Patricia Mukhim
I usually don’t agree with the state government needlessly intruding into the domain of the district council but this time Dr Mukul Sangma has done the right thing by saying that government would enact a bill to empower the Rangbah Shnong with specific responsibilities within their jurisdictions. After the High Court Order of December last year which rescinded the powers of the Rangbah Shnong to issue No Objection Certificates (NOC) there have been several heated debates on the ruling. First the Chief Executive Member (CEM), Khasi Hills District Council challenged the order of the Court not by a judicial procedure but at a public gathering. This was construed by the High Court as contempt against its ruling. Accordingly the CEM was summoned to appear before the Court to explain himself. He compounded the problem with his adversarial posturing. After all he had a rag-tag following outside the court premises that shouted slogans and called him a savior of the Jaidbynriew. Such slogans never fail to deliver except that on that particular day the district administration had imposed Section 144 around the High Court premises. So the slogan shouting turned into a damp squib.
The Court did not accept the apology tendered by the CEM, Adelbert Nongrum (for it really was no apology if one could read body language). The Court maintained that it would pass on the proceeds of the day’s hearing to the higher bench. Following this it was the Synjuk Ki Rangbah Shnong that deliberated on the consequence of the Meghalaya High Court ruling. They hemmed and hawed and at first said they would contest the ruling and later retracted. So the position of the Rangbah Shnong as of today is blowing in the wind. But given that the relations between the Rangbah Shnong as well as the Syiem and Sordar Raid with the District Council are, at the best of times, adversarial, it is but natural that they would approach the state government to pull them out of the present predicament for their role is certainly amorphous because it is undefined.
There have been several critiques on the role of the district councils and their redundancy after Meghalaya became a full-fledged state under the custodianship of a tribal leadership. Frankly speaking the district councils play no role in our lives today. They sometimes execute minor development projects but those hardly make a dent. The Councils have failed to secure our lands, forests water bodies etc., In fine, all that the Councils do today is to play the game of musical chairs. They are forever changing the chief executive member (CEM). In their short tenure of eleven months the KHADC has had two CEMs with a third one about to be sworn in very recently except that a last minute turn-around by some perpetual turn-coats saved the day for the present CEM. Other than making money out of doling out trading licenses and collecting revenues from the village markets and taxing products that go out of the state – activities that only serve the purpose of the Councillors themselves and their supporting staff – there is no visible advantage that we as tribals can claim from the Councils. So do we need these parallel governments which have no connection with grass-roots governance? I believe we don’t but our political system is so tenuous that no government would seek a constitutional amendment to do away with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
In recent times much has been written and debated about the Village Administration Bill, a document that has been crafted by a consultant with administrative experience as per the request of the KHADC. The problem with this Bill is that it shies away from making any recommendations on gender equitable representation in the Dorbar Shnong. Secondly, it tries to bring in facets of tradition that have long been considered repugnant to modern democratic practices (teh Rangbah). Hence the Bill is a placebo rather than a progressive and futuristic piece of legislation. However, there are aspects of the Bill which have been well thought of and which need minor modifications. The problem however is that this Bill is sought to be passed by only one Council out of the three. How can there be separate Bills for the other two Councils? Hence it is only fair and consistent with democratic practices that the Bill to define the powers and responsibilities of the Rangbah Shnong be passed by the State Government.
The tribals of Meghalaya (and I include myself in this, with the permission of the traditionalists ) have a penchant for holding on to tradition. They can give a hundred and one justifications for continuing with tradition even though they have brought in reforms to suit their day to day needs. I have therefore culled a few observations about ‘Tradition’ from some of the wisest philosophers of the world. In the 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities titled, “The Vindication of Tradition” by Jaroslav Pelikan, the writer says, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” Warren Ellis on the other hand says “Tradition: one of those words conservative people use as a shortcut to thinking.” Then there’s Mark Twain who says, “The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.” Feminist Letty Cottin Pogrebin says, “When men are oppressed, it’s a tragedy. When women are oppressed, it’s tradition.” And last but not least let me quote Somerset Maugham who says, “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer.” Hence traditionalists can take their pick.
Much has been defended in the name of tradition in Khasi society. But tradition is passé as far as our land holding systems are concerned. Many tribal individuals today have no land to call their own unless they are rich enough to buy land from a private owner. Community land which only exists in some parts of the state are not given to tribals who don’t belong to that Raid. It is again a practice that has come from tradition when villages belonged only to particular clans. Today we live in a mobile world. A person of one village moves seamlessly into another village because of marriage or employment. He/she cannot claim any land in that village even if there is community land (Raid) available. Where is the justice here?
The local area governance Bill which the State Government seeks to pass must also look at these rapidly changing practices and usher into the Bill aspects that would address land alienation within and among tribals because the outsider/ non-tribal cannot buy land anyway. In the course of the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS),Village Employment Councils have been formed and many of them are trained in book keeping, documentation and implementation. In case the NREGS is jettisoned this human resource with its capacities would be lost forever if it is not taken on board to carry on with other governance issues. The Bill in question must map such human resource already available at the level of the villages and utilise these for village administration and governance.
The Bill, as and when it is crafted, must first be publicly debated and should have as its features the benign and judicious aspects of the Indian Constitution and its inclusive features. We cannot have a Bill that provides for a governance system that excludes sections of citizens on the basis of ethnicity and because we are jailed by tradition. The Rangbah Shnong is not a power centre. They should on the contrary empower the citizens to access resources through a system of good and accountable governance. They should be facilitators, not impediments to the citizen’s growth.
It will be good to see such a Bill becoming an Act under this Government which claims to be futuristic and pro-citizen.