By Toki Blah
The inauguration of the rail head at Mendipathar, Garo Hills as on the 29th Nov 2014 heralds yet another added milestone in Meghalaya’s search for developmental relevance in 21st Century India. There is no question as to the desire and need to be at par with the rest of the country. Improved communications, cheap and easy transport of goods and passengers is a basic infrastructure requirement for sustained development for any area or region. This is especially true for a hilly and food deficient state like Meghalaya. It’s something Meghalaya should have had a long time ago; a communication facility Shillong should have been endowed with decades ago. For the indigenous people of this hill state however, development has been perceived as something that comes with a cost. A cost we are unwilling to bear.
Influx with its perceived threat of demographic imbalance is something we have yet to come to grips with. Problem is within that scenario, everything else takes a back seat. Everyone agrees that the influx of outsiders into the state is a priority issue that needs to be curbed. There is general consensus over this issue. Differences however arise over how this is to be done. If life is a paradox then in Meghalaya it has manifested itself in a most weird and wacky manner ever. While the people of Meghalaya stand united in the demand for control over unregulated influx, they have also fought, agitated, murdered, destroyed themselves, caused general mayhem, brought the economy to a standstill and lost a lot of good will because of their inability to agree as to the mechanism needed to check influx! Influx in the meanwhile continues merrily along. Frankly speaking it’s as stupid as that!
The reason why influx takes place is also really quite easy to understand. The land/man ration in our state is quite favorable but because of the Land Transfer Act accessibility to land for non tribals is not easy. So obviously land is not the reason for outsider influx. A more valid reason is Meghalaya’s need for cheap unskilled labor. Construction and mining are the two sectors mainly responsible for the huge intake of outside labor into the state. No doubt these activities contribute to the economy of the state. The trouble arises when there is no restriction as to the movement of such outside labor once it enters Meghalaya. The ability of such migrants to disappear within the state; intermarry with the locals and finally to suddenly pop up one day as permanent residents, registered voters and heads of converted families is happening. This causes social anxiety and tension. This is where the fear of demographic imbalance begins; when nightmares start becoming reality; the source of all our worries and troubles.
So far the methods deployed to check labor migration has been faulty and at best one sided. Meghalaya has set up its infiltration check gates. Tokenism at its best that has served only to promote corruption in the infiltration cell of the police without any impact on the flow of unwanted influx. (Why this same faulty arrangement is being advocated on a larger scale via the flawed ILP system is hard to understand). A second method is onsite checking of documents of laborers by NGOs and pressure groups. Its impact is questionable though the publicity is high. Of concern is the concentration of such checking only for construction laborers. One has yet to hear of pressure groups checking the validity of laborers at the coal mines and coal depots. In fact mining operations contribute the maximum towards influx. This reluctance to put coal mine laborers under the same scanner is unclear but alarming. It smacks of favoritism if not anything else more sinister.
If one were to be candid then it would not be far from the truth to say that the failure of Meghalaya to come up with a workable anti influx mechanism is another paradox. We have a Government and elected representatives; we have political parties; we have traditional bodies; we have civil society groups and NGOs; Meghalaya has a genuine non Tribal population. The question is – do any of these groups have any reservations about the need to curb outsider influx? The answer obviously is a big NO. So why does a solution to the problem keep on eluding us? Though we all agree on the problem of influx, we are reluctant to work together towards a common acceptable solution. That is the second paradox of Meghalaya. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. A friend of mine said ‘Yeh sub shak aur zid ki baat hei yar” and he is not far from the truth. Self righteous patriotism prevails, boosted by unadulterated ego. Everyone feels that he is the only self righteous patriot with the correct answer. Everyone else is out to sell the state and its interest. Within this climate of suspicion the call for unity rings out clear and persistent. Meghalaya’s third paradox!
Yet again another question arises. How have we, the people of Meghalaya gone about our attempts to introduce a workable influx control mechanism? A bit of introspection will again reveal a comic situation if it weren’t so tragic. The problem has always been approached from a “I’m right and you’re all wrong” perspective. We have a Government and we have the so called pressure groups. Both avowed champions on influx control. How do they do it? By confronting each other! The need to consult; to talk; to discuss with rationality; to engage with each other has never been considered by either side. ‘We’ll coerce the Govt through bandhs and agitations’ countered by ‘we have the law and we’ll arrest you if you persist’ from the Govt side. The problem of influx then takes a back seat as the two have a face off over who’s right and who’s wrong! The same thing has been happening time and again for the last forty years. No viable solution has ever emerged but confronting each other is the only response we have been able to come up with! Seriously, if this is not sheer idiocy and foolishness, then what is?
The real profile and paradox of Meghalayan influx is that words do not match deeds. Even as we shout and complain about the threat from unregulated influx, everyone is doing everything within their power to prevent the outcome of a viable influx control mechanism. This applies to both the Govt, politicians and the NGOs spearheading the anti influx crusade. All are equally to blame. Finding a solution to the influx problem will not be easy but it is also not impossible. What has made it difficult, tiresome and awkward is our inability to work together; to approach the problem as a united community; to trust each other; to believe in each other’s sincerity; to accept that the other party might have something worth considering. The biggest hurdle however is the reluctance of some to listen to reason and logic. Unless we begin to apply practical common sense and reason the problem of influx will continue to haunt us.
In the end, influx as pointed out earlier happens because of economic necessities but only suicidal fools would advocate crippling the economy to stop influx. We need economic activity; it must continue while at the same time unregulated influx has to be curbed. Another paradox. So how do we do that? Logic demands that if we are to spot unauthorized residents amongst us, we (both indigenous tribal and genuine non tribal residents) first have to submit ourselves to an identification process. Identity based on a reference year would be the most appropriate intervention and the High Court has recently provided us with such cut off year. Secondly, reason dictates that entry of outsiders is not only to be registered but there also needs to be a strong monitoring system to track their movement while they are inside Meghalaya. Active 24 x 7 monitoring through public and Dorbar participation will be key to an effective control mechanism. Point is, are we ready to allow logical reasoning to take over from entrenched emotion?
(Author is President of ICARE)