In the age of social media and television channels, the rapid breaking news and the trend and race of accessing news first and foremost and then flashing instantaneously, the journalists and the readers are vying and striding competitively, and at the same time, they are facing unforeseen unpleasant incidents as well. While in the print media, the reporters, desk editors, and the Chief Editors have time to verify the truth in the story, the race to reach the readers quickly and reporting from the spot without varying the truth as prime facie evidence has further complicated the journalistic work.
The cheap political gossip, obscene vulgarity, malign, blasphemy, and unverified videos are the negative side of social media nowadays, which spread rumors and ill will within no time like wildfire, catching everywhere. The absence of a controlling authority or mechanism to verify such matters before disseminating the information on the public domain through online network systems is a main cause of slipping, sneaking into the social media, thereby making adverse effects and reactions in society. The most objectionable matters, as the trend goes on now, are caught up by leaps and bounds and destroy the social sanctity and mutual trust already and become viral before the authority notices it. In civilized society, such cheap gossip and blasphemy are not acceptable, must not be accepted, and hence such postings are not shared or taken for granted by the intellectuals and conscious citizens. It happens only in the semi-literate or not fully conscious masses; some political demagogue take advantage of such a situation during and after poll, their tactical moves are to spread such venom in society through such media and gain political mileage. In recent time in the country and throughout world, such postings on social media on violence carried misnomers and instigated communal riots. The governments in the wake of curbing such violent eruption out of misinformation and viral unverified videos banned the network system and imposed curfew in such violent spots for some time till the normalization of the situation. However, putting ban continuously is an infringement of the fundamental right of expression of the individuals too, therefore, such a move is certainly a not permanent solution, may be it serves the temporary solution. The bureau of cyber crimes, intelligent wing and controlling or regulatory authority on e-network system therefore must be alert, active investigating the root of the cause and putting regulation and galvanizing into action, so that no culprit or perpetrators can ever indulge in an unlawful acts or commit crimes.
The recent outburst of some section of the Nepali community in Sikkim in the wake of spreading venom by the outside force is also the consequence of the manner and acts of some irresponsible persons on social media in the absence of strong mechanism to examine and review of such injurious feeling among different communities of Sikkim. The maxim of law is that ignorance of law has no excuse; similarly, the story, tale or blasphemy bearers are as equally guilty as the trouble creators for they spread and shared such illegal matter in the society acting as an accomplice or as a member to the offended party. Intelligent, enlightened person never indulge in such unlawful action, political vendetta as avenger and this is the reason that a civilized society never belief in cheap political gossip or rumors, rather they strongly plead in favour of putting legal ban on such illegality. The strong foundation of the society is build up in such civilized society. The human tendency is, however different; instead of taking such objectionable remarks individually, they take it emotionally, involving the whole community.
In the recent unethical comment allegedly backed by some political nexus, the State administration amid thunderous protest and pleads, took adequate action and put the alleged culprit in judicial custody within its jurisdiction. The step is widely applauded, the lesson and message is loud so that such venom of communalism will not repeat in this land.
Before the Sugauly and Cintuly Agreement in 1816 with the Britishers, the former Himalayan Kindom of Sikkim, despite its legal status, size, population, and political, geographical boundaries, it was a nation ruled by the Namgyal dynasty since the 13th century. Thereafter, it remained as a protectorate nation or state of British India and thereafter became the 22nd state of India in 1975. During the entire process, the three ethnic people, viz. Lepcha, Bhutia, and Nepali remained in complete harmony in a single bond. The historical evidence of Lho-men-Chang Sum is the case that safeguarded the interests and communal harmony and amity among the people. However, over the centuries, the capitalistic tendency and landlordism brought the division or clash among the people. The agitation of 1973 and thereafter the inclusion in the Indian union in 1975 resulted in a system of exploitation by landlords. The disparity, 5 votes equal to 1 vote, the black bill all was the indication of the division, however, the ancient tradition of unity among the majority people of the grassroots level remains stable. In the democratic setup of India, there were assembly elections and the formation of various political parties. All the Nepali-speaking people, including other Indian Nepali, supported the cause of Nepali language recognition. However, the political division of the people of Sikkim was witnessed due to the direct or income tax issue. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India, tabled the bill of Direct Taxes exempting the tribal section of the people and imposing to non –tribal section of the people of the state. Gangtok witnessed continuous rally of the Citizen Forum and Tribal in favour and against the bill, and the then Chief Minister Shri. N.B. Bhandari was compelled to write the centre about the state of affairs. Following his letter, the bill was kept in abeyance, and his government was reduced to a minority as his MLAs were divided in two groups. The new party, Sikkim Democratic Party was then fledging party headed by former Chief Minister Shri Pawan Chamling and in the assembly election, his party won in majority to form the government. There is a political opinion that the votes of the major Nepali community are divided by various political issues. The absences of proper handling of the Mandal Commission, Direct Income Tax issues were the major reasons that reportedly brought division among the people, the tree ethnic people of Sikkim. Another issue of the cabinet recommendation to implement the central employment exchange act to open the avenue of employment of the various central governments in Sikkim also created misconception among the different parties and the indefinite strike took place in 1997 which further reportedly deteriorated the mutual understanding and social structure among the two sections of Nepali community dividing as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Non Backward Classes (NBC) to some extent. The issue of Mandal Commission Report, Direct Tax Issue, Employment Exchange issue were not properly discussed in the assembly and the hasty action by the erstwhile Government unnecessarily created tension among the people : the political leaders were not able to convince the people about the various issues through democratic means and through assembly and the better prospect and welfare of the state. Instead of solving the problem democratically, they used various pressure groups, social organizations, students and all just to gain political mileage. It could be peacefully and amicably settled maintaining communal harmony and peaceful co-existence and well balanced team of work, but they didn’t do so and the result is that there is apprehension and feeling of insecurity and mistrust among them and sometime, even in the recent time, the outburst and frustration of a person maligning certain of section of society sparked the apprehension and agitation.
In order to create better understanding among the different sections of Nepali community, soon after the backlash of the employment exchange issue in 1998-98, a conscious group of the people rising above the party and community lines, formed a non-political organization namely Sikkimey Nepali Organization crossing the line of caste and creed. The main objective of the organization was bringing mutual trust, harmony, amity, peace and prosperity and building up the healthy social structure among the community, ultimately urging for the unity among the Sikkimese people. The association started galvanizing into action by forming the body and spreading the message among the people, by making personal contact. In the wake of growing popularity, the then administration viewed the formation of such organization detrimental to the political interest. Consequently, the committee suspended temporarily under the pressure. For the larger interest and unity of the people of Sikkim, there is necessity now to rethink and revive the organization and work for the complete harmony and understanding to make the social fabrication and foundation strong enough for the all round development and for the prosperity of the generation to come. The strong unity among the different people of the State is part and parcel of Sikkimese society for peaceful existence, political stability and all-round development.
the age of social
media and television channel, the rapid breaking news and the trend and race of
accessing news first and foremost and then flash instantaneously, the
journalists and the readers are vying and striding competitively and at the
same time, they are facing unforeseen unpleasant incident as well now. While in
the print media, the reporters, desk editors and the Chief Editors have time to
verify the truth in the story, the race of reaching to the readers quickly and
reporting from the spot without varying the truth as prime facie evidence has
further complicated the journalistic work.
The cheap
political gossips, obscene, vulgarity, malign, blasphemy and unverified videos
are the negative side of social media nowadays which spread rumors and ill will
within no time like wild fire catching everywhere.The absence of controlling
authority or mechanism to verify such matter before disseminating the
information on public domain through online network system is a main cause of
slipping, sneaking into the social media, thereby making adverse affect and
reaction in the society. The most objectionable matters, as the trend goes on
now, are caught up by leaps and bounds and destroy the social sanctity and mutual
trust already and becomes viral before it is noticed by the authority. In
civilized society, such cheap gossips and blasphemy are not acceptable, must
not be accepted too, and hence such postings are not shared or taken for
granted by the intellectuals and conscious citizens. It happens only in the
semi-literate or not fully conscious masses; some political demagogue take
advantage of such situation during and after poll, their tactical moves are to
spread such venom in the society through such media and gain political mileage.
In recent time in the country and throughout world, such postings on social
media on violence carried misnomers and instigated communal riots. The governments
in the wake of curbing such violent eruption out of misinformation and viral
unverified videos banned the network system and imposed curfew in such violent
spots for some time till the normalization of the situation. However, putting ban
continuously is an infringement of the fundamental right of expression of the
individuals too, therefore, such a move is certainly a not permanent solution,
may be it serves the temporary solution. The bureau of cyber crimes,
intelligent wing and controlling or regulatory authority on e-network system
therefore must be alert, active finding
the root of the cause and putting regulation and galvanizing into action, so
that no culprit or perpetrators can ever indulge in an unlawful acts or commit
crimes.
The recent outburst
of some section of the Nepali community in Sikkim in the wake of spreading
venom by the outside force is also the consequence of the manner and acts of
some irresponsible persons on social media in the absence of strong mechanism
to examine and review of such injurious feeling among different communities of
Sikkim. The maxim of law is that ignorance of law has no excuse; similarly, the
story, tale or blasphemy bearers are as equally guilty as the trouble creators for
they spread and shared such illegal matter in the society acting as an
accomplice or as a member to the offended party. Intelligent, enlightened
person never indulge in such unlawful action, political vendetta as avenger and
this is the reason that a civilized society never belief in cheap political
gossip or rumors, rather they strongly plead in favour of putting legal ban on
such illegality. The strong foundation of the society are build up in such
civilized society. he human tendency is however different, instead of taking such
objectionable remarks individually, they take it emotionally involving the whole
community.
In the recent
unethical comment allegedly backed by some political nexus, the State
administration amid thunderous protest and pleads, took adequate action and put
the alleged culprit in judicial curriculum within its jurisprudence. The step
is widely applauded, the lesson and message is loud so that such venom of
communalism will not repeat in this land.
Prior to the
Sugauly and Cintuly Agreement in1816 with the Britishers, the former Himalayan Kingdom
Sikkim despite her legal status, size, population and political, geographical boundary, it was a
nation ruled by the Namgyal dynasty since 13th century. Thereafter,
it remained as a protectorate nation or state of British India and thereafter
became 22nd state of India in 1975. During the entire process, the
three ethnic people viz. Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali remained in complete harmony
in single bond. The historical evidence of Lho-men-Chang Sum is the case that
safeguarded the interest and communal harmony and amity among the people.
However, over the century, the capitalistic tendency and landlordism brought
the division or clash among the people. The agitation of 1973 and thereafter the
inclusion in the Indian union in 1975 resulted following some system of
exploitation by landlords. The disparity, 5 votes equal to 1 vote, the black
bill all was the indication of the division, however, the aged old tradition of
unity among majority people of the grass root level remain stable. In the
democratic setup of India, there were assembly election and formation of
various political parties. All the Nepali speaking people including other
Indian Nepali supported the cause of Nepali language recognition. However, the
political division of the people of Sikkim was witnessed due to direct or
income tax issue. Dr. Manmohan Singh the then Prime Minister of India tabled
the bill of Direct Taxes exempting the tribal section of the people and
imposing to non –tribal section of the people of the state. Gangtok witnessed continuous
rally of Citizen Forum and Tribalsin favour and against the bill and the then
Chief Minister Shri. N.B. Bhandari was compelled to write the centre about the
state of affairs. Following his letter, the bill was kept in abeyance and his
government was reduced to minority as his MLAs were divided in two groups. The
new party Sikkim Democratic Party was then fledging party headed by former
Chief Minister Shri Pawan Chamling and in the assembly election, his party won
in majority to form the government. There is political opinion that the votes
of major Nepali community divided by various political issues. The absence of
proper handling of Mandal Commission, Direct Income Tax issues were the major
reasons that reportedly brought division among the people, the tree ethnic
people of Sikkim. Another issue of the cabinet recommendation to implement the
central employment exchange act to open the avenue of employment of the various
central governments in Sikkim also created misconception among the different
parties and the indefinite strike took place in 1997 which further reportedly
deteriorated the mutual understanding and social structure among the two sections
of Nepali community dividing as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Non Backward
Classes (NBC) to some extent. The issue of Mandal Commission Report, Direct Tax
Issue, Employment Exchange issue were not properly discussed in the assembly
and the hasty action by the erstwhile Government unnecessarily created tension
among the people : the political leaders were not able to convince the people
about the various issues through democratic means and through assembly and the
better prospect and welfare of the state. Instead of solving the problem
democratically, they used various pressure groups, social organizations,
students and all just to gain political mileage. It could be peacefully and
amicably settled maintaining communal harmony and peaceful co-existence and
well balanced team of work, but they didn’t do so and the result is that there
is apprehension and feeling of insecurity and mistrust among them and sometime,
even in the recent time, the outburst and frustration of a person maligning
certain of section of society sparked the apprehension and agitation.
In order to create
better understanding among the different sections of Nepali community, soon
after the backlash of the employment exchange issue in 1998-98, a conscious
group of the people rising above the party and community lines, formed a
non-political organization namely Sikkimey Nepali Organization crossing
the line of caste and creed. The main objective of the organization was bringing
mutual trust, harmony, amity, peace and prosperity and building up the healthy
social structure among the community, ultimately urging for the unity among the
Sikkimese people. The association started galvanizing into action by forming
the body and spreading the message among the people, by making personal
contact. In the wake of growing popularity, the then administration viewed the
formation of such organization detrimental to the political interest.
Consequently, the committee suspended temporarily under the pressure.For the
larger interest and unity of the people of Sikkim, there is necessity now to
rethink and revive the organization and work for the complete harmony and
understanding to make the social fabrication and foundation strong enough for
the all round development and for the prosperity of the generation to come. The
strong unity among the different people of the State is a part and parcel of
Sikkimese society for peaceful existence, political stability and all round
development.
(The author is a
senior journalist and writer. Views are personal)
