Rakkam bats for Baghmara – Assam – Bangladesh rail connection

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Nov 15: Border Area Development Minister Rakkam A Sangma has urged the government to consider a proposal for connecting Baghmara in South Garo Hills with Guwahati, Assam and Bangladesh with a railway line.

Rakkam, who is also NPP legislator from Rongara-Siju, also termed the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act and provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India as the greatest protection mechanism for the indigenous people while referring to groups opposing railways in Khasi-Jaintia region apprehending influx and illegal immigration.

Speaking to reporters, the minister said there was a proposal a long time back when Captain Williamson Sangma was chief minister to connect Guwahati with Bangladesh through Baghmara with railways.

“I will also still demand to make this happen because Baghmara can be the corridor for Meghalaya and for the North East where it can be connected directly to Dhaka. The trade and employment generation will rise up and lots of our young people and economy will improve,” he said while adding “Therefore, it is my pleasure to demand to the Government of India and I will also be meeting the Chief Minister very soon as a local MLA to demand for railways to connect Guwahati to Bangladesh to Dhaka through Baghmara.”

According to him, a petition was already submitted that an integrated check gate should be set up at Baghmara so that tourists and businessmen can come in because if the railway comes, the economy of the people will improve to a great extent.

Asked if he would request the government to divert the railway project proposed for Shillong and Byrnihat to Baghmara, Rakkam said, “If it is possible, I would request the railways department, the government of India, the government of Meghalaya to connect Baghmara with Guwahati by railway.”

Having said so, to me as education minister I want to say that every year I have been attending most of the graduation and convocation ceremonies in the state where there are 18,000 to 20,000 graduates and post-graduates every year. Out of 20,000 in a year, only 1,500 – 2000 government jobs are being advertised while the rest 18,000 plus educated are unemployed.”

On the continued opposition against railways in Khasi-Jaintia regions, the minister said, “Yes, there may be issues with everybody but now we have to decide the merits and demerits. Coming of railways to Shillong or East Khasi Hills may have the negative and demerits also but the merits are also there like the connectivity, job opportunities. The people from Garo Hills are going to Dimpur to buy clothes because the cost is cheaper. Therefore, I request that our people decide after comparing the merits and demerits. Whichever is heavier (they should go with that only).”

He said people should allow railways if proper mechanisms can be installed as employment and economy is the need of the hour.

“Therefore, we need more industries, we need more railways, we need more markets, we need more institutions which will create employment for the young people. Livelihood is above all important. As a son of the state, we should find a way to make our graduates employed.”

Also stating that it is important for the government to take up the issue of influx and immigration on priority, Rakkam said granting of ILP or not is in the hands of the Government of India but the Land Transfer Act and provisions of Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India are the greatest weapons for the people of the state. He also announced that the government is also contemplating introducing the Sixth Schedule as part of the school curriculum.

“Everybody should know this. We want to introduce in our curriculum that every students must read about Sixth Schedule about the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo people, the culture, the tradition, the food, the assets, the rivers, the potential that we have…the Sixth Schedule is a complete mechanism,” he said while recalling that “Captain Sangma once stated when somebody asked a question that there are some people who wants to do away with the Sixth Schedule. Captain stated anybody who decides to do away with the Sixth Schedule he is the most useless person on the earth as the Sixth Schedule is a greatest pillar laid down by the leaders of the past specially for tribal people specially for Meghalayans.”

“Therefore, the Sixth Schedule is a greatest pillar and greated protection mechanism for all of us. Having said so, the provision of the Sixth Schedule if strengthened we got nothing to lose,” he asserted further.

Vasco da Gama Goa and Mirch Masala

by Parag Ranjan Dutta

To the present generation, the liberation of Goa from the Portugues could be a myth. A 1969 movie, Saat Hindustani by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas on Goa liberation, depicted the struggle of Maria and five others picked up from different locations and backgrounds to liberate Goa from the Portuguese. This was the debut film for the great Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan where he portrayed the character of the poet Anwar Ali. The real incident that cost the Portuguese very dearly was a firing incident at a fishing boat near the coastal area by the Portuguese army that killed an Indian fisherman. On December 19, 1961, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sent armed forces to this coastal state. A joint operation by the navy, air and land forces for thirty-six hours forced General Manual Antonio e Silva to sign a surrender treaty. Long before this incident Goa Liberation Army, founded by an Indian Army officer, Shivajirao Desai in 1950 made attempts to end colonial rule by revolutionary tactics and direct action.

On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon on a mission to India through the Cape route and Indian Ocean to reach the spice World and India. He sailed with a fleet of four ships and reached Calicut, present Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast, on May 20, 1498 on board the flagship Sao Gabrial. After a long voyage Vasco da Gama reached the port of Mombasa in East Africa. It is highly interesting that da Gama met a Gujarati sailor Kanji Malam at Mombasa and sought his help to explore the sea route to India.

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During that period spice trade was very lucrative that earned handsome profits. When the Ottoman Empire of Turkey was at the zenith of its power they took control of sea routes to the spice islands of South East Asia. But that did not discourage the Europeans. Instead in the quest of finding new fortunes, they sailed the mighty oceans to find the black pepper pods called the “Black Gold”. Seven years before Vasco da Gama launched his fleet to reach India, Christopher Columbus too set sail to reach India. But destiny drove him elsewhere to the Caribbean nation island of Haiti and then to America. While on his way to find the East Indies he dropped anchor offshore from South America and found chili instead of black pepper. Chili is a native of South America which used to grow in the wild and later domesticated by the natives.
It is believed that Vasco da Gama brought along with him a number of crop plants that included bell pepper, commonly known as capsicum and was later planted in Goa for the first time. From there it gradually spread to Bombay where locals called it Gova mirch. Chilli, known as mirch in India is a South American fruit was introduced by the Portuguese. Chili spread rapidly throughout the world. Before chili was introduced in India Indians were using black pepper growing wild in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka. Red chilli, an important ingredient of the Indian cuisine did not originate in India. A native of Mexico it was brought to India by the Portuguese traders. Two of the most important ingredients to make Indian cuisine special, red chili and tomato are actually not native to India. of the most important ingredients to make Indian. Prior to the coming of the Portugues, the Indians used to consume a number of grains like rice, wheat, bajra and maize. A number of crop plants belonging to the Solanaceae or the nightshades that include tomato, potato, pepper etc. were introduced in India by the Portuguese, mainly from Latin America, or the New World. Two of the most important ingredients to make Indian cuisine special tomato and red chili are not native to India. Prior to the coming of the Portuguese, not too many fruits found their way into Indian homes. A number of fruit trees like pineapple, papaya, cashew nuts etc. were brought by the Portuguese and extended the cultivation in the new environment. Some 8000 years ago potato was domesticated in the Andes of South America from where it was brought to Europe. Potato was introduced in the early 17th century by the Portuguese sailors and later spread to the northern part of the country, courtesy the British.

Indians in the olden days also consumed a lot of animals which were found in abundance in tropical forests. Archaeological evidence found in the Harappan civilization amply proves this food habit of the Indians.

It was Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who discovered Goa in 1524 when King John III of Portugal nominated him as the Portuguese Viceroy in India. It was the Portugues General, Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from Adil Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur Sultanate. In 1492 Goa was annexed to Adil Shah’s Bijapur Sultanate. Though da Gama discovered Goa it was Albuquerque who laid the foundation of Portuguese power in India. The entire purpose of conquering Goa was to find a strategic location for Portugal’s naval base and to control maritime business in the Indian Ocean. To the Portuguese Panjim, a small village located at the mouth of the Mandovi river had a very strategic location. After the liberation of Goa Panjim was renamed Panaji. The Portuguese rule lasted 450 years.Goa finds a mention in Mahabharat where Goa has been mentioned as Gomantak. Portuguese is the language spoken by most Goans till it was liberated from Portugal in 1961. But today Marathi is widely spoken and the Goans recognise Marathi as their mother tongue. But the legacy of the Portuguese is still found with the earlier generation.

Without hesitation it can be well said that without the Portuguese coming to India we would have been poorer so far as our food habits are concerned.

The author is the former Head Department of Geography, St. Edmund’s College