Flights Of Fantasy
[ M Panging Pao ]
A very warm welcome to all readers to the humid, hot and rainy month of August! During this month, Northeast India witnesses the full bloom of the monsoon, marked by floods and landslides.
The previous month was marked by both good and not so good news. The good news included conduct of jan aunwai sammelans and the launch of the Chief Minister’s Arogya Arunachal Yojana (CMAAY).
The government’s decision to conduct jan sunwai programmes at all district HQs must be lauded. The aim is to enable the common citizens and villagers in remote areas to have access to government services like health check-up, renewal of licences, ration cards, ILP, banking services, etc. This will help common citizens get government facilities from the generally lethargic administration. These jan sunwai programmes need to be conducted every quarter.
The other good news was the launch of the Chief Minister’s Arogya Arunachal Yojana. This scheme is planned to replace the beleaguered CM’s Universal Health Insurance Scheme, which was shelved unceremoniously a few years back due to inefficiency and leakages. The CMAAY will enable citizens to avail cashless health services in empanelled hospitals of up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year. If implemented well, this scheme will offer better health care and relief to thousands of patients of our state.
The other good news is about Oyi Tamut of Siang district being awarded the ‘best international speaker’ award for her paper presentation at the 20th International Linguistic Congress held at Capetown, South Africa, in July. She was the only candidate among representatives from 32 countries to win this coveted award.
Amongst the not so good news were power supply cuts to many parts of the state for a few days, and repeated controversies over the recently conducted Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Examination. The suspicion of foul play and cheating was so much that internet services were suspended during exam timings, which led to inconveniencing the entire population of the state!
The other negative news is about Arunachal Pradesh being ranked at the bottom in the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking among all the states and union territories of India in a list prepared by the World Bank and the department of industrial policy and promotion. Despite the much publicized Act East Policy and the ‘Make in North East’ policy announced by the central and state governments, much more requires to be done in this area.
There was one especially heartening news: the conduct of the Tani Idol – 2018 competition by the Apex Tani Foundation, being organized to create an atmosphere of affinity and brotherhood among all the six Abo Tani clans – Adi, Apatani, Galo, Nyishi, Mising and Tagin. This must be lauded as a unique interstate tribe unifying event. Many more such positive and unifying inter-tribe, inter-state events are the need of the hour. (The contributor is retired Group Captain, Indian Air Force)
