By Fabian Lyngdoh
The Autonomous Councils of North East India have consistently been requesting the Central Government to introduce amendments in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution so as to provide more power and autonomy to these councils to administer their own affairs. They have also been requesting to implement the provisions of the 73rd and 74th Amendments in the Sixth Schedule areas. The recent draft Proposal by the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend the Sixth Schedule is precisely meant to fulfil that long standing desire of the tribal councils. The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India is meant for the tribals of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, not for the Khasis only. So it would be out of turn to say that we totally oppose the proposed amendments. We can only say that some arrangements should be made so that such amendments should not be applicable to us if we do not want the benefits that other tribes are fighting for, or we may submit alternative proposals with provisions applicable to us, and not ask for extra powers as provided by the 73rd and 74th Amendments. It is as simple as that. The Village Councils of Nagaland are exempted from the purview of the 73rd and 74rd Amendments because they are not purely democratic and women are not included, but they do accommodate the women members in the Village Development Boards which is a development agency of the Village Council. The whole intention of the proposed amendments is for democratic decentralization and community participation in administration and development. Protection of tribal identity and cultural traditions can be achieved even without the Sixth Schedule and the Autonomous Councils. The Nagas do better than us in protecting their identity and cultural traditions with the State Government and the Village Councils which are neither purely traditional nor purely democratic but a right mixture of both. We in Meghalaya, have the State Government and the District Councils serving the needs of the same territory and the same people. We should have done much better than any other tribe if we really have the good intention to do so. But it seems, for some of us, that protection of identity and traditions concerns primarily the protection of the hereditary right of some clans to hold the reins of power whether they serve the needs of the people or are utterly inefficient. The core of custom and tradition of the Khasi tribe is that it should maintain its territorial right, where the land belongs to the tribe as a whole and to its own people individually and its own administrative set-up run by its own people. As long as these basic elements of custom and tradition are maintained, it is secondary whether the administration is run by the Syiem, Daloi, Sordar or by the Dorbar Shnong and Rangbah Shnong. Indeed real administration of the Khasi society is daily run by the Dorbar Shnong. All other institutions have become mere cultural decorations. So, total opposition to the proposed amendments to the Sixth Schedule would be reasonable only if the above basic elements of custom and tradition are affected and not because the traditional Chiefs are not in the picture.
In Mizoram, when the Chieftainship was abolished, there were 249 chiefs under the Mizo District Council and 60 Chiefs under the Pawi-Lakher Regional Council (Thanhranga, 2007:28). The first election to the village council in the Mizo Hills was held on 7th June, 1954. The first village council was constituted on 16th August 1954, and as such, all the powers of the Chiefs were transferred to the village council. The event was celebrated by a bon-fire arranged on the hill top of very village. Village councils are successfully run in Mizoram under the State Government and under the three District Councils of Lai, Mara and Chakma. Village Councils in Nagaland are successfully run under the State Government. In some of the villages like Mopungchukit, Chuchuyimlang and Ungma we can observe a perfect amalgamation of tradition and modernity. The traditional chiefs called Angs and Tatars are ex-officio members in the Village Councils. North Eastern tribes falling under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura believe that they can still safeguard their tribal interests and identity even if the traditional hereditary institutions are abolished and democratic village councils are constituted in their place. On the other hand, some of us here believe that tribal interests and identity can be safeguarded only by providing constitutional protection to the traditional hereditary institutions like, the Syiems, Lyngdohs, Daloi, Basans etc. There seems to be a belief rationally or irrationally, that if the traditional Chieftainships are abolished or if women are included in the Dorbars the whole tribe would just disappear into thin air. Sometimes we find that some of what we call ki riti ki dustur (customs) are not customs handed down by the ancestors but are the legacies of the British Raj, and the District Council’s duty seems to be to safeguard these legacies as ki riti ki dustur. It is time to consider the Autonomous District Council not only as a mute guardian of what had already existed, but also to guide healthy evolution of custom and tradition according to the emergent needs of the society, as is now being attempted in Nagaland and among other North Eastern tribes. Tradition is not a static inheritance but a dynamic reality ever changing and improving itself if we do not arrest its course and confuse its direction by unhealthy sentiments. We cannot force tradition to remain static because circumstances of social living keep changing and social change itself is inevitable, otherwise what we call a “tradition” would be only the thin outer shell while inside, all the substance is eaten up by the hard facts of life induced by the pressure of emerging circumstances.
It is also the time for our NGO’s or pressure groups whatever they are, to devote their energy to specific objectives and not jump in at every current popular issue. Indeed it seems that some of the so called NG.O’s are like what they call ‘multi-purpose cooperative societies’ which are always ready to avail every type of scheme and become also defaulters of every scheme. NG.Os like the CSWO are expected to devote their full energy to the interests and welfare of women. We see that there hundreds and thousands of problems faced by women today. It is there that they should be seriously involved and not to jump in to the border issue, the issue of influx/outsiders, the issue of nongshohnoh, village dispute issue or corruption issue etc. Likewise youth NGOs are to devote their energy to the welfare of the students and youth. Farmers Associations should attend to the needs of the farming community, and Labour Associations to see to the problems and welfare of the labourers. Progressive NGOs are to work for democratic justice and social democracy etc. Let some pressure groups attend to social and political affairs; we need those groups also to strengthen checks and balances in the political system. The slogan “na ka bynta ka Ri bad ka Jaidbynriew” has become too stale and hollow. The society needs positive actions not rhetoric and negative attitude to preserve cultural identity and territorial rights. A rose plant is beautiful by its flowers, not by its thorns. To manifest our identity we need to express the elements of our existence positively not by just opposing this and opposing that. It’s only a thorn which manifests it’s presence by pricking something else.
(The writer is Chairman, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and can be reached at [email protected])