Talk:Meghalaya

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The very first section in the article has a few ugly boxes in a bracket next to "Meghalaya". It is probably in a font that is not recognizable. I think it should be "the abode of clouds". This is what the Sanskrit word "Meghalaya" (Megh + Alaya) literally means.

I'm assuming its Devanagari script, what I see there. You need a font covering Devanagari encoded as Unicode on your computer to see it. --Pjacobi 11:45, 2005 Jan 7 (UTC)

I think that is right. I see those boxes in a lot of other places. Perhaps my computer needs a few more fonts. Thanks!

Contents 1 New sections 2 Notable personalities 3 Government and Politics 4 Devanagari

[edit] New sections

I have added a couple of sections lately. The article seems to be gaining some weight now. The latest section is on Flora and fauna. I am still working on it though. Will soon add information on the important plant and animal species in Meghalaya. RMehra 15:33, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Almost done. RMehra 10:07, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

A lot of excellent and informative work has been done. My hat off to you. As a soon-to-be resident of Meghalaya, I was happy to see that somebody went to the trouble of expanding the article. I took the liberty of fixing a few typos. --Brendiggg 03:30, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

My sincere thanks for your appreciation. The thought that my efforts were useful for someone is very heartening indeed. Your edits were also very useful and much appreciated. I am still working on the article...got busy with something else for some time. I will soon add info on industry, education, tourism. If you have any suggestions to make this article better, or if you think that some other area needs to be covered or improved, please let me know. And once again...thanks for your kind words. RMehra 15:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi RMehra. Indeed tourism is growing at an encouraging pace and Meghalaya's extensive cave systems should rate a hefty mention (those spectacular waterfall dotted escarpments also). While on the subject of tourism, you write "However, infrastructural contraints and security concerns have hampered the growth of tourism in the state." This is perfectly true. Nonetheless, "Security concerns" sounds both vague and vaguely threatening yet there are no specifics. I feel this issue should be addressed but I am not sure how it should be tackled. Insurgency in Meghalaya isn't as prolific as it is in some other northwestern states, but I feel "security concerns" should somehow be explained more fully. It is a POV minefield of course, so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't address it. --Brendiggg 14:40, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi Brendiggg! Now that you have brought it up, tourism is the next section that I was planning to add in addition to culture, education and industry. I have done extensive study on tourism in Meghalaya. Indeed, Meghalaya is a tourism gold mine. However, there are quite a few issues that need to be addressed before tourism can flourish in the state. But as you have rightly stated, it could just open up a POV minefield. Nevertheless, I will try to add extensive factual information on tourism with as much neutral POV as I can. As for the security concerns, what I meant was the concerns over insurgency in the Northeast in general and the random incidents in the Garo Hills (e.g. the random kidnapping of forest officials and engineer of Coal India Ltd.). Though I agree that insurgency is not as much a problem in Meghalaya as in some other areas of Northeast. However, many foreign governments have issued travel advisories against travelling to Northeast. The issue was also brought up by the Ministery of Tourism in the Parliament. I wish to address all these and add more clarity to the subject. Please keep watching and feel to point out if the article is not headed the right way.

Many thanks. RMehra 18:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

A section on tourism has just been added. RMehra 17:28, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable personalities

• Adolf Lu Hitler Marak
• Dr. D.D. Lapang
• P.A. Sangma

Pulled this section from the article. Did not look too relevant.RMehra 12:31, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Government and Politics

Just added a section on Government and politics. RMehra 16:42, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Devanagari

The Devanagari version of the state's name should not appear immediately after the title, as that would indicate that this is the native way to write the name (which it is not). The official languages in the state are Garo, Khasi, and English, all of which are normally written in the Roman script. The Devanagari might be relevant, however, for the etymology of the name. In this respect, it should belong in a section about the derivation of the name, much like the China article, or at least in the second paragraph, as in the Copenhagen article. --SameerKhan 19:23, 17 November 2006 (UTC)