By Prof PM Passah
In recent weeks at least three articles in The Shillong Times by Paramjit Bakhshi and one of them on “Miraculous Meghalaya”? (ST November 23) is a well-written piece in the backdrop of the ILP agitation now lingering in the State though he did not mention the ILP even once. Bakhshi is right that Meghalaya needs “an atmosphere free from fear.” But he did not come up with any remedy. Being a life skills trainer, he may have some valuable mechanism in his mind. His suggestion for a practical solution, if any, might work miracles for all concerned.
The fears that Bakhshi stressed on are indeed very real particularly for the Khasis, Jaintias and Garos and he is right that these fears are chiefly due to the great enemy from within rather from without. He has mentioned a number of internal causes that can be spelled out as lack of work culture, free and uncontrolled marriage system that leads to broken families, “outsiders marrying local women”, lack of family value-guidance that leads to teenage marriages, menshohnoh & thlen cult, environmental degradation, et.al.
The three tribes are following the matrilineal system but much of their custom, traditions, beliefs and cultural heritage, have eroded to the extent that they are now facing a high risk of extinction. Of the 34 matrilineal tribes known the world over, 28 had already gone into extinction. Now the three tribes appear to be determined to protect and preserve whatever is left of their original customs and heritage. Their determination to achieve this peacefully through self-introspection could have been admired. Further, the suggestions made by many including a public representative Ardent Basaiawmoit MLA, to implement the Supreme Court verdict of 2006 relating to intermarriage with non tribal men and to insert more stringent sections in the Transfer of Land & Regulation Act 1972, should have been accepted by the State government for restoring the genuine custom and traditions of the three tribes.
But external causes should also be dealt with. In fact the very reason for creating a number of small tribal states in the north east was an attempt to protect the hill tribes from being swamped and outnumbered, to keep their custom and culture intact, and to allow them to develop according to their own genius. Noted anthropologists like Professor BK Roy Burman, who were consulted by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi before the Union government finally decided to create three small states and two Union Territories in the north east in 1972, can bear out this fact. But these objectives seem difficult to be fulfilled by both the State and the Central governments. This has “clouded the minds” of the indigenous people with fears. The successive state governments and the autonomous district councils in Meghalaya in particular, appear to have failed in strictly enforcing their existing laws like land and labour laws that could go a long way in protecting the state and the tribal indigenous population. Right now the Bangladeshis in Garo Hills have increased in population so much so they are emboldened of late to demand a separate district of their own.
Also the State government has not been able to convince the Central government about the dangers from the silent and illegal immigration from across the international border. This goes to the discredit of both the State and the Union governments for having failed to seriously enforce the Foreigners and Citizens’ Act 1946 in letter and spirit. Ironically instead of strictly enforcing this Act, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act was passed by the Parliament in 1983 which made deportation of illegal immigrants from the north east impossible. This Act had to be subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court but the damage already done by the erstwhile IMTD Act is too severe to be mended now. It was estimated in 2003 that about 15 millions Bangladeshis were then living illegally in India and that had alerted even the then President APJ Abdul Kalam who, in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament that year, had spoken about the problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh which had assumed serious proportion and affected many states.
Again for more than 37 years now the people of the North Eastern Region have also been persistently demanding that the Union government should review the Indo-Nepalese Treaty 1950 by exempting the Region from the application of the Treaty. But the demand has fallen on deaf ears despite the fact that some farsighted and alert Nepalese leaders have also joined in the demand.
The government of Meghalaya on its part has also failed to enforce its labour laws and to remove the loopholes in these laws on the pretext that the matter lies in the domain of the autonomous district Councils as if the State government has no power over these Councils despite Para 12-A of the Sixth Schedule. The State simply passed the buck to the ADCs. The delay in the completion of Indo-Bangladesh border fencing remains a suspect in view of the recent land pact signed between the two countries.
In the interest of national security, it is believed that the Central government must have taken note of the statements made by Professor Mesbah Kamal of Dhaka University in his address to the audience in a conference held at the English & Foreign Languages University, Shillong on the 9th of November. Prof. Kamal candidly warned that a poor Bangladesh would always be a threat to the North East Region. He also mentioned that if there would be a regime change in Bangladesh after the upcoming elections in January 2014, the North East would be destabilised by the insurgent outfits of that country. It is hoped the Centre would step up vigil along the porous Indo-Bangladesh border in order to ensure that Meghalaya does not move into further turmoil and relapsing insurgency.
It may be recalled that a few years back a report circulated that most part of Bangladesh might be submerged under water as a result of global warming and the resultant melting of snows in the mountains. Out of fear, hundreds of thousands of the people of Bangladesh migrated to the North East on valid documents but disappeared from the region to unknown destinations. Those who remained to settle in the Bodo areas of Assam had to come into bloody conflict with the indigenous people there in recent months. The Central and the State governments have no more time to waste for reining in the unabated influx into the north east before the region turns into a seething cauldron, by seriously enforcing their various laws as well as the Supreme Court verdict of 2006.