Nokmas petition PM against Sixth Schedule amendment

TURA, March 20: Nokmas from all over Garo Hills under the banner of the Council of Nokmas have addressed a joint memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing their concerns and apprehensions over the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
In their memorandum, the Nokmas said that the proposed amendment and its implications thereafter have not been discussed thoroughly with them either by representatives of the Centre or the state government. They added that while they were met by a few MDCs of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council to discuss the issue, none of their opinion or suggestion has been incorporated in the report forwarded to the Centre.
With regard to the proposed setting up of village councils in Garo Hills, the Nokmas put forward a slew of reasons why it would not be feasible in the region.
“We collectively are of the view that the conduct of elections to village councils in Garo Hills is not only impractical but also perilous to the future of the backward Garo community. We also reiterate that the Village Council Act of 1958 should be scrapped altogether for the general progression of our humble community,” they said.
The Nokmas in their memorandum also questioned the term ‘unrepresented tribes’ in the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule Bill, 2019 which stated that four members would be nominated under the category to the GHADC by the Governor.
“We fail to understand the meaning of the term ‘unrepresented tribes’ as GHADC elections are currently conducted without any discrimination towards any community and even the general category (non tribals) are contesting. MDCs in the GHADC have been from different communities both in the past and the present and therefore, we feel that the term (unrepresented tribes) does not  amendment as it shows the Garo community and the GHADC in poor light,” the Nokmas argued.
With regard to the proposed nomination of seats in the GHADC where it suggested that six would be nominated out of which two shall be women and four from the ‘unrepresented tribes’ out of the total of 42, the Nokmas said that that women have never been barred from contesting in the GHADC elections.
“The proposed number of seats for nominated candiduences in the policy making of the GHADC as the number of nominated members has the competence to undermine the democratic voting process. Therefore we appeal to you to kindly maintain the status quo in terms of nomination of MDCs, which is one member regardless of gender or any tribal community,” the Nokmas said.