By HH Mohrmen
Last week I received a phone call from the officer in charge, Laitumkhrah Police Station who called to confirm if I wrote the article, “Un-regulated mining and MUA flagship programmes,” published by The Shillong Times on March 19, 2012. When I admitted to the same, the officer in charge told me that I have to appear in the
Police Station in person because there is a complaint against me which has to do with the article. Thank goodness Meghalaya is not West Bengal and I am still free to continue writing my column otherwise I would be put behind bars. It is therefore wise that I tread cautiously whenever I write anything on the new flagship program of the state government or against certain intolerant leaders who cannot accept criticism.
This article is also not an attempt to try make peace with those who complained against me. Rather it is outcome of the one day experience I had from being part of the week long symposium on the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Promotion Program (IBD&LPP) organized by the Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG) and the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and my recent visits to two villages in Jaintia hills district.
The Symposium made me realize that the focus of (IBD&LPP) is not merely on developing livelihoods in the river basin only. After all, the government brochure supplied to those attending the program clearly stated that there are only two major river basins in the state, the Brahmaputra basin adjoining Assam and the basin neighbouring Bangladesh. In case of Jaintia hills large parts of the basin falls in
Bangladesh and even land owned by Indians in the basin are land held in adverse position. Hence, the government would not be able to achieve its goal of benefiting approximately two million people of four lakhs families within the 12th five year plan, if the focus is on the river basin only. Even if the combined population of the two river basins is taken into consideration, the population will only be a fraction of the targeted population in the program.
The vision of the program as per the brochure is to synergise all the related development interventions within the domain of natural resource management, livelihood promotion and sustainable development. With this vision one can see that there is ample scope for the government to develop the state and create livelihoods for the people. Of the many visits I made recently, two villages come to mind which I think could be test cases for the state government’s new program. The first village is Padu which is one of the oldest villages in the district. The steep hills, the canyons and dry soil are not favourable for cultivation; hence a large number of people from this village migrated to certain parts of Assam, Tripura and even Bangladesh. But Padu also has its unexplored natural wealth which this scribe along with few journalists from Jowai was fortunate enough to visit. Padu has two living-root bridges and pristine water on the river Amdep, and two beautiful waterfalls.
The farmers of Padu are also experiencing the gradual decline of production of oranges from their orchards coupled with the uncertain production derived from pan leafs plantation. Life has become difficult for the people of the village. If the living-root bridges and the falls can be converted to tourist spots, the same could create livelihoods for the people in the village especially the educated unemployed youths.
Currently, with no reasonable and viable alternatives before them, the farmers have no other option but to look for substitute crops and unfortunately they found hope in broom stick. I say unfortunate because broomstick is a monoculture plant which is bad for the ecology. Incidentally the area where the living-root bridges and waterfalls are located is also surrounded by broomstick plantation which can harm
the ecology and spoil the natural bio-diversity of the place. The icing in the cake in Padu is the village sacred grove which is situated in the centre of the village. The uniqueness of this forest is that one can find rare orchids scattered throughout the sacred groves. The villagers, the Horticulture & Floriculture Departments and the Forest Department could develop the “Tken” as it is known in local parlance into an orchid sanctuary. The non-forested surroundings of the Tken which is still part of the sacred forest can be developed into parks and the government can also build ponds for rain water harvesting in some free space near the sacred grove.
As a matter of fact, many tourist tour circuits can be developed in the Amlarem subdivision area. For instance the first tour circuit can start from Myrkein, Amlarem where the JHADC Pitcher plant sanctuary is located, then continue to Pamchadong again where one can find pitcher plants and many very important collections of monoliths on the way to Padu. After Padu the tour can continue to Nongbareh where there is another living-root bridge. Nongbareh has another USP, – the Mahseer (Red fish or Khasaw) sanctuary. The uniqueness of the sanctuary is that the pond is natural and it is being managed by the community to protect the rare fish species.
Another village suitable as a test case for the government IBD&LPP is Bataw. The USP of Bataw village is the Umhang Lake situated in the middle of the village. The lake is surrounded on two sides by the sacred groves and the size of the lake is probably twice that of Wards lake. The legendary Umhang lake is the single largest water body in the village and the same be used for fish farming and many
amusement activities can be developed in the lake to create employment avenues for the people of the village. Adjacent to Bataw is Borkhat village famous for another temple where the Kings of the erstwhile Jaintia kingdom use to perform human sacrifices.
RM Mishra CEO MDBA while speaking at the symposium on governance that there is a paradigm shift in the government’s approach in dealing with the people in the new the program. The new government approach is not to treat people as beneficiaries but as entrepreneurs. Gone are the days when people will look up to the government as a good and noble benefactor and people are but mere beneficiaries forever expecting largesse from the government. So the whole concept of doling money to the people in the form of grants is being done away with. In the new approach the government is treating the people as partners and equal stake holders in all development activities of the areas.
The two villages are not only two fit cases suitable for government to try its new flagship program, but the people I talked to in the villages are also equally receptive to new ideas. In other words the two villages already have the natural resources ready to be sustainably tapped and more importantly the people of the two villages are entrepreneurs ready to be capacitated. Here is a fit case for the government to introduce its flagship program and the best part is that it comes in a platter.
(The writer is a researcher and an environmental activist)