By Marbabiang Syiemlieh, Mangcha Touthang and NaoremArunibala
The endearing echo of PA systems broadcasting do’s and don’ts on battling the Covid-19 pandemic has become a daily fare. We all realise that we are staring at an ominous and uncertain future. One could hear adults hushing their children, with televisions on minimal volumes reminding one of impending danger. This time, announcements were also made by traditional institutions to ensure that information reaches the community members. Through these, one is assured that the Government and the traditional institutions are fighting the pandemic in unison.
The Northeast region has not experienced overwhelming positive cases of Covid-19 as compared to other parts of the country. Perhaps, one of the factors responsible for this are the initiatives taken by leaders in following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines before the virus lunged at the region. The State Governments, by collaborating with Traditional Institutions has done a commendable job in supervising and administering the fight against the virus. The region has states like Sikkim with no positive cases till date; Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya had cases but they have mostly recovered. In Assam and Tripura the Covid numbers seem to be on the upswing. The following is a cursory glimpse on the roles, responsibilities and functions that the traditional institutions have assumed in several Northeast states.
In most Northeastern states, village councils and churches have taken the responsibility to disseminate information and sensitize people on the pandemic. In most communities of the region, the Traditional Institutions have functioned uniquely and there has been no dearth of community initiatives and participation in matters related to disasters and other unprecedented occurrences. In the case of Mizoram, the state government coordinated with civil society organisations for formation of Village Task Forces in all the villages of the state. These task forces were on constant vigilance to ensure that no one ventured outside their homes unnecessarily. They are also tasked with reporting instances of any shop owner who might or had actually charged customers exorbitantly. The task forces were able to actually ease the pressure on the state police forces and they remained quite effective in the fight against the pandemic. Similar instances were also observed in the state of Meghalaya. In some communities of Meghalaya, the village councils took initiatives in ensuring that financial assistance is provided to the daily wage labourers as per government provisions. Such institutions have also been able to form Relief Cells headed by the Headman and its representatives, with the objective of ensuring that different forms of relief assistances were made available at the village level.The Headmen also facilitated the PHCs and CHCs and community health workers in conducting awareness programs on COVID-19.
In Assam, the traditional institutions, in collaboration with various student bodies have been providing groceries, medicines and other essential commodities. Furthermore, some communities installed water taps at various points to encourage hand washing among the communities.
Sikkim is one state which successfully maintains a status quo in the fight against COVID-19 as it continues to effectively keep its statistics of infected persons at an amazing zero. No one in the entire state has been tested positive. This is attributed to the fact that the state has a rare and unique approach where civil society organisations are roped in by the state government as major stakeholders. This distinct feature is one of the main reasons as to why Sikkim is the only state which has the record of producing and selling solely organic products. It is noteworthy that while other states are still mulling with the idea of bringing back students and migrant workers stranded in other states, Sikkim has already conducted a mock drill on how such situation would be handled. Such basic coordination and accountability will ensure the safety of citizens anywhere in the country.
One exemplary community worth highlighting is Mawlangwir in West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya where the Dorbar Shnong has been playing a pro-active role. The institution conducts meetings, consultations and deliberations on the nature of the urgency and unexpected situation keeping in mind the guidelines provided by the government. The Dorbar Shnong ensured that provisions are accessible to all identified sections, limited issuance of passes only in case of emergency in healthcare, granted permission to shops selling livestock from the village only. The village coordinates with the Health Department on emergencies. A ‘Village Quarantine Centre’ with water supply, rooms, beds, electricity, and toilet is arranged for any eventuality. Volunteers including men, women and youth are on a daily roster to monitor the centre to avoid undue stress. Remarkably, the village had formed a Disaster Management Committee some years back, actually making it possible to form a restructured committee called ‘Community Covid-19 Management Committee’. The teachers who work in schools in the villages were roped in for spreading awareness at the household level, to sensitise the community on prevention against Covid-19 by using pamphlets provided by the Deputy Commissioner’s office. Moreover, the elite in the community with political positions and connections extended assistance in cash and kind to needy villagers.
Inspite of these good practices, there are some communities which witnessed unfortunate experiences. One example is the tragic incident in Meghalaya when a person who was infected with the virus passed away and things turned ugly when his last rites could not be held as a matter of course. The uncalled for protest against the cremation/burial by some communities, while the state was under lockdown and curfew is a slur that Meghalaya has to live with. But this also was due to sheer panic that the virus from the dead body could spread and infect others. Further, there were also reports from across the country where frontline workers were attacked, harassed, discriminated against and stigmatized on suspicion of spreading the virus. Without blaming concerned communities and after a rational analysis on how and why this happened, the modest answer could be that the genesis of such problems was lack of adequate information dissemination and awareness to communities at large on the virus.
Considering that traditional institutions have always risen to the occasion when called to action, the question that arises is whether they have been efficiently equipped to cope with similar or worse disasters in the future? Are the initiatives taken by the traditional institutions sufficient to meet the needs of the people? Based on experiences gathered from the present pandemic, the answer can be yes, provided the traditional institutions which include the village council, the women’s groups, youth groups and religious institutions converge to ensure better results.
However, there are few strategies that need to be inculcated. There is need to invest in capacity building on different skill sets to tackle any kind of disaster. We need to map resources within communities to create disaster response forces that can be quickly activated at short notice. Disaster management requires community participation devoid of selfishness, greed and callousness from privileged elite sections that have the tendency to undermine the prudence of community-based institutions. The vicious games played at the highest levels of world politics will intrude into our lives and mess up our existence. Hence one viable solution is to revive the roles and functions of our traditional institutions, with utmost transparency and accountability.We need to remind ourselves that we are all mortals and the best thing we can do is prepare for a similar pandemic, a disaster or the next virus with such threatening magnitude which could return to our lives.
Let us ask ourselves some pertinent questions. Is it worth going back to our roots and learning some enduring lessons from the past? Are our traditional institutions repositories of indigenous knowledge systems by means of which we can reach out to the infected, the afflicted, the sufferers instead of being rendered mere helpless, panicking onlookers? Let this pandemic be an eye-opener and show us a way forward on how we should work together within our communities to restore the public faith in our traditional institutions which of course, must keep up with the times and be held accountable stakeholders. As community-owned institutions they must be encouraged to participate in all progressive strategies to face the present challenges. This is the only way forward and together we can fight any disaster or pandemic henceforth.
(All authors are faculty of Martin Luther Christian University)