TURA: Several Garo organisations have written to the GHADC chief executive member demanding a bill to end participation of non-tribals in District Council affairs.
In the joint letter to CEM Denang T Sangma, organisations like the Garo Students’ Union (GSU), AYWO, FKJGP, FAF and ADE urged the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) to take a leaf out of KHADC’s book on the issue of tribal governance. The KHADC does not have non-tribals at the helm of its affairs.
“The political will shown by the KHADC is to be appreciated and their initiative is borne not only out of necessity but also the innate need to chart their own destiny as provisioned by the spirit of the sixth schedule,” the letter stated.
The organisations demanded that a bill in this regard be placed in the next executive committee meeting of the GHADC.
Recalling their opposition to non-tribal participation in GHADC since 2008, and most recently the 2015 GHADC election that was boycotted by several Garo bodies and voters alike, these organisations have questioned the repeated assurances given by successive executive committees at the GHADC which always failed to take concrete steps.
The memorandum also mentioned about the meeting between the Garo organisations and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram in New Delhi where the former had sought implementation of the provisions of the Sixth Schedule.
“The Union minister reiterated that the Autonomous Council and the State government must make it imperative to follow the provisions of the Sixth Schedule without fail only then can the participation of tribals in the District Council can be ensured,” said the Garo organisations. The bodies warned of a series of agitation if the present EC of GHADC failed to do so.
“With greater participation of non-indigenous people in the District Council will simultaneously come the demand for accruement of greater power and benefits that rightfully belong to the indigenous people. Already there has been dilution of the protective provisions of the Sixth Schedule and we are witnessing demographic imbalance in the region where non-tribals have began to assert their bid for political dominance and power,” said the Garo organisations.
