By Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh
Meghalaya is fifty years old now and it is one of the tribal dominated States in the Eastern Region. As a tribal State special provisions are accorded via the Constitution. It is to be pointed that 55 out of the 60 seats in the State Legislative Assembly are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and this implies that Meghalaya is fully governed by the indigenous people of the State. Secondly, the entire State, save a meagre area within Shillong, falls under the Sixth Schedule. The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution deals with grass roots and traditional governance and it empowers democratically elected grass roots institutions like the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) to legislate and govern on matters of customs, cultures, land, mineral resources, forests produce, traditional knowledge etc., under the Autonomous area.
However, in the case of Meghalaya it has baffled students (both indigenous and non-indigenous) of constitutional history that a full- fledged tribal State having special provisions within the Constitution is also enjoying other constitutional protection under the same Constitution. Though, tribal minorities are in need of Constitutional protection, but is Meghalaya over protected that we have now become pampered and spoilt? When 90% and 99% of seats in the State Legislature and ADCs respectively are occupied by indigenous law makers, should we blame others for all the ills that have befallen the State?
The regional All Party Hills Leaders Conference (APHLC) which took the mantle in the initial years of statehood couldn’t withstand the mighty grand old party, the Congress, and was immediately subsumed. This led to the establishment of the Congress regime in the State for nearly four decades. Today, the United Democratic Party (UDP) which claims that its roots can be traced to the year 1960 when APHLC was born, is subservient to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the nascent Nationalist Peoples’ Party. In fact, the UDP which was founded in 1997 has failed to assert as a regional force. No wonder Meghalaya’s politics is marked by party hopping and match fixing. Some of the people who are in the Cabinet today were also in the previous governments and may perhaps jump ship and be together again with their old buddies who are now in the Meghalaya Trinamool Congress etc., after the 2023 general elections. If gossips and rumours are to be believed within no time these existent regional parties will be completely devoured by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP. These political instabilities have cost the State dearly and resulted in worsening criminality and corruption in governance and politics.
In the past fifty years, though we have together achieved, but save for the Transfer of Land Regulation Act 1971, no sound legislation was enacted in the State. On the contrary, the Land Regulation which is primarily meant to protect tribal ways of life is being diluted since the year ‘79, ’81 and its teeth were extracted in 1997 with the passage of the Single Window Policy. The dilutions are done in the name of development and also to serve the economic and business interests of tribal elites and capitalists from within and outside the State. As a result, there is rampant destruction of environment. The tribal land system is eroding and land is alienated in the process. Against this backdrop, since the past four decades there is a huge cry for the extension of the Bengal Frontier Regulation Act 1873 vis a vis the Inner Line Permit in the State and the cry is getting louder. Moreover, in the neo-liberal era in which everything is privatized or corporatized from land, forest, air, water, electricity to education, health, transportation jobs etc., tribal life is under major threat. Hasn’t the single window policy, which is the by-product of the economic liberalization completely made any regulation for protection of tribals in the State obsolete? Shouldn’t we the indigenous people of the State seek for a more ingenious way of protection from the onslaught of the neo-liberals from within and outside the Bri Hynῆiewtrep and Achik? I reiterate my stand that as a tribal minority I need protection from the Constitution but it should not be pitted against others who also deserve protection under the same Constitution. I have no doubts that I can find a workable and just solution.
Tribal identity is rooted in land and natural resources. A tribal means nothing without community land and forests where he/she toils to sustain life. Landlessness is threatening the tribal identity and this threat is becoming a reality now because according to the Socio-Economic Caste Census Survey 2011 it is found that 76% of rural households in Meghalaya have become landless. The truth is that rural Meghalaya is tribal in which no transfer of land is permitted, so why have the 76% tribal households become landless? One of the reasons may perhaps be that many commons or community lands have been converted into private lands or tribals have sold off to meet other exigencies.
The politics and governance in the State is deteriorating on all fronts, from unemployment to costs of living. Teachers are not getting their salaries for months; many private, contractual and casual workers are underpaid. Besides, they slog for 15 to 18 hours a day sans overtime, day off, essential benefits like casual, maternity, earned and medical leaves. Excepting the regular government employees, workers in Meghalaya have no health insurance coverage. The universal health insurance provided to the citizens is insufficient and will not meet the costs of cancer, kidney and liver treatment to name a few. Many private employers and government sectors do not adhere to the Minimum Wage Act when it comes to renumerating its employees, while the house rent, costs of transportation, medicines, school/college fees and essential commodities are shooting through the roof and becoming unbearable, especially for the poor to live. Further, urban and rural poverty is alarming and the gulf between the rich and the poor is getting wider in the state
The rate of unemployment and job loss is staggering. According to a survey, between the month of April and July 2021 the unemployment rate was at 5% and continues to fluctuate. Government can generate merely 25% employment and the remaining 75% of jobs creation is dependent on private sectors and self- generation. While private players can generate employment, but entrepreneurship[ is extremely difficult, especially for people with small capital. The non-implementation of a just and fair rent regulation is the biggest challenge for self-employed people. There is a huge disparity in rents across the capital which makes entrepreneurs with small capital difficult to conduct business and trade and to compete with big capitalists.
Since 1972, Meghalaya has had ten general elections and soon the term of the 1oth Legislative Assembly is getting over and fresh elections will be held. But in Meghalaya none of the political parties are rooted in values, principles and ideology. Politics and governance have become so corrupt and immoral. Policies and decisions are unjust and anti-poor. Democracy and elections are farcical. Elections have become a business enterprise. Besides, politics of lies, deceit and turncoats are making the lives of ordinary citizens harder than ever. People have also internalized that only those with wealth and position can rule over us.
The State desperately needs representatives who have ethics and believe in the rule of law. It needs people with tenacious character and resolve to enact and regulate on: (i) Land so as to protect and revert lands to landless tribals, to also provide decent housing to marginalized citizens. (ii) to legislate Land Ceiling Act (iii) to provide a just and fair rent control in urban centres (iv) to accord all benefits to workers both in organized and un-organized sectors which includes living wage, leaves and better working conditions (v) to upgrade Civil Hospitals into state of the art medical centres, to build more public hospitals and upgrade all CHCs and PHCs in every District. To increase the amount of coverage in the Universal Health Insurance scheme. (vi) to improve, upgrade and build more government and public schools, colleges and to better the conditions of teachers (vii) to provide support to farmers and farm workers in the State (viii) to support the youths in terms of employment and give impetus to the entrepreneurial spirit of our young people. (ix) to facilitate full participation of women in politics and governance beginning from the Dorbar Shnong.
Together we reclaim the tribal ethos of mutual respect, egalitarianism and communitarian way of life. We also reclaim those basic tenets of earning through righteous means and eating from the sweat of one’s own brow. The time is now to collectively challenge corruption and criminality in politics and governance.