Events that boost morale

[Monday Musing]

[Ranjit Sinha]

While Arunachal Pradesh is passing through an unpleasant situation due to job examinations scam involving APPSC and death of prominent public leaders and achievers, two events – golden jubilee celebration of Arunachal Pradesh Police raising day and literature festival with various types of activities – bring some solace to the people of the state.

I choose the topic involving police for a strong reason. There has been a police phobia in my life since childhood due to all the wrong reasons. It was my parents who used to apply the word ‘police’ in almost every circumstance if I disobeyed their orders during childhood.

“Police coming, don’t play outside under the scorching sun,” or “Open your books, read, otherwise police will come” – these are some common diktats our parents had applied on us during our childhood, which were implanted in my brain cell so deep that I began to believe that the police were born only to torture people.

However, this notion began to evaporate from my brain cell gradually when I realised as grownup man that we need to live under a system which help us live a peaceful life. The police and other security forces are just playing their role as protectors of laws and peacekeeping force.

Even today, I observe that visits of police personnel in remote areas and villages are considered to be bad omen. The poor, innocent and peace-loving village people in remote areas are afraid of police as if they are there to create only fear psychosis among the villagers without proper reason.

Therefore, the occasion might be a golden jubilee for the APP, but the outreach programmes organised by the APP to bridge the gap between the people and police personnel in remote areas were long overdue.

We cannot deny the fact that conducting outreach programmes in remote villages often involve huge fund and is also time consuming, particularly for the police personnel who remain busy in maintaining law and order.

Despite all these obstacles, I hope the police department will continue its outreach programmes, at least with awareness camps on laws and drug menace, which will also help the police department in building a strong bond with the common people.

On the occasion of the 50th APP raising day, the state government also announced to “institute golden jubilee service medal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the APP’s raising day,” and to introduce annual sports events for the APP, which will go a long way as morale boosters for the police personnel.

Another event is the literature festival, which has been spreading its tentacles across the state, thanks to the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society (APLS) president and Sahitya Akademi awardee YD Thongchi, the pioneer of literary movement in Arunachal Pradesh.

The 4th edition of the Arunachal Literature Festival, organised by the IPR department, in collaboration with the APLS, in Namsai, with participation of eminent and emerging writers, has succeeded in creating awareness on the importance of literature in the state.

I personally believe that the people who love literature and involve in literary activities are ambassadors of peace in the society in their own level.

The state government, particularly the education department, must come out with a policy to help the budding writers of the state and the Lohit Youth Library movement, which is gaining momentum in some districts of eastern Arunachal.