The MDCs elected this time are mostly first timers and relatively young. Politics whether at the State legislature level or in the district councils is a profession. It does not come naturally. There is a need for training in the profession. While moving a motion for discussion, the MLA/MDC doing so has to have done her/his homework and read up every piece of information on that particular motion and even sought legal counsel if needed from lawyers specialised in constitutional law. Since there is no strict requirement of minimum qualification to contest for the MLA/MDC election we have had people who stumble their way through sessions and are elected purely because they fulfilled people’s personal requirements and were able to pay for such peoples’ personal needs. But this is 2025 and things are changing faster than we can keep pace with. MLAs and MDCs are expected to be technologically savvy not just in accessing their social media accounts or posting stuff there but to also be one up on the bureaucracy which actually has to deliver governance to the last mile.
A Minister in the state government or Executive Member in the KHADC must be able to read between the lines of what is/are being put up for their endorsement. It’s a different matter if there is wrong intent and a Minister/EM is in league with an officer to get money out of a scheme. This is common in the Public Works Department where a minister instructs the engineer in charge of a project to see how much can accrue to his personal coffers. This is a malaise that has afflicted Meghalaya for decades and that is why the state of our roads are pathetic and require annual maintenance. It is noticed that those MLAs/MDCs in the Opposition don’t come up with actual ground research on such failed projects to expose the government. People only hear half-baked arguments and allegations not based on substantive facts which could have been procured through the Right to Information route. The legislators in Meghalaya have a set of researchers to help them solicit important information from different departments. The ADCs need a similar set of scholars to guide them and bring the professionalism that is required to run the Councils as they should be run in an enlightened world and not as they have been managed thus far.
Councillors in particular need to touch base with the environmental problems that are afflicting the state through reckless mining and quarrying before Meghalaya faces devastation through flash floods and other unpredictable weather conditions. In this aspect one wonders why the Executive Councils do not have a practice of sitting across the table with the state government to discuss common issues such as the management of water resources, forests and environment etc. Why should the Councils be stand-alone institutions? It’s also high time that the new Executive Council streamlines village governance systems and develops a policy on that. At present the Dorbar Shnong are virtually a law unto themselves. There is no policy to tie them to a set of guidelines in village governance. Hopefully the new Executive Councils in both the KHADC and JHADC will attempt these recommendations.
