Patricia Mukhim
It is intuitive that the only concession made in the amendment to the Sixth Schedule as far as Meghalaya is concerned is the increase in the number of seats in each of the three Councils; increase in financial allocations and administrative powers. The most important democratic process for devolution of funds which is by way of elected village and municipal councils is dispensed with in the case of Meghalaya. So the status quo remains and the Village Administration Bill is in the dustbin for it has not been talked about at all in the Amendment proposal. How the increased funding will be deployed to the last person in the village is also not spelt out. So the Territorial Councils will now have to set up their administrative units for scheme implementation which will run parallel to the state government institutions.
This proposal is shortsighted and caters to a populist, male-centric demand to keep women out of grassroots politics. The vacuous argument that women are able to fight elections on merit in Matrilineal Meghalaya because they are already socially empowered and do not need reservation, is tenuous and overlooks the entrenched gender biases that operate insidiously in Meghalaya’s Matrilineal society. Assuming that women would automatically be able to create a level playing field in the political arena without any affirmative action is a misplaced idea. The Matrilineal society in Meghalaya is a much-hyped, unduly romanticized idea. In practice it is fraught with uncertainties and insecurities since women are easily abandoned or divorced and live decrepit lives as single parents. Preliminary studies have shown that Meghalaya has the highest number of female-headed households with kids having to drop out of school due to acute financial stress. These kids then enter the labour markets as children labourers. There is nothing romantic, or liberating about being a woman in this Matrilineal society.
When a certain minister was asked why the Amendment to the Sixth Schedule failed to bring in more enlightened clauses in line with those proposed for the other Sixth Schedule areas, the answer he gave was, “The stakeholders wanted it that way?” So who are those stakeholders? Are the 30 lakh people of Meghalaya not stakeholders in any consultation/decision-making process? Are only the heads of traditional institutions who fear that the democratic electoral process would bring in accountability and transparency and who use tradition as the red flag to against modern constitutional principles, the only stakeholders here? Are the amended proposals not a slap in the face of democratic traditions and an insult to the years of engagement that women have had for participatory governance?
We are told by sources in the Home Ministry that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and his colleagues have prevailed upon the Ministry to exempt Meghalaya from elections to village councils and municipalities and from 33% reservation for women in the Territorial Councils and the Ministry obliged. Hence Conrad Sangma tweeted, “Thank you @narendramodi ji and rajnathsingh ji for the historic decision to approve constitutional amendment to substantially increase financial resources and other powers of Autonomous Councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of #Northeast.” Historic decision for whom? I am not sure of the views of women in the NPP, the Congress, the UDP or the PDF for they hardly speak. We have never heard women say a word on any issue. Even Agatha Sangma who is fairly high up the NPP echelons has not spoken or engaged in issues related to women. She has not uttered a word on the Lineage Bill passed by the KHADC and similar issues that leave women at a disadvantage. I even wonder if women have the agency of “voice” to speak before the patriarchs in their respective parties. And we dare believe that women in Matriliny have overpowering voices? What a farce!
As far as elections to the urban municipalities and village councils are concerned, the resistance has been largely because of the fear that the “tribal” character of these bodies would change and that politics would enter the villages. Are we suggesting that the people of Meghalaya still follow tradition in the dress, food habits, personal choices etc., and that the villages of Meghalaya are apolitical and do not know how to play their political games? Do we believe that the village dorbars are purged of partisan politics? If so why do prospective MLA/MDC/MP candidates woo the dorbar shnong and promise them development largesse? Who are we trying to fool here? We fool no one but ourselves!
Those who stoically advance arguments that women in Meghalaya are already empowered must look at the representation of women in the ADCs over the years. Only in the KHADC have we had women representatives and the percentage over the years is just under 6%. The JHADC and GHADC have never elected women. If women are truly politically empowered they would have occupied 50% or more of the seats in the Councils. In the state assembly women MLAs have never exceeded 6 %. This time the assembly comprises only 5% women. Is this not a story in itself? And look at the antecedents of these women MLAs. With due respect, two of them are the daughter and wife of the former Chief Minister. The other is the daughter of a former noted politician although they have fought elections on their own merit. But pedigree is still important even in the tribal state of Meghalaya. So will the critics of the Women’s Reservation proposal show us just how empowered women are to create political spaces for themselves? Do the above statistics not speak for themselves?
It is easy to dismiss writers like this as being rabid feminists but when the political system is skewed in favour of the male and refuses to change then it’s time to engage and unveil the hidden patriarchal biases in Matriliny. Sadly, most women in this Matrilineal society strut around with the confidence that they are privileged and that it is the male that is the victim of this social practice. This skewed worldview comes from the ignorance of what it is to be a poor, abandoned, destitute, voiceless woman in a Matrilineal society. There are many such women in Meghalaya today and they are victims of rape and sexual abuse. Many are pushed to prostitution as a livelihood. And I am saying this not out of any assumption but because I meet many such people on a day to day basis. Our state assembly which is the platform for discussing issues that afflict women have often given them short shrift. Even women MLAs get caught in the politics of masculinity and join issues with men on agenda that skirt women’s issues. Just check the legislative assembly debates since 1972 till date and see how many times women-related issues have come up for discussion in the Assembly? And please don’t say there are no gender biases in a Matrilineal society for there are glaring biases in the way girls and boys are allocated duties at home. The expectations from girls are always much higher than from boys.
In the light of the above therefore one has to say that Conrad Sangma who we all thought would be a dynamic, progressive chief minister has turned out to be a conformist who dances to the tune of the conservative sections of the polity. Mr Conrad Sangma you have disappointed us big time!
And about the MDA, I have the following questions to ask. Where is the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the coalition which should have been the road map for the next five years (now four)? What has happened to the Education Policy that was so hurriedly pushed through? Why has it not come to the Assembly yet? And the major bungling in the rescue mission at the Ksan mining tragedy is well documented by OPEN magazine whose feature writer Omkar Khandekar has given a stinging report of the operations in an article called, “Depth of the Tragedy.” It tells us all we need to know about how the Government has responded to the calamity and indeed it’s a sordid story.