By Toki Blah
Meghalaya and its people have arrived at a New Year – 2016. Yet amidst the façade of merrymaking and joyful anticipation there lurks in the subconscious an unease because of the under surface tensions prevailing and simmering. People are bracing themselves for fresh trouble once the festive season is over. The power struggle within the Congress party, involving its big guns at state, centre and district council level, is an open secret, and is likely to intensify. Sniping and taking pot shots at each other are just part of the manoeuvres. The VAB, alleged MUDA encroachments into 6 Schedule areas, the dual post issue and who nominates MDCs to the KHADC are Congress squabbles to determine ticket allotments for the 2018 elections. This is crystal clear. You wonder how and why, our traditional bodies allowed themselves to be dragged into this vicious infighting within the MPCC. Traditional neutrality and impartiality thrown to the winds! It does not bode well for indigenous tradition and people are naturally worried.
It wouldn’t be wrong to state that the man on the street is a totally confused individual. Worse, it is becoming clearer by the day that those who got themselves unnecessarily entangled in this unholy mess, are themselves unclear as to what they actually are doing, what they exactly want or where they are taking the state and the jaitbynriew. The High Court ruling of 10th Dec 2014 had raised a simple issue – the need to legally empower the Rangbah Shnong through proper legislation! In 2012, before anyone could predict such developments, the KHADC had already circulated its draft Village Administration Bill (VAB), that too in Khasi, for comments from various stakeholders. Dorbars had at that point of time, summarily dismissed the VAB as a mischievous, uncalled for encroachment into their traditional jurisdictions. This changed overnight and we now find Rangbah Shnongs clamouring for the Governor’s consent on the VAB. With no intention of criticising or belittling anyone or any organisation, but the question remains – why this sudden u-turn? People are therefore entitled to ask “Do the Traditional Heads really know what they want?”
A closer examination of the prevailing situation reveals four underlying demands. The first demand concerns the usual cry that the community (Jaitbynriew) is under threat and that we all need to come out into the streets and do something about it. No one has ever cared to actually explain what that ‘something’ is; nor care to identify the nature of the threat; nor how we are suppose to take care of it. People are simply told to drop everything they are doing and to come out and show solidarity with the cause. Solidarity rallies then degenerated into riots. There was no coherent plan of action what to do next. The call for unity was simply a call for political unity and had very little to do with survival issues of the Jaitbynriew. People are not amused. This has simply left a bad taste in the mouth over an issue that is increasingly going nowhere.
The second issue also relates to the usual alarm call over an impending onslaught on tradition and culture. Again we are asked to take to the streets. For what purpose? From recorded history available, this is not the first time the Khasis, Garos and Jaintias have been confronted with a challenge to their tradition and culture. As a community we have faced such challenges before but met them by quietly assimilating our culture and tradition with outside technologies and practices that have now proved beneficial to our indigenous interests. (assimilation of Modern systems of education, modern health care, modern livelihood options, religion, apparel, ways of life etc). The point is, despite changes in our way of life, we still stand proud and defiant as indigenous Khasis, Jaintias and Garos. No reason to be ashamed of our identity and no reason why this should not continue into the future. Replacing outdated traditional practices with appropriate and relevant modern practices have actually stood us in good stead. In that way we are proud of and thankful to our illiterate forefathers who had the vision, courage and foresight to embrace change. Can’t say the same for the timid, tunnel visioned, self appointed saviours of the Jaitbynriew we have today.
The third issue is something of a shock to everyone. It is the demand for supremacy of the Autonomous District Councils over the State Government. Again the tunnel vision comes to play. It’s the most preposterous demand ever made and it simply nullifies everything Meghalaya stands for. In essence, it calls my father and mother and perhaps most of our parents as idiots for ever demanding for a Hill State of our own. Who are the real idiots is for the reader to decide. To be honest with oneself, District Councils are white elephants. For 63 years (1952-2015) they have simply wasted away the resources of the state and squandered away the powers given them under the 6th Schedule. For 63 long years they simply did nothing! According to latest reports 103 crores was spent on ADCs in 2014-15. What do they have to show for such huge expenditure? Zero! By what standards of measurement can we now demand that overall governance be handed over to such non performing institutions? If our own elected Govt is to be debarred from 6th Schedule area development, then logically it means that roads, hospitals, bridges, schools, livelihood options etc are to be handed over to the ADCs. Are we really serious with such tomfoolery? Any takers on such stupidity? Please, let’s not rush in where even angels fear to tread!
The fourth demand relates to aspects of local or village governance. The need of the hour is either for the District Council or the State Govt to come up with a legislation to recognise the local Dorbar as a unit of local self government and correspondingly empower the Headman, Nokma or the Rangbah Shnong. Para 3 sub para e,f of the 6th Schedule of the Constitution empowers the ADCs for the above. Interestingly Schedule 7,List II, para 5 also provide the State Government with the same powers. Cognizance at this point has to be given to para 12A of the 6th Schedule and its provision of repugnancy, wherein preference for State Laws over that of the ADCs is provided. Now, if the need of the hour is legal empowerment of the Rangbah Shnong, and if District Council empowerment is not forthcoming, para 12 A of the 6th Schedule provides us with a way out. Does the source of such empowerment, as long as it is constitutional, really matter? If it doesn’t then why this insistence that only the law of a defunct District Council should prevail? What’s so sacrosanct about laws of a failed institution? Perhaps Michael Syiem’s writ petition over continued relevance of the District Councils makes more sense than people give it credit for.
The Khasi Pnar community of today is somewhat in a Hamlet, Prince of Denmark like dilemma. Is the VAB of KHADC to be or not to be? From all indications available it appears it is not to be. The Honourable Governor has passed the JHADC but referred the KHADC Bill to the Home Ministry who will no doubt get it vetted by the Law Ministry who will then seek the views of Tribal Affairs who in turn will ask Social Welfare Ministry for their opinion. Who the Social Welfare will turn to is anybody’s guess! Approval of VAB for JHADC and giving the KHADC VAB a status of a dead duck is bound to have serious repercussions. Realising this, the KHADC had come up with a Rule amendment of its Appointment and Succession of Chiefs and Headmen Act which the State Govt has promptly shot down. Sadly we’re back to square one and our village governance system continues to remain legally invalid. The silly games politicians play and the cost it extracts from all of us!
So what do we do next? Two courses of action are available to us. Either we continue with our agitations, continue with our petty bickerings and continue with unplanned courses of action (yn sa ia peit pat). It’s a typical response denoting ‘Please don’t bother us for we too don’t know what we are doing’. OR drop all other superfluous issues and concentrate solely on how to legally empower our traditional bodies so as to make them the most viable institutions for delivery of socio-economic development to our people. There’s no point flogging the dead horse called VAB. We should instead start engaging with our own Government, which we have not done so far. Engage with our elected MLAs so as to enable the State Legislative Assembly to pass a uniform Bill on grassroot governance for the whole state of Meghalaya. As of today that is the only sensible option we have left with us. Hopefully we will take it!
(Author is President of ICARE)