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2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -SHAJI KA [email protected] -
Do trees yield goldand silver? Does thefi��rst aid kitinclude a spadeand a car jack?
The answerto bothquestions isyes, iftextbooksissued by theMeghalayaBoard ofSecondaryEducation (MBoSE)are to be believed.
Under pressure fromacademics, NGOs andparents, Meghalaya’sDepartment of Educationhas undertaken an exerciseto correct errors in itsbooks. The State’sEducation Minister,Lakhmen Rymbui, hasdirected offi��cials to providehim with copies aftermarking the errors.
Corrective measures“Corrective measures willbe taken so that students donot suff��er. We will look intoevery aspect of publishingso that errorfree textbookscan be provided,” said Mr.Rymbui.
Apart from spelling andgrammatical errors, factualmistakes on the culture andtradition of indigenouscommunities, primarily theKhasis, in the textbooks,had rubbed several
organisations the wrongway.
For instance, the Class IXSocial Science book says:“The Khasi and Pnars arevery good in carving. Theyhave their own style ofmaking gold and silver fromthe tree.”
The book also refers tolegendary Garo freedomfi��ghter Togan Sangma as aJaintia, and omits CaptainWilliamson A. Sangma, thefi��rst Chief Minister ofMeghalaya, from a list of‘prominent personalities ofMeghalaya’.
Similarly, in the Class Xtextbook on health andphysical education, adiagram shows a spade, afl��ash light, a car jack andother car accessories as part
of a fi��rst aid kit.The Class VIII book onSocial Science, too, has
a few errors.Aiborlang Nongsiej,
a Shillong resident,pointed out that acolumn on the‘Preamble to theConstitution inIndia’ has theword ‘brief’instead of ‘belief’.
Overpricing tooIf these were not
enough, some schoolsadhering to the State Boardhave been accused of sellingoverpriced textbooksinstead of the cheaper onesissued by the MBoSE.
The youth wing of theKhun Hynniewtrep NationalAwakening Movement, apolitical party, accused amissionary school in theState capital Shillong ofmaking students purchasean environmental educationbook for ₹��225 each.
“The same book issuedby the MBoSE costs ₹��70,”the youth wing’s presidentThomas Passah toldreporters.
Mr. Rymbui said theBoard would be streamlinedafter the governmentappoints an “effi��cient,fulltime” ExecutiveChairman for the MBoSE.
The Board has not had anExecutive Chairman foralmost three years now, hesaid.
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Gold from trees? Meghalayaseeks correction of textbooks
Rahul Karmakar
GUWAHATI
Spelling mistakes, wrong grammar & dodgy facts need fi��xing
CMYK
B CH-CHE
april 8, 2018 Chennai
Section 2
Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Malappuram . Mumbai . Tirupati . lucknow . cuttack . patna
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Palestinian journalistdies as toll rises to 9GAZA CITY
Two Palestinians, including a
journalist, have died after
being shot by Israeli troops
during border clashes, the
Health Ministry in Gaza said
Saturday, bringing the
death toll in the latest
violence to nine. WORLD A PAGE 3
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IN BRIEF
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WORLD A PAGE 3
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Now in her late twenties,Veeramma Selvan of Thekkekadampara tribal hamletin Sholayur gram panchayatof Attappady has reason tobelieve that her gods havestopped smiling. It was in January last year that she losther fi��vemonthold, underweight son Balu — her fourthchild — allegedly due to milkaspiration.
Pregnancy and childbirthevoke traumatic memoriesfor Veeramma and her husband Selvan. They lost threechildren — a daughter andtwo sons — before Balu dueto health complications resulting from poverty andmalnutrition.
It was the death of Vee
ramma’s 14montholddaughter Kaliyamma onApril 12, 2013 — the fi��rst in aseries of 45 infant deaths inAttapady — that turned national attention on Kerala’simpoverished tribal heartland in Palakkad district.
Under collective careThe infant deaths and pervasive malnutrition promptedthe then UDF government toset up community kitchensto ensure at least one complete meal a day for childrenbelow six years, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women and those abovethe age of 60. Though initially operated through anganwadis, the kitchens werehanded over to the tribalwomen’s Kudumbasree col
lectives in 2014 and are supported by the Central government’s National RuralLivelihood Mission (NRLM).
Though the State government has claimed that thewelfare measure is a successin ensuring minimal nutritional security to tribal people of three panchayats ofAttappady, it has come in for
harsh criticism from the Kerala State Commission for theScheduled Castes and theScheduled Tribes, which hastermed it a complete failurein achieving the desired objectives.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) remains deeply divided over the continuance of the facility
presently operating in 193tribal hamlets. The rethinkhad pushed the scheme to acrisis in February with theKudumbashree units owingthe Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation ₹��6 crore. Ittook Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan’s intervention, fol
lowing an appeal by Kudumbashree activists during hisvisit to Attapady in Februarythis year, for the funds to bereleased.
Ironically, the debate inKerala comes even as Stateslike Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are sending experts toAttappady to study the project with a view to replicating it in their tribal areas.
‘An alien intervention’The Commission said it hasdemanded a thorough re
view of the project based onthe feedback from the tribalcommunity. Speaking to TheHindu, Commission member S. Ajayakumar said 154among the 156 tribal promoters working in Attappadyunder the SC/ST Department were highly critical ofthe project.
“Most of the communitykitchens now remain onlyon paper. We found that allthe functioning kitchensprovide a menu diff��erentfrom traditional tribal diet.In most cases, local nongovernmental organisationsare diverting money fromthe funds for communitykitchens. The project requires a complete overhaulby including tribal menuand liberating it from theclutches of NGOs,” Mr.Ajayakumar said.
“I am quite astonished bythe allegation of the Com
mission that NGOs are diverting funds from the community kitchens. It may havemistaken the NRLM for anNGO. The tribal Kudumbasree units are operating thekitchens and we are just facilitators. Every deal is transparent,” said Dr. SeemaBhaskar, coordinator forNRLM in Attappady.
Government sources said₹��28 crore had been spent onthe kitchens so far.
Success in numbers“Those who are highly critical of the community kitchens forget that children withsevere acute malnutrition(SAM) have reduced from613 in 2013 to 26 in 2018. Wenever considered them aslong term solutions. [But]they must be allowed to continue till restoring their [tribal] lost land and livelihood,” said Dr. Bhaskar.
Food for thought: do Attappady community kitchens serve the needy?Amid criticism from SC/ST panel,experts say project must continue
K A Shaji
Attappady
A handful: A tribal child at Attappady relishing her nutritious meal. * K. K. MUSTAFAH
SUNDAY SPECIAL
Green solution: A bicycle modifi��ed by the National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute collects garbage whilefl��oating on water. It was handed over to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation on Saturday. * S. SUDARSHAN
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Cleaning cycle
Ninong Ering, Congressmember of Parliament fromArunachal Pradesh, has opposed the extension of theArmed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in someparts of the State, saying itwas “misused by the Army.”
Mr. Ering, who representsArunachal East in the LokSabha, said that in the nameof the Act, the Army “harassed and tortured”villagers.
On April 1, a Ministry ofHome Aff��airs (MHA) notifi��cation extending the AFSPA foranother six months, declared Tirap, Changlang andLongding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areasfalling within the jurisdictionof eight police stations in districts bordering Assam as
‘disturbed area’ under Section 3 of the Act.
‘A peaceful State’“It’s a peaceful State. Wedidn’t expect the AFSPA tobe extended by another sixmonths. This Act has beenthere in these areas for thepast 20 years, what has beenthe outcome? Army andNSCN beat people. If it wasserving any benefi��t, I would
have understood. The Armymisuses it and does not dothe real work,” Mr. Eringsaid, highlighting the troubled situation in the region.
Mr. Ering claimed he hadraised the issue earlier alsowhen the UPA governmentwas in power, saying he hadgiven multiple notices in Parliament to discuss thesubject.
“The Army comes and
tortures the public; they arrest and harass them. Youdon’t take any action againstthe insurgents but harass thepublic instead. No oneknows where the funds allocated for these areas arespent. I get several representations — villagers feel the government is betrayingthem,” he said.
Reduced areas: RijijuResponding to Mr. Ering’sdemand that the AFSPA berevoked, Union Minister ofState for Home Kiren Rijijusaid, “The AFSPA has beenenforced in Arunachal Pradesh for the last three decades. As the situation is improving, our governmenthas reduced the total areaunder the AFSPA, and hopefully, it will be reduced moreas the situation improves.”
AFSPA extension comes under fi��reArunachal Pradesh MP cites ‘harassment and torture’ of villagers by the Army
Vijaita Singh
New Delhi
ILLUSTRATION: SREEJITH R