By Toki Blah
The dust has settled; the war-cries over; the contest has been won and now the time has come for the victors to sit down and take stock of the spoils of war! Yes I’m talking about the recently contested MDC elections where we saw the VPP romp home in the KHADC with a clear majority of 17. On the Feb 26, 2025, VPP President, Bah Ardent, declared the office bearers for the KHADC comprising of the Chairman and Vice Chair for the Legislative Body together with the CEM and seven other EMs for the Executive Council. The justification for the small number of EMs ( just 8 from the previous 12 ) is the call for curtailment in public expenditure! Is the VPP once again hitting the right chord of public sentiment? One has to say this for it has now become quite apparent that the VPP call for no corruption in politics; more transparency and accountability in public life; educated and enlightened party candidates together with the party’s experiment with ‘No to money power in elections’ had found immense traction with the electorate of these Hills. How else can one explain the majority of 17 seats in KHADC and the attainment of EIGHT seats in the Jaintia Hills – a constituency notorious for the play of big money in elections and for the singular return for most politician crorepattis!
One can safely say that the manner in which the VPP carried itself in the recently concluded MDC elections, is what the general public wants from politicians – the readiness for change in the demeanour and behaviour of its public servants. It however also revives bitter memories of the 1980s and of the rise of the Assom Gana Parishad then. Assam’s hopes were raised only to be dashed to the ground once the AGP started tasting the fruits of Power. Today it is doubtful if people even remember the AGP and what it stood for. It is hoped that the VPP learns from the lessons of Assam. It would be a tragedy if the Hopes of the masses were to be betrayed by petty, irrelevant and shortsighted political self goals.
So what would be better than to girdle our loins ; roll up the sleeves and try to come out with what are the publicly relevant issues before the present KHADC Executive Council. Where should its priorities lie in the next five years?
To be precise the KHADC already has its work cut out in the sense that their mandate; scope of work and areas of interests are already chalked out in the 6th Schedule. The long and short of such a mandate is to promote the interests of the local tribals by safeguarding their rights over their lands, customs and traditions. Mould and shape tradition to the needs of today, so to say. Now wait a minute. Isn’t the mandate of the State Government also to promote the well-being, development and welfare of the people? So are we missing something here? The Constitution does not play favorites and it expects both the ADCs and the State Government to both work for promoting the interests of the people. Here the Constitution looks at convergence of good governance from both institutions. It expects both the State Government and the ADC to supplement and complement each other in promoting the interests of the common man. Both the State Govt and the ADCs share a common goal. Unfortunately local political compulsions usually sets the State Government and the ADC at odds with one another; one trying to outshine the other before the public.
Of glaring example is the vexed question of MUDA. In an age of rapid urbanization where steel, cement, an expansion skywards is the norm, can one question the need for building regulations, both for Municipal and 6th Schedule areas, to ensure safety and security of the people ? So why can’t both the State Government and the KHADC make use of the common services of one MUDA? Why the need for duplicate MUDAs? Why the need for unnecessary expenditure of scarce public resources? I can come up with only one answer to the above questions – for corruption to take place in high places of public service, duplicity and obscurity are called for! That’s what we are seeing.
The next mandate for the ADCs in Meghalaya is from Para 3 (b)which reads ‘ to make laws for the management of any forest not being a reserve forest’ and proper management of water bodies within such lands and forests. The peculiarity of land ownership in Meghalaya is that 88% of the land and the forests on such land is owned by the public and only 12% is reserved forests managed by Govt. It is sad to admit that past ECs of the KHADC have preferred to manage these community forests by exploiting their timber value only . The best part of traditional practices of preservation of our forests and natural resources, in the interests of the community have been neglected leading to vast deforestation of our hills.
Large scale charcoal burning all over the state has only added to deterioration of our community wealth. This is one of the major challenges for the new EC – how to rejuvenate our diminishing community forests ! To give Bah Ardent Basaiawmoit his due one must admit that when he was CEM of the KHADC, the District Council had strongly intervened in declaring the Raid Mawtawar and Raid Mawpat forests as ‘law adong’ or ‘community reserve forests’. This welcoming intervention occurred because of a public outcry over attempts by the authorities of Hima Myllieh to sell off the area through allocation of plots to private individuals sometime during 2014. It is now learnt that greedy leaders of the community are once again surreptitiously attempting to repeat what they could not do in 2014. Let us take note that the evergreen pine forests of Mawtawar and Mawpat form the Green lung area between Old Shillong and New Shillong. They will purify the the air our children and grand children will breathe. Destruction of these forests, under the management and care of the KHADC must never be allowed to become the source for money making by greedy leaders. The public of Shillong must be whistle blowers over any visible attempt to alter the status of these forests. The new EC should take immediate steps to ensure that these community forests are protected and preserved. Funds to KHADC for such upkeep can be sourced from the Smart City project as maintaining and preserving green cover for the city falls under the purview of the scheme.
The next important issue before the new EC and one again mandated by the 6th Schedule is the management and upkeep of our traditional bodies. Of utmost importance is the relationship between the KHADC and the Dorbar Shnong. ( note that emphasis is on the Dorbar Shnong and not the Rangbah Shnong who happens to be just the first among equals ) Our Dorbars are under threat. The legal status of the Dorbar was challenged by a single bench of the High Court in 2014 and the very existence and authority of this prime grassroot traditional institute will continue to be in question as long as the challenge remains unanswered. It is obvious that the answer to the challenge is through an Act of the KHADC that gives our Dorbar the legal shield that they require. We therefore need to review and reappraise the Village Administration Bill (VAB). Take it out of the cold storage it was consigned to and rework on it if so needed. Such a review should concentrate on the following aspects. First how to make the Dorbars transparent and accountable in their day to day functioning. Rules to the Act and training in finance management concepts for Dorbar officials should help. Second, to bring in uniformity and homogeneity in the election, formation and composition of all dorbars within KHADC. A standard manner in Dorbar elections together with the inclusion of both adult male and female electors can be a good start. Third, good management of Dorbar resources, and this includes financial resources, human as well as natural resources must be identified as good governance practices. Human resources are defined as all residents living within the Dorbar. Its youth need to be protected from harmful practices such as drug abuse etc. Dorbar should not be left to deal with the menace of drugs on their own. Relevant training on the subject is needed. So is the matter with women. They must be protected from abuse and exploitation and proper training can again be extended in this matter.
Natural resources for durbars will primarily be the forests and streams that fall under the jurisdiction of a Dorbar. For a start , the Dorbars falling within Shillong and Greater Shillong areas can be facilitated to come up with sanitary concepts for both the Wah Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi. Dorbars falling outside urban areas can be encouraged to take better care of the forests and streams under their jurisdiction. Funds for such “Green Concept Projects of KHADC” will find ample scope from NEC, Ministry Doner, Ministry of Forests and Environment as well as the Ministry for Panchayats. What is really needed is the will and political vision to do something for the betterment of society and the environment . The rest will automatically follow.