Editor,
Earlier, newspapers used to be the bridge between the government and the common people. Print was the only medium through which common people used to express their opinions on various issues. People would write on readers’ forums about their pain, views, needs, etc, and accordingly the government would act and make policies and programmes.
During the freedom struggle, it was through newspapers that people from different languages, religions and regions got united, exchanged their views and thus launched movements against the British government. The importance of newspapers is such that some central government ministries still keep newspaper readers to read various newspapers to know the people’s opinions.
The government should not wait for people to go for agitation, strikes, movements, processions, etc, to take note of people’s opinions on various issues.
In Arunachal, it seems that our government does not pay attention to people’s opinions expressed through newspapers. Not everyone wants to come to social media to voice their views. Hence, the Arunachal government must go through various newspapers of the state to know what common people think about the government, what they expect from the government, etc.
But it appears that our state government acts only when unions or associations agitate, which is not good, for this would make unions/associations super governments.
The government and the constitutional institutions should not be arrogant because the government has full majority, or that they are constitutional institutions and hence will not listen to the people. Such attitude of the government and institutions lead to anger and agitation. After all, it is the duty of our government to ensure people’s welfare, not to show arrogance.
I don’t know whether this letter is being read by the government, but in any welfare state, the government should always be aware of the common people’s opinion.
Tabom Taming,
G Extension,
Naharlagun