43-member committee constituted to work on measures to strengthen traditional bodies
SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government’s move to constitute a jumbo-sized panel to adopt measures for institutionalization of the traditional bodies has come under attack for not giving adequate representation to women and also for non inclusion of non-indigenous persons in the committee.
Chief Adviser to the Meghalaya Government, D.D. Lapang, is heading the panel which has 43 members.
President of ICARE, Toki Blah, who is a member of the panel, on Thursday, said it was strange that the president of Lympung Ki Kyntei was the only woman representative in the panel.
The panel in its present form will not serve its purpose of finding adequate legislative measures on improvement of grass root governance, he said. Blah said there should have been more representation of women as part of gender justice and moreover, the views of the women should find place in the recommendations of the committee.
“As of now it is a panel of appeasement, and it is a deliberate attempt on the part of the bureaucrats to sabotage the good intention of the government,” Blah claimed.
According to the ICARE leader, the panel should be democratic as it in the current not only excludes women but also representatives of non indigenous persons.
“The panel should be inclusive and the intention is to bring in a system of grass root governance. There are areas like Jail Road, Polo Bazar and others governed by non indigenous headmen and the panel has ignored them,” Blah added.
According to Blah, 12 to 15 members should have been ideal for the panel instead of the jumbo-sized body consisting of 43 members.