Editor,
The sheer amount of opposition to the ‘draft Arunachal inheritance bill’ made me wonder if this draft of the bill is really ‘anti-Arunachal’ or ‘anti-tribal’ as so many pressure groups/organisations have pointed it out to be. And in my own sort of mini-quest to find out the truth, the first thing I did – and I sincerely hope any individual or groups opposing the bill have done the same – was to read the whole thing that has been put forward, which took me close to an hour (to read the whole thing) and considering that I am what others call a slow reader, I am pretty confident others took (or would take) a rather shorter while.
Now, I am not going to point out what is wrong and what is right in the draft because honestly, I feel I am not educated enough (yet) to comment on this.
But what I would like to point out is this: all the pressure groups/organisations asking individuals (women) to resign from the various positions they hold in the APSCW and the APWWS should, first of all, commend these women for actually taking up so many issues with regard to women and children.
The cases of rapes and domestic violence have been on the rise lately, and all I ever see these ‘pressure groups and organisations’ do is condemn the incidents online and go pitch silent afterwards.
Never have I ever seen or heard about any of these organizations follow up on any of these cases.
Whereas, in sharp contrast, it is the APWWS and the APSCW which have been actively involved in pursuing these cases, and they also actually follow up on these cases on a regular basis (articles regarding these have been published by The Arunachal Times and other local media outlets).
Also, for organizations bringing up anti-tribal and anti-Arunachal sentiments into the conversation, how about this: the most basic essence about the tribal way of life is to live with nature, yes? So, why is there no opposition from you (yes you!) when mountains, literally mountains, are being cut down in the Itanagar capital region (ICR, lol) by both the government (in the name of development) and private individuals (for self-development). Why is there no opposition to coal mining or oil drilling beyond a few angry looking/sounding social media posts? Let us all take a moment and think on this, shall we?
In conclusion, I just have one more thing to mention: I don’t know if the ’draft Arunachal inheritance bill’ is anti-tribal or anti-Arunachal, but what I do know for sure is that the statements/angry rants put out by various organizations and individuals (on YouTube, of all places) opposing the draft are most certainly ‘anti-women’. So much for the northeastern states being more progressive!
Anonymous Arunachalee