Shillong, Feb 10: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) on Monday released its 15-point manifesto for the forthcoming elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), slated to be held on February 21.
All eleven candidates also pledged during the programme held in front of the statues of the three freedom fighters – U Kiang Nangbah, U Tirot Sing Syiem and Patogan Sangma – at the State Central Library.
The manifesto said the party will ensure clean governance and take steps to further strengthen the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India besides demanding immediate deletion of Para 12 (A) from the Sixth Schedule and protecting the autonomous powers of the district council. It also demands the immediate amendment of the Scheduled Tribe Order 1950.
It also assured codification of customary laws and practices of all Himas and Elakas and to improve the financial position of the KHADC while asserting the need to get actual information about the royalty shares from minor and major minerals besides doing away with illegal collections through the Himas and Council.
The party further promised to effectively implement the Trading by Non-Tribal Regulation, 1954 to protect the trade and commerce of the tribal people by bringing necessary amendments to ensure no license is given on trades carried out by Khasi people. It also asserted the importance of generating employment through the regulation.
It also emphasized the need to streamline the functioning of the Himas/Elakas as per law citing that the law does not allow non-Khasi to be headmen, which is happening in villages adding that it is high time a transparent job recruitment policy is put in place in the KHADC. The party also assured that it will not shy away from any responsibility in the interest and welfare of the indigenous community.
Speaking to reporters, KHNAM working president Thomas Passah, who will be contesting from Jaiaw constituency, said that the party would also ensure that the power to issue Scheduled Tribe certificates will come back to the KHADC if elected to power.
“There has been misuse of scheduled tribe certificates issued by the state government. Therefore, if elected we will assure that the authority to issue the ST certificate will come back to the district council in order to ensure necessary conditions are in place for applying,” he said while adding “Usually, you first need a Khasi tribe certificate but this is not effectively implemented. If we go back to the notification of 1975 of the tribal affairs ministry, there are many conditions stating that the issuing authorities should follow strict rules and if found that the authorities issue such certificates without adhering to the rules, they will be punished.”
On the issue of land registration, Passah said, “As per para 3 of the Sixth Schedule, land is a subject of the district council but we have seen the state government through its notification in 1982 had directed that land should be registered with the deputy commissioner (DC)’s office and we take this as an act of snatching away the powers of the district council. Therefore, we will ensure land should be registered with the KHADC to ensure there is no boundary dispute because we have seen in the case of Block I & II, the land dispute is not actually with Assam but it is with Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC).’
“On studying the Land Act passed recently by the KHADC, we found that it does not make it mandatory for the people to register their land with the council. So people can still register their land either with the council or the DC office. Also, the Land Act is a bit complicated as it stated that NOC from the village and Hima are required for registering of land and we found that there is corruption in such a process. The KHADC has fixed that within 5000 sq ft, a village dorbar can take Rs 500 and Hima Rs 2000 as fees and KHADC will take a certain amount of fees. Though it is not expensive, the village and hima do not go as per the Land Act. Due to this, people prefer to register their land with the DC office instead of the district council,” he stated.
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