Meghalaya Koch Association celebrates golden jubilee
SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Koch Association (MKA), which is the apex body of the Koch tribe in the state, in a memorandum to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, urged him to recognise the Koches as Scheduled Tribe (ST) along with the other major tribes of the state.
In the memorandum, the association also urged the chief minister to introduce Koch language as a subject in selected schools of Meghalaya.
The MKA, meanwhile, organised a four-day extravaganza, at Kumaligaon in South West Garo Hills to celebrate the golden jubilee of the association, which concluded on Monday last.
The chief minister, who attended the special session as the chief guest, spoke on the need for every tribe to maintain their unique identity besides fostering cultural ties with other communities for social equilibrium.
The golden jubilee event was attended by more than 5,000 officials from various parts of Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Rakesh Sinha, Rajya Sabha MP, who was also present on the occasion, assured the gathering to raise the demand for the recognition of the Koch dialect in Parliament and also announced a sum of Rs 10 lakh for the association.
Others who were present included Thomas A Sangma, Adviser to the Chief Minister, FCA Sangma, chairman of Environment and Sustainable Development, Meghalaya, Nripendra Koch and Bhupendra Hajong, MDCs of GHADC.
Earlier in the day, an international Koch meet was also held which was attended by delegates from outside the country and important resolutions to preserve and propagate the culture of the tribe were adopted.
Moreover, a souvenir and book publications by various Koch authors were also released on the occasion.
The penultimate day of the open session was attended by a host of dignitaries including the former Chief Minister Mukul M Sangma, Zenith M Sangma, Rangsakona MLA, Dikkanchi D Shira, Mahendraganj MLA and Miani D Shira, Ampati MLA.