Friday, March 29, 2024
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Revisiting the IOA

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The Instrument of Accession signed by the 25 Khasi syiems (chieftains) between 1947-48, categorically stated that they have acceded to the Dominion of India with the intent that the Governor General of India, the Dominion Legislature, the Federal Court and any other Dominion Authority shall by Virtue of this Instrument of Accession, but subject always to the terms thereof, and for purposes only of the Dominion, exercise in relation to the said Khasi States such functions as may be vested in them by or under the Government of India Act, 1935. Often we have heard political aspirants and those desirous of riding the bandwagon of historical anomalies raise the issue of the Khasi states not having signed the Instrument of Merger and therefore not having fully acceded to India. The question then is what is the Instrument of Merger? Sardar Valabbhai Patel and VK Krishna Menon realised that it was necessary to merge the smaller states/principalities as they were non-viable administrative units. It was pointed out by the duo that the smaller states were very small and lacked resources to sustain their economies and to support their growing population. Besides, each of the states imposed their own taxation rules and other restrictions that impeded free trade. Patel and Menon were of the opinion that in a united India there could not exist such variations in administrative control. Hence the merger was sought to be effected by merging smaller principalities to neighbouring provinces to create a sort of “princely union.” The Instrument of Merger therefore meant that some of the smaller states would be dissolved with the larger states for the purpose of better administration, although this violated the principles of the Instrument of Accession where those states/principalities were recognised as individual states.
The Khasi states were in no way royalties and neither did they have the standing of “kings” or “rajahs.” The Khasi administrative unit begins with the family (ka dorbar iing), the clan (ka dorbar kur), the village (dorbar shnong), the cluster of villages (dorbar raid) and lastly the cluster of raids (syiemship). The Khasi system is not arranged in the shape of a pyramid but its opposite, like the Khasi khoh (basket) from the bottom up. In that sense it was a democratic arrangement. It’s a different matter that this system became subservient to the Constitution of India. The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution ensured that the traditional governance structures would be conserved. The fact that these administrative arrangements of the Khasis were not well understood by the Constitution makers is also one reason this important point is reduced to paragraph 3(1)(g) of the Sixth Schedule which only says the District Council has power to make laws with respect to the appointment and succession of Chiefs or Headmen which naturally includes the power to remove them. The Instrument of Accession is a valid document for the Khasi states to have become an integral part of India and the Instrument of Merger is a red herring.

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