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Rice supply to Henima Hospital; chaukidars' pay; revival of Henima school, teaching and need for hostel |
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Back to Henima - a sunny day at last. Intuma applied for a school, and want Assamese taught. |
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Halted Henima, visited the Hospital. The rice question is giving trouble as usual. The compulsory supply of rice is bound to be a nuisance. Standard rates have to be fixed, but the rice, or paddy, is often very bad, though, as the suppliers say, it is what they eat themselves and they have no other. Also it has to be brought from considerable distances and the carriage is not paid for. It would be much more satisfactory if the hospital staff could be given suitable allowances and buy their own rice. It could be got, of course, if enough was paid for it, but the local inhabitants are mostly short of rice and will not sell at the standard rates. Failing this a large zinc lined rice box in which paddy could be stored would be useful as there is often paddy for sale at harvest time. The hospital chaukidar complains of his pay. He is only getting Rs.11/- though I thought that the pay of all chaukidars had been raised. The case is a hard one. The former chaukidar was drawing Rs.15/- and the present man was working on Rs.12/- at Tesangki, being paid from works. They changed because on account of eternal squabbles I moved all the Henima Christians to Tesangki to make a new village and brought the Tesangki hamlet to Henima. The chaukidars arranged their own exchange but the Inspection Bungalow chaukidar who was getting Rs.12/- and no doubt would be now getting more found himself reduced to Rs.11/- because he was a new man and his service as Inspection Bungalow chaukidar did not count. The other man also lost as he got a nonpensionable post and lost about twelve years service for pension. Government has scored all round as the man who has not got the pensionable post is an old man with 30 years service as an Inspection Bungalow chaukidar and can never survive to draw a pension from his present post. |
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I inspected the school which is doing well for a six months revival after a lapse of over five years. The last school failed because the schoolmaster turned Christian and both Kukis and Nagas of the ancient persuasion withdrew their children. At present there are 17 Nagas and 8 Kukis and they are being quite well taught, I think, though the Nagas are learning in the Assamese character as we have no textbooks for them in their own languages and this handicaps them. The Kukis are learning both in Assamese and Roman. The children come from various villages in the neighbourhood and want a hostel. It would probably be sound to concentrate on this school for the immediate neighbourhood of Henima as most of the adjacent villages are small and do not really need a school apiece. |
