
The way forward then is to engage in a comprehensive dialogue. While the 2013 Expert Level Mechanism was a much warranted step, much more needs to be done. Both India and China have set up aggressive goals for themselves in combating climate change. Shifting from non renewable energy sources to renewable ones like hydroelectricity is an important step in this direction. However, as global evidence would have shown us, large dams are not the solution to energy sources. Constructing continuous run of the river dams would damage the ecology of the river too. A river is not only the water but the flora and fauna, the complete ecology in totality. Dams in large number damage this ecology of the river. And all stakeholders have to realise this. China has to take India into confidence because rivers shouldn’t be used to further political or geostrategic agendas. There is the ecological and environmental question which should be approached through consensus. Rivers are in truth common heritage of the world to be nurtured by all.
(Views expressed by the author are personal)
Religion a private affair
Editor,
Normally I am not given to carping unnecessarily but as a resident of Umpling I have been subjected to arbitrary diversion of traffic from the RR Colony, at timings chosen by the residents because of their non-stop celebrations. I wish to ask under what law is the use of public roads allowed for religious activities and who gives the right to one religious group to block roads for days on account of their religious ceremonies? This is exactly what the saying, “Give them an inch and they take a mile,” means. People try and make adjustments during Durga Puja out of respect for religious sentiments. That does not mean that dismantling the set up should take another week with some more celebrations in tow which are not exactly religious. On Sunday night the sound system that beat all decibels including that stipulated by the Supreme Court was violated and Bollywood songs were belted out from the place where just days ago the goddess Durga had been revered. Surprisingly there are no policemen in the area to check this violation of public order. Will the OC of Rynjah Police Station pay a visit to places under his jurisdiction or will he only spend his time doing paper work inside his office?
Yours etc.,
NR Pyngrope,
Via email
Plight of rag-pickers
Editor,
Millions of our brothers and sisters are engaged in rag picking. They are doing great service to the cause of India’s garbage disposal and world’s environment, risking their own lives. They dispose of the garbage in the most scientific way by taking the recyclable materials from the garbage to where it can be recycled. Without their service, those materials would have been burnt contributing air pollution and temperature to our environment. Given they collect recyclable garbage all around, their service also help stop at least a part of the scattered garbage from going into our drains, water bodies and soil. Ironically, those rag-pickers in their unclean appearances and facing the threat of allergy, skin rashes, tuberculosis and several other infections are trying their best to make India clean. Indeed, they prick our conscience. They should be rewarded for their service. Instead of the prevalent practice of costly celebrity- photo- session of cleaning some “clean garbage”, adult rag-pickers should be employed to help Swachh Bharat Abihiyan (SBA) to have more teeth. The need of the hour is to entrust local self governments to register all adult rag-pickers in their respective areas and make them engage in garbage recycling, compost creation and management. Corporations, municipalities and panchayats are to provide each adult rag-picker under their jurisdiction with an identity card, a uniform, a sack and a stick (to shoo away street dogs and to rummage through a garbage). They should also be given some money, food, soap, hand – gloves and pollution – masks every week. These will give them recognition, prestige and protection which they really deserve and need very badly. It will cause more recycling, more compost creation and less burning. Not only does it help to scientifically manage our garbage but also check air pollution and global warming into the bargain. Moreover, better look rag-pickers with clean uniform and sack will makeover to some extent the appearance of our country. There is no question of disturbing the exclusive job of the cleaning staff to dispose of the non-recyclable garbage. As for child rag-pickers, a government is not supposed to turn a blind eye to such colossal wastage of human potential. Child rag-pickers must be attracted to school with food package and other incentives apart from midday meal.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Only a wrongdoer apologizes
Editor,
Apropos the letter to the editor by the principal, Shillong Public School, (ST Oct 22, 2016) who defended his school and blamed a section of media for going overboard in tarnishing his reputation and that of his teachers, it was stated that the State Commission on Protection of Child Rights would deliver the final verdict and it is not right to pass any judgment on the matter. However, your paper also reported that the parents have accepted the apology of the principal. That the parents of the child who faced corporal punishment at Shillong Public School have accepted the apology of the principal and appreciated such move, now raises the question that if the school and its principal were not guilty then why apologize? The matter is very confusing and we the general public are eager to know what exactly has taken place because the incident pertains to corporal punishment meted out to children and every parent is very concerned about their child’s welfare in the school.
Yours etc.,
Kamal Khongrymmai
Shillong-6
Ex-UPA min downplays defection in Congress
Renuka cautions against rumours about China’s Brahmaputra dam
in the city on Monday. (ST)
SHILLONG: Former UPA minister Renuka Chowdhury said on Monday the Congress central leadership “is strong enough” to endure the onslaught of defectors and rebels.
Chowdhury’s comment comes at a time when the Congress in the State is reeling from defection to the BJP and a leadership crisis where several party members are questioning AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s efficiency.
Commenting on the ongoing crisis here, the Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh said, “People want to change (party) after enjoying all the benefits and the easiest thing to do is to attack the leadership to justify their betrayal. If there was a problem they should have approached the party.”
The Congress has seen many leaders leaving the party after the BJP came to power at the Centre. It all started with Chaudhary Birender Singh from Haryana and continued with Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma and recently Rita Bahuguna Joshi leaving the Congress for the saffron party in UP.
On using technology to map China’s dam building on the Brahmaputra, Chowdhury, who is also the Chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, said, “At this point the situation is hypothetical. It is a sensitive issue and the government will take a call if such things happen. A lot of speculations are made and since it has not happened, we should exercise caution to see that we don’t promote rumour mongering. If they (China) do so, they will have the answers.”
The former Union minister also interacted with the staff at North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC). Refusing to divulge details of the discussions at the Committee level, she said, “We cannot discuss much information about what the committee is doing till we present the report to Parliament.”
When asked about the frequent floods in the North East, Chowdhury said, “Internationally people are working on it. But nature is mightier than man in many ways.”
With India being a predominantly agricultural country, Chowdhury said a lot of data is generated by institutes to focus more on agriculture and climate change impact on the well-being and flora and fauna of the country.
CBI submits MPSC scam report to HC
SHILLONG: The CBI submitted the final report of the inquiry into the MPSC recruitment scam to the High Court of Meghalaya on Monday.
During the hearing of the case on Monday the division bench of the High Court said the senior counsel for the CBI, V.K Jindal, produced before the court two sealed envelopes said to be containing the final inquiry report by the CBI.
During the submissions, the court noticed that the other envelopes containing the documents, sheets, material supplied to the CBI were not produced to which Jindal sought some time and thereafter produced three more envelopes said to contain the entire material that was supplied to the CBI from the registry of the court.
The hearing remained inconclusive and hence the matter was listed for further hearing on Tuesday.
One of the job aspirants, identified as Millon Ch Momin, had filed a writ petition questioning the legality and validity of the result of interviews conducted by MPSC between December 15 and 17, 2014, for the post of junior MPS officers in the Home (Police) department.
The petitioner had questioned the fairness of the process adopted by MPSC and alleged that he was not on the select list despite securing higher marks than four Garo candidates. Subsequently, on June 16 this year, the single bench of the High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter.
‘Voters will judge party, govt in 2018’
SHILLONG: Former chief minister Salseng C Marak has left it to the people of Meghalaya to decide on the state of affairs in the party and the government when it will face the voters in the Assembly polls in 2018.
The statement assumes significance at a time when the AICC is silent on various grievances of the legislators raised in the past against the style of functioning of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and the subsequent action against rebel Congress leader PN Syiem by the party.
Marak remained discreet about the political development in the State which, according to him, is an open book. He only said that some party workers may not be happy with the development.
“But what to do, it is up to the people to judge on these issues in 2018,” a helpless Marak said.
When asked whether the question of CLP leadership is still an issue, Marak said the matter was discussed even at the AICC level and now the issue is apparently shelved, but he asserted that all these will reflect in the next Assembly elections.
“People will give the verdict, let the people judge as there is no use of complaining now,” the former chief minister said.
Asked about the action taken against the KHADC CEM, the former chief minister said it is an open secret that Syiem is not in good terms with the chief minister and that the AICC is aware of it.
No glitch in border fencing survey in EKH
SHILLONG: The survey for the Indo-Bangla border fencing at Pyrdiwah in East Khasi Hills district is nearing completion.
East Khasi Hills DC PS Dkhar told The Shillong Times that the survey “is going on smoothly and there is no obstruction from anyone”. The survey will be over by October-end after which the actual land assessment will take place followed by public notices for claims and objections.
Apart from the staff of the DC office, officials of National Building Construction Corporation are also part of the survey team.
The survey started earlier this month after the East Khasi Hills district administration convened a meeting of land owners in the border areas and the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB), which had no objection to the preliminary survey.