SHILLONG, Feb 7: The Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR) has urged Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to prioritise establishment of a Search and Selection Committee that will facilitate formation of the new Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) which has been dysfunctional since October 2020 since its term expired.
“We urge you to prioritize the formation of a Search and Selection committee that will facilitate formation of the new Commission that will stand with the women of the state in their struggle to realise all their constitutional rights and be able to participate fully in the democratic and developmental life of the state,” said TUR member, Angela Rangad.
Calling it unfortunate, Rangad said, “This has greatly affected women who have been seeking redressal on issues of violence, abandonment, maintenance etc and denial of constitutional rights and for whom the Commission should have been readily accessible”.
Dwelling on the importance of the Commission, she pointed out that Meghalaya “boasts of a matrilineal setup but ironically has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the region, high maternal mortality rate as well as instances of teen pregnancies”.
“It points towards the fact that much work is needed in safeguarding women’s rights including reproductive and sexual health besides others,” she added.
Reminding the state government of the massive protests that followed the overnight ‘conjuring’ of the first women’s commission in the state through an ordinance, she said, “The subsequent commission was constituted by having a search and selection committee under the then Social Welfare Minister, Nimarson Momin, where women of the state could participate in the selection of the commission alongside other legislative representatives”.
“We would like to place on record that this idea of legally institutionalising a publicly accessible Search & Selection Committee for constituting statutory commissions was an innovation from Meghalaya,” TUR member Rangad added.