News reports that 3000 bighas of land in the Sixth Schedule area of Dima Hasao adjoining East Jaintia Hills where two reserved forests are located is being given out to a cement company has raised a stink in the Gauhati High Court where a litigant filed a public interest litigation. The judge in that particular case was visibly shocked because that extent of land equals an expansive 990 acres which is an entire village in some cases. The argument put forward by those tasked to conserve forests and to protect the indigenous peoples’ lands is that the area is barren- now declared a wasteland from where limestone can be mined to produce cement. How conveniently the entire operation has been executed without any opposition from the District Council members including its Chief Executive Member (CEM) Debolal Gorlosa. The reason is not far to seek. The ruling Executive of the Dima Hasao Council comprises 25 MDCs from the BJP. And the CEM speaks the language of the BJP and Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma. It would appear that Gorlosa has no concern about giving away so much land in a scheduled area where the very purpose of the Sixth Schedule is diluted. The District Council of Dima Hasao has become the second tier of the State Government.
One of the sanest voices from Dima Hasao, Daniel Langthasa a former MDC, who is at the forefront of the Sixth Schedule Protection Committee and his supporters have raised a stink on this parcelling off of tribal to corporate bodies but their protests have fallen on deaf ears. Langthasa was also the only one who raised his voice when the mining tragedy happened in January 2025 where several miners were killed inside a rat hole mine. Langthasa has voiced out the danger of handing tribal land over to private parties for coke industries and other purposes without the consent of village authorities which is a violation of the Sixth Schedule and the Council’s mandate. Langthasa says that after the coal mine tragedy it was found that there were at least 220 illegal rat hole mines in and around Umrangso. He says that such a huge network of illegal mines could not have existed without the knowledge of the Dima Hasao District Council.
The problem with the Sixth Schedule is that the tribals are themselves ignorant of the powers vested in it. This is also because even those elected to the Councils are unsure of the powers vested in the Council for protecting land, forests and mineral resources and that tribal land cannot be alienated without the consent of the village authorities and clans that own the land. In Meghalaya the Land Transfer Act has to a large extent been able to prevent land alienation except when benami transactions occur and non-tribal businesses operate on tribal land through the benami route. Time is not far when corporates will seek to acquire land in Meghalaya too because of its coal and limestone potentials. There is already large-scale rural landlessness in Meghalaya. Will the Autonomous District Councils of Meghalaya exercise their minds on this critical aspect?
