Shillong, Oct. 25 (PTI): The Khasi tribal council in Meghalaya Thursday tabled a resolution urging the Governor to introduce the inner line regulation to check and control migration of outsiders into the areas under the jurisdiction of the council.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District (KHADC) council has jurisdiction over the tribal areas in East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi district and is one of the three autonomous district councils in the state.
Tabling the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Inner Line as adopted from the Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873) regulation Bill, 2018, KHADC chief executive member H S Shylla said there was “mass migration” arising out of the implementation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam in tribal areas under the jurisdiction of the council.
He said the unchecked migration of Indian citizens into tribal areas is also posing “grave danger” for the ethnic Khasi tribe who are recognised as Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution.
Meanwhile the councils chief executive member has also tabled the first amendment of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997 which is aimed at protecting the matrilineal system of the Khasi tribe.
The new bill was necessitated to be tabled after the Governor and the District Council Affairs department of the state government had returned a similar bill passed in July this year forcing the council to appoint a consultative committee to redraft the bill.
The bill laid down conditions, including marriages, for which a Khasi tribal has to follow to ensure that his/her offspring also will be considered a tribal.
Apart from striping a tribal Khasi woman of her tribal status upon her marriage with a non-Khasi man and children born out of such wedlock will not enjoy the constitutional protections that come with it, the bill also strips a tribal Khasi man of his tribal status if he takes the surname from his father.
The bill clearly defined the Khasi custom of lineage where a Khasi person takes his/her surname from the mother side whereas the Khasi custom of marriage is based on the unique “tip kur tip kha” principle (knowing and upholding the relationship between mothers clans and that of the father) which has been existence in marriages between Khasi Tribe.
The Khasi tribe, speaking Khasi as their native language, has a population of about 1.4 million according to the 2011 Census of India.
The councils town committee executive member Latiplang Kharkongor has also tabled the second amendment of the United Khasi Jaintia Hills District (Establishment of Town Committee) rules 2018.
The objective of the rules is to establish and develop local self government and to make better provisions for administration of townships into self sufficient units, Kharkongor said.
