Dear Editor,
Sasenarine Singh’s indirect answer to my question, “Is there a certification process for pujaris?” (https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/is-there-a-certification-process-for-pujaris/ ) is that if a Hindu (person or household) contracts with a pujari to ‘perform ritual worshiping at the puja’, that pujari has social acceptance (https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/pandit-pujari-and-imposter/ ). In other words, there is no certification system, no equivalence for example to the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examination, which would assess a pujari’s attainment of a required minimum standard of ethics, morality and knowledge of the subject.
Mr Singh also makes an unsubstantiated claim – that there are approximately 220,000 practising Hindus in Guyana. Editor, four years have passed since the 2022 decennial census was completed, but not yet released. Perhaps Mr Singh can be so good as to point this reader to the source of his estimate?
Both issues – the informal acquisition of social status by pujaris, and the unverified claim of the total number of practising Hindus – are symptomatic of a country in freefall, one in which State institutions have been systematically reduced to taking orders from the political directorate, in which laws, policies and monitoring and assessment procedures serve as window dressing at best, and non-governmental institutions increasingly fall in line.
This then is a world where families facing multidimensional problems, like the murdered Orlando’s family, lack the supportive structure of externally-audited institutions (State and non-State), and in which a 6-year-old child was left defenceless against the alleged murderous intentions of a parent and his alleged accomplice.
Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan
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