Former Garo militant leader against deletion of ‘unrepresented tribes’

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 29, 2019

SHILLONG: Former chairman of the disbanded Achik National Volunteer Council – Breakaway, Bernard N Marak said Garos will lose privilege of being nominated into the KHADC and JHADC if the word ‘unrepresented tribes’ is excluded. 

This came after the 18-member committee headed by the district council affairs minister James K Sangma has recently decided to recommend deletion of the word unrepresented tribes from the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. 

Expressing concern about the Garos and other minority Schedule Tribes living in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region in a statement issued here on Saturday, Marak said, “Garos will lose the privilege to be nominated into the KHADC and JHADC.” 

He also expressed surprise at the failure of the Garo Hills-based pressure groups for not voicing out this concern during the meeting of the committee constituted by the state government to look into the proposed amendment.

The former militant leader said that they would now pursue this demand at the Centre level. 

“Are Garos in Khasi and Jaintia Hills not an unrepresented tribe? Garos though they are considered STs, they are deprived from participating in the Council elections and in some areas their names are deleted from the electoral roll. It will defeat the objective of maintaining equal status of the STs,” he said adding “We don’t mind a Khasi or a Jaintia being nominated in the GHADC.” 

On the other hand, Marak lauded the district council affairs minister James K Sangma for his stand on the inclusion of village councils in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council as he announced calling off the indefinite non-cooperation movement against the government. 

He said the village council was the demand which ANVC.B submitted through a memorandum to the Centre government before the peace pact was signed. 

ANVC.B agreed to be part of the agreement and Settlement because village councils were assured to be included in the final draft which was particularly meant for the administration of the Garos.

According to him, the Nokmas of Garo Hills are not elected therefore village councils are mandatory in the GHADC right from the beginning of the District Council. 

“But the election and the funds to the Village Councils were stopped and later the State introduced DRDAs. The VECs in the Village level under DRDAs are the smaller version of the Village Councils. In order to avail fund from the Centre, there ought to be an elected body and that’s why Congress wanted to introduce Village Administrative Bill (VAB). They stole our ideas and made a replication of it. That’s one of the reasons why Garo Hills was under developed in the past,” he said. 

Marak further stated that with the introduction of the village councils and elected bodies, Garos will have the administrative power at the grassroot level and local self governance will be activated. 

The Garo council, village courts, the laskars and the nokma system will be strengthened and common people will be empowered, he added. 

He said the minister acknowledged the necessity of the village councils and in spite of some self claimed NGOs opposed it, took a strong stand to include village councils for Garo Hills. His stand and bold step is deeply appreciated. This will empower the public and bring about physical change as per the need and decision of the villagers. 

“Therefore, we express our appreciation to James K Sangma and MDCs for acknowledging the necessity of the Village Councils for the Garo people,” he said.

Meanwhile, the proposed establishment of the village council and municipal council was strongly opposed in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills on the ground that they already have elected traditional institutions which are self governance institutions. 

In view of this, the committee headed by James K Sangma has agreed to recommend on the need for insertion of a proviso to ensure that village council and municipal council will not apply in Khasi and Jaintia Hills except in Garo Hills.