Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 15: The Hynniewtrep National Achik Movement (HANM) today informed that it will write to all three Member of Parliament (MP) of the state to oppose the move of the central government under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to change the name of India to Bharat.

Speaking to media persons, HNAM president Lamphrang Kharbani alleged that the motive of the central government to change the name of India to Bharat is to impose one religion in the country which is against the constitution of the country.

Kharbani said that such an idea to change the name to Bharat also indicates that the BJP-led government disregard the people who are not familiar with the party ideologies like language, religion, practice and customs.

He added that the intention of the BJP government to rename India to Bharat is unacceptable and the HANM and the people of Meghalaya strongly oppose this since India is a diverse nation formed by nearly 500 kingdoms including the Khasi States.

“The HANM strongly opposed the renaming of India to Bharat and we also urged our MPs to oppose this in the parliament” said Kahrbani.

Kharbani said that if the BJP-led government decides to go ahead with renaming India to Bharat, then it will clearly show that the party does not respect the kingdom that was formed to make India and this might lead to mass protests all over the country including in Meghalaya.

Three members of the Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) were arrested for threatening tourists and the owner of a guest house at Mawdiangdiang.

East Khasi Hills SP Sylvester Nongtnger informed on Thursday that some members of the HANM went to Miracle Spring View Guest House located at Mawdiangdiang on the morning of April 3 and threatened tourists of the said guest house.

The tourists had come for a two-day visit to Meghalaya to visit some religious sites and also for sightseeing.

He said the members of the HANM threatened the owner of the guest house with dire consequences which had caused fear and consternation to the owner of the guest house and tourists.

In this regard, a case had been registered with the Rynjah police station and today three accused have been arrested, the SP said.
Meanwhile, the SP said the East Khasi Hills District police warned anyone from taking the law into their hands by disrupting the visit of tourists to the state.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 5: Social activist Tennydard M Marak has filed an FIR against Cabinet Minister and Williamnagar legislator Marcuise N Marak for alleged corrupt practices and violation of the model code of conduct in the recently held 2023 Assembly elections.

The FIR was filed with the Williamnagar police station in East Garo Hills District.

Tennydard had also filed a complaint petition before the Chief Election Commissioner of India on March 23, with copies to the Prime Minister of India, Home Minister as well as Chairman of the North East Democratic Alliance requesting their intervention into the matter and take necessary steps to declare the election of Marcuise N Marak to be void for adopting corrupt practices and holding a fresh election in Williamnagar constituency.

In the FIR, the activist alleged that Marcuise N Marak had circulated the Report Card of 2018-2022 on his activities during the last five years during the election campaigns.

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“What is shocking to note that Marcuise N Marak had circulated the report card (which was) printed and published by Jesubell Ch Marak (block secretary, NPP) on February 3, whereas the model code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission is in operation in the state with effect from January 18, thereby amounts to a clear violation of the model code of conduct and therefore, his election deserves to be declared as illegal and fresh election be held,” he said.

Stating that Marcuise has not only deceived the voters of Williamnagar but also a case of breach of trust, Tennydard said the report card is just a blatant violation of the model code of conduct by the MLA.

He further alleged that the report card contained a false and fabricated report of achievement during 2018-2022 but contains no agenda of what he will do if he is elected and thereby misguided the voters by showing his fabricated performance report which has no foot to stand.

“The report card also exposed the true picture of his zero performance report so to say as the works are either incomplete or not done anything at all but claimed to have done it. The pictures given in my petition to the Chief Election Commissioner of India will reveal the truth of my claim,” he said while adding that “The report card claims to have done beautification of the Williamnagar Girls Secondary School is nothing but a blatantly false and fabricated claim of Marcuise N Marak. If you visit the school today you will find the actual truth of his false claim as the school has a boundary wall with rotten rested C.I. Sheets and most importantly the Girls have no gate which is a must for any school.”

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Tennydard said he has waited for more than 10 days but unfortunately no action has been initiated till date for such an important issue.

“Under compelling circumstances, I am filing this FIR with enough prima facie evidence so that the police can verify the truth and initiate appropriate steps after due investigation and book him under the proper section of the law and leave an example of rule of law that “nobody is above the law” before the society at large – which is the need of the present hour,” he said while requesting the police to register a case under the proper section of the law and initiate strictest action against the guilty without wasting any further loss of time.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 14: Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has reviewed the functioning of her departments – health & agriculture – and asserted the need for regular evaluation of their performances.

“I would like to see that the department evaluate themselves regularly,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

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Stating that there would be a hundred-day plan in both the departments, she said, “I will work with the departments and we will constantly find a way out to be in touch with the head of the state because if that intervention which is lacking is not attended to then I think we will have the sense of defeat and we have to get pass this feeling of hopelessness in our service to the public. I will try my best to be there as well to make sure that I am able to do that.”

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Asserting that governance is not all about those in government, the East Shillong legislator said, “I think we need to give every MLA in the state of Meghalaya equal opportunity to present their versions of what our weaknesses, our challenges and our strengths are.”

“I would like to see that we work together as a team because Meghalaya will only shine if every individual elected to the House is given that opportunity to express how best we can turn around our system,” she added.

Referring to the health and the agriculture sector as two very big departments, the lone woman cabinet minister said, “I am also happy to know that we have now segregated a few missions whether it is with Agriculture or with the health department. Now we need to make sure that the missions we have embarked on actually materialize and start yielding the necessary results.”

“So I hope that we are able to do justice to all of these. I have also seen that technological interventions are a major component both in the health as well as in the agriculture department. They have tried to segregate each of these departments. They have given me the ideas of where are the areas of funding and which are the areas that need to be further improved,” she added.

Giving a quick review of the health department, Lyngdoh said that as a minister she has noticed that if there is anything that needs to work in the state, it has to be a participatory attempt by the government agencies as well as private players and the people and the entire unique system that we have in the state.

“I have made one major observation in the health department. The first thing is that finally we are now at that stage where we believe if health has to be understood we have to first involve grassroot participation. That was good thing I saw where we now are going to be involving the people in implementation of various health schemes in the state of Meghalaya,” she said while asserting that “We will never be able to address the entire problems of infant mortality or maternal mortality rate if we do not have people participating in it.”

She further emphasized the need to evaluate all health schemes being provided to the people and to also be understood by the recipients of such schemes.

“In the health department, we have seen that systems need to be installed. Now we are looking at the last mile approach which is again very good,” she added.

Also stating that the agriculture department has its own set of challenges, Lyngdoh said, “We now need to make sure that marketing is at centre stage in agriculture. That having been understood, we need to take it forward.”

“We now understand that organic farming is to a larger extent practiced in the state of Meghalaya. I have been briefed that we have some challenges there as well because our farmers are not used to this kind of an approach.”

She also commented on the cooperative movements and self-help groups in the agriculture department and said these are all people motivated oriented programmes.

She further stressed the need to make sure that auditing of all the funds in the two departments should be done by the people for the people.

Lyngdoh also stated that bureaucracy in the state has realized that people are important because it was quite distant five years ago.

“This is again going to be good for us and the state of Meghalaya and I am going to ensure that this good model is actually carried out in letter and spirit. This is one thing that I have seen in both the agriculture as well as in the health department,” she underscored.

Speaking about the upcoming Assembly’s budget session which will commence from March 20, Lyngdoh said, “I will again look at all of this once we pass the first Assembly. Budgeting is something which I am exposed to both in the health as well as in the agriculture department. I will not be able to comment much on whether or not the budgeting that we are going to receive will be sufficient to overcome all of these challenges that we have seen in the various departments.

Of course, we are depending to a large extent on central funding. So like every other department in the state of Meghalaya central funding is the dominating source of funds so I will have to look at all of this to see how best we can go ahead and make sure that we start performing both in the health as well as in the agriculture department.”

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 9: UDP leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today said there is a need for regional parties to rebuild themselves.

 His statement came after the attempt of the regional parties to form an alternative government could not materialize.

 “We need to rebuild and we need to do our proper homework. We failed because whatever unity that was there was so fragile, so there are lessons that we can learn and we have learned,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

 On the former UDP president late Donkupar Roy’s dream to ever come true, the minister however said, “Well there is a saying that between what is said and done, more is said and less is done and I think we have to try to walk the talk, set goals, refocus and reenergize ourselves.”

 The UDP has 11 MLAs in the just-elected 59-member House.