Editor,
I have often heard people say, “I am a proud Arunachalee”. But when you ask them what exactly are they proud of; they turn silent or resort to raving about their culture and heritage. Sure, one should be proud of their culture and where they come from, but does that mean one should be proud of all the things their forefathers did or did not do?
Yeah well, I don’t think so. Call me a cynic but I have always tried to view things from a different perspective; different here meaning I don’t normally go about thinking the way by our so called “society” has taught us to.
It’s been thirty-three years since statehood and we still do not have an airport, a proper functioning airport; please don’t count the Pasighat airfield as one. Astonishingly, ours is the only state in the entire country, which has no airport. How proud are you now?
We have a literacy rate of 65.4%, which is the lowest in the NE region and considering our low population density; we should have a far greater literacy rate.
If only our leaders emphasized more on the need for a better education system and less on filling their own pockets. And don’t even get me started on the permanent campus fiasco of NIT AP. It’s embarrassing, to say the least. 10 years on and still no campus, how shameful is that? To hell with being proud; if anything, we and the concerned authorities involved should hang our heads in shame.
One thing we definitely should not be proud of is our lovely road. I always say this, “off-roading in Arunachal is not a sport, it’s a necessity”.
Although, I am not quite sure why we do not have a lot of professional off-road drivers from our state, given the amount of practice we have every day commuting.
I think the “honourable union and state sports ministers” should look into it. Arunachalees would surely ace the off-roading circuit.
Have you ever wondered about the waste and sewage management of our state? Have you ever thought where the drains of your homes lead to? Better yet, have you ever wondered why the streets of our twin capital city or ICR as they like to call it now, is so dirty? Well it’s because we have no waste and sewage management protocol in place, I am sure the departments concerned will disagree. But if you call dumping tonnes of litter in a deserted place with no scope of recycling whatsoever and draining all drain water into the rivers “waste and sewage management”, then full marks for your optimism.
Anonymous Arunachalee