Taking the police by surprise, members of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) staged a protest today against the proposal to bring railways to Jaintia Hills and also demanded the immediate repeal of the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act (MSIPF).
The protest took place at Laban’s Harrison Bridge, with police being deployed in force to ensure that the pressure group members did not march on the temporary Assembly building in Rilbong where the house was in session.
Later, the Chief Minister and Deputy CM held talks with KSU leaders but the latter came away dissatisfied and threatened further agitation in pursuit of their demands.
The MSIPF is meant to spur investment by giving private companies access to land in the state, which is otherwise tightly controlled by the Land Transfer Act, for development projects, all part of the state government’s aim to provide lakhs of new jobs and increase the state’s GDP to $10 billion. It will stick to the letter of the law, though, by not selling land to these entities but only giving the land on long-term lease, up to 60 years.
KSU general secretary Donald Thabah criticised the MSIPF as “draconian and anti-tribal”. Despite previously making its opposition known, the government has remained unresponsive, he said, adding, “A tribal without land is as good as dead.”
The pressure group is apprehensive that the MSIPF is a means to bypass the Land Transfer Act by giving control of land by the backdoor to non-tribals.
The union further criticised the government’s approach to economic development, arguing that job opportunities created through such policies disproportionately favour outsiders, leaving local indigenous people with only lower-grade employment. The concept of land banks, it claimed, poses a serious risk, as leasing vast tracts of land to private investors could lead to loss of land and employment opportunities for locals.
Addressing the issue of railways, Thabah repeated the standard KSU line that railways without a strong anti-influx mechanism, such as the Inner Line Permit (ILP) would be bad for Meghalaya’s tribals. In this he referenced Dimapur in Nagaland, which, he claimed, has become majority non-Naga due to its railway service. Thabah also dismissed claims that railways would bring down the price of commodities. “Railways might bring some benefits, but the pain will be greater than the boon,” he warned.
Chiming in, KSU president Lambokstar Marngar expressed frustration at the lack of progress on implementing ILP in Meghalaya. Though the Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution in its favour in December 2019, the matter has been hanging fire with the central government, which is apparently reluctant to introduce it. The KSU accused members of the state government for not pressing the Centre enough on the matter, accusing them of advocating for trains rather than ILP on their frequent trips to New Delhi.
In a press release regarding the meeting between the CM, Deputy CM and KSU, the MSIPF was defended by the government. The release said that certain amendments have been crafted to soothe the concerns of the public, namely that the act will not dilute provisions of the Land Transfer Act nor will it bypass any provisions of the autonomous district councils. Local employment will also be safeguarded, with 90 per cent of non-managerial positions and 50 per cent of managerial posts reserved for locals.
However, the amendments have yet to be passed by the Assembly and will only be done in a future session, the KSU, which was left decidedly unsatisfied with the “verbal assurances” of the CM.
