Allegations by Members of the Opposition in the Khasi Hills District Council that money is demanded for issuing trade licences to different companies executing road projects in the state, has raised the decibel levels in the Council with the EM Trade going so far as to bang the table. It is good that this matter has surfaced since there have been similar allegations in the past too that unless money changes hands trading licenses are not forthcoming. The larger question as far as all the autonomous councils are concerned is also about their lack of transparency in bookkeeping considering they levy different taxes from different markets and forest products that are exported outside the State. The income and expenditure of the Councils have been a constant tug of war even with the Accountant General’s office as they have failed to audit their accounts regularly.
The District Councils don’t occupy much media space because of their ability to keep below the radar and maintain a low profile. Their sources of income are mainly from Government grants and their own taxations. Other than coming up with some outrageous bills once in while with the intent of painting women in a corner by accusing them of conniving to part away with tribal land, when they marry a non-tribal man, the Councils are not known to come up with any progressive legislation to prepare young minds to embrace the world of cut-throat competition. In fact, the Councils are not known to take up any activities that promote cultural sensitivities in an age where culture, tradition and modernity interface, often in a competitive way instead of the melting pot model. An institution with this deeply exclusivist mindset in this post- modernist age needs to introspect about its own existence and objectives; to be extrospective and not to look at the outside world as an existential threat.
What’s perhaps most unfortunate is that the elected Council members themselves don’t engage enough with the larger ambit of the Sixth Schedule and how it interfaces with modern constitutional governance even while carrying forward tradition and the institutions that have evolved from such traditions. If money making is all that the Councils are interested in then the faith reposed on them is futile. The Councils should be engaging with other similar institutions in the neighbouring states where the Sixth Schedule is working better and in a more participatory manner and carrying people along with them. If the Councils no longer serve the public good and are there only to regulate trading by non-tribals then there is need to discuss their merits when most of what they do run parallel to what the State Government does.
