• About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, May 23, 2022
Visit Mawphor
Highland Post
Govt. of Meghalaya
  • Home
  • Meghalaya
    • All
    • East Garo Hills
    • East Jaintia Hills
    • East Khasi Hills
    • Eastern West Khasi Hills
    • North Garo Hills
    • Ri Bhoi
    • South Garo Hills
    • South West Garo Hills
    • South West Khasi Hills
    • Statewide
    • West Garo Hills
    • West Jaintia Hills
    • West Khasi Hills
    DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

    DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

    VPP demands white paper on boundary pact with Assam

    Need for independent inquiry: Ardent

    Inked border pact cannot be revisited: CM

    Conrad rules out repeal of State gambling law

    Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

    Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

    Garo Hills SSA keep up pressure on Govt for release of pending salaries

    FKJGP wants Vaiphei probe report to be made public

    State gets Rs 39.18 cr loan facility from Centre

    State attracts Rs 56.36 crore investment projects in 2020-21

    ‘MDA pinching money from public’s pocket through fuel taxes’

    Petrol, diesel prices reduced

    6 SHGs receiving training on income generation

    6 SHGs receiving training on income generation

    Medical & Sales Reps Union organises health camp

    Medical & Sales Reps Union organises health camp

    Trending Tags

    • North East
    • National
      HYC urges Govt to reduce VAT on petrol, diesel

      Petrol price cut by Rs 9.5, diesel by Rs 7 after govt slashes excise duty; poor to get Rs 200 LPG subsidy

      Provision of UAPA more dangerous than sedition: Retired SC judge Lokur

      Provision of UAPA more dangerous than sedition: Retired SC judge Lokur

      Meghalaya sees 19 pc growth in GST revenue collection in October

      GST council recommendations not binding on Centre, States: SC

    • Health
    • Editorial
    • Sports
    • Writer’s Column
    • Letters to the Editor
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • Meghalaya
      • All
      • East Garo Hills
      • East Jaintia Hills
      • East Khasi Hills
      • Eastern West Khasi Hills
      • North Garo Hills
      • Ri Bhoi
      • South Garo Hills
      • South West Garo Hills
      • South West Khasi Hills
      • Statewide
      • West Garo Hills
      • West Jaintia Hills
      • West Khasi Hills
      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      VPP demands white paper on boundary pact with Assam

      Need for independent inquiry: Ardent

      Inked border pact cannot be revisited: CM

      Conrad rules out repeal of State gambling law

      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      Garo Hills SSA keep up pressure on Govt for release of pending salaries

      FKJGP wants Vaiphei probe report to be made public

      State gets Rs 39.18 cr loan facility from Centre

      State attracts Rs 56.36 crore investment projects in 2020-21

      ‘MDA pinching money from public’s pocket through fuel taxes’

      Petrol, diesel prices reduced

      6 SHGs receiving training on income generation

      6 SHGs receiving training on income generation

      Medical & Sales Reps Union organises health camp

      Medical & Sales Reps Union organises health camp

      Trending Tags

      • North East
      • National
        HYC urges Govt to reduce VAT on petrol, diesel

        Petrol price cut by Rs 9.5, diesel by Rs 7 after govt slashes excise duty; poor to get Rs 200 LPG subsidy

        Provision of UAPA more dangerous than sedition: Retired SC judge Lokur

        Provision of UAPA more dangerous than sedition: Retired SC judge Lokur

        Meghalaya sees 19 pc growth in GST revenue collection in October

        GST council recommendations not binding on Centre, States: SC

      • Health
      • Editorial
      • Sports
      • Writer’s Column
      • Letters to the Editor
      No Result
      View All Result
      Highland Post
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Meghalaya East Khasi Hills

      Limestone economy crash behind non-tribal unrest

      HP News Service by HP News Service
      October 28, 2020
      in East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya
      0
      Limestone economy crash behind non-tribal unrest
      0
      SHARES
      1k
      VIEWS

      Why is there so much unrest among the non-tribal communities in the Bholaganj and Ichamati areas under the Syiemship of Sohra, Siirdarship of Mawlong and other neighboring villages in the limestone rich areas bordering Bangladesh?

      Knowledgeable sources say that at the heart of the problem is the lack of livelihoods, particularly among the migrant population of these areas who were majorly dependent on the free economy of limestone mining and export, which has crashed.

      Prior to 2015 anyone could make a deal with local tribal owners of land and start digging for limestone. Exporting to Bangladesh, which is just a few kilometers away by boat or land, was no big deal. It was a free economy with hardly any paperwork or constraints. Migrants from other parts of the region swarmed to the area as the going was good. Many smart importers from Bangladesh made deals with the local landowners and became miner, exporter and importer all rolled into one. Everyone cut a deal and stayed in business.

      But this laissez faire situation came to a grinding halt when the High Court of Meghalaya banned limestone mining until the state government took measures to regulate it and the extraction of other minor minerals in the state. Over a 1,000 small wooden boatloads of limestone were ferried across to Bangladesh every day, while over 200 truckloads were transported per day just before this order.

      The state government came out with the Meghalaya Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2016 under which mining could only be taken up after obtaining a mining lease from the government. The process entails seeking permission to submitting a mining plan, land documents, no-objection certificates, etc, which ends up costing lakhs of rupees, which individual miners could never be able to afford.

      Many Khasi and Jaiñtia associations had filed petitions in the court seeking a reprieve from these rules to allow ‘traditional’ mining as done from ‘time immemorial by the Khasi tribe’. But the era of traditional mining has come to a close as the new regime of stringent application of laws and regulations is taking over the ‘tribal economy’.

      In 2017 the then President of the Meghalaya Minerals Exporters’ Chamber of Commerce, the late Stodar Dkhar, had said that “more than 50,000 people who are directly or indirectly involved in the limestone mining activities have been badly affected after the Meghalaya government had stopped export of limestone to Bangladesh since September 18, 2016.” These people are from the Mawlong-Ichamati, Shella and Bholaganj areas of East Khasi Hills, he had said.

      The impact was so adverse that people, both tribals and non-tribals dependent on limestone mining, were almost starving and children were no longer going to school that year. Add the trouble from demonetization at the end of 2016 to this and one had a full-blown crisis. Then came the campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the demand for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) by pressure groups as the movement swept throughout the states of the North East. This made the non-tribal in these areas even more insecure.

      The Covid-19 lockdown, which began in March, was the last straw as it managed to kill off whatever little hope there was beginning to grow out of the debris of the limestone crash.

      Tellingly, a glance at the website of the Department of Mining and Geology lists 28 entities who have received mining leases and the majority are companies, including the cement firms based in Meghalaya and the Bangladesh-Chhatak-based company, the Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt Ltd, which mines and transports limestone from Meghalaya to its cement plant in the neighbouring country via a conveyor belt. The accusation against the state government is that the bureaucracy is creating more problems by creating hurdles for individual applicants to obtain mining leases.

      Local sources said that, as of now, the limestone economy has crashed and has yet to recover. It may not recover at all for individuals as it was prior to 2016.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “While the local tribes have reconciled themselves to the situation and latched on to other trades or migrated to other parts of the state or elsewhere, the non-tribal migrants dependant on the old economy are not finding avenues for livelihood as they have no base in those villages,” said a local elder. He also pointed out that many outside forces and organizations are taking advantage of the unemployed people by fishing in troubled waters.

      He also pointed out that the Bengalis and other non-tribals who were working in the agriculture sector in those areas are still working happily in the rice fields, the proceeds of which they share with the tribal owners of the land.

      HP News Service

      HP News Service

      An English daily newspaper from Shillong published by Readington Marwein, proprietor of Mawphor Khasi Daily Newspaper, who established the first Khasi daily in 1989.

      Related Posts

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses
      Meghalaya

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      May 23, 2022
      VPP demands white paper on boundary pact with Assam
      Meghalaya

      Need for independent inquiry: Ardent

      May 23, 2022
      Inked border pact cannot be revisited: CM
      Meghalaya

      Conrad rules out repeal of State gambling law

      May 23, 2022
      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai
      West Jaintia Hills

      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      May 23, 2022
      Garo Hills SSA keep up pressure on Govt for release of pending salaries
      Meghalaya

      FKJGP wants Vaiphei probe report to be made public

      May 23, 2022
      State gets Rs 39.18 cr loan facility from Centre
      Meghalaya

      State attracts Rs 56.36 crore investment projects in 2020-21

      May 23, 2022
      Load More
      Next Post
      Musey-Toon

      Musey-Toon

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      We’re on Facebook

      Advertisement

      • Trending
      • Comments
      • Latest
      NEHU co-organises 5-day course on 3D printing

      NEHU reschedules exam after objection from teachers

      May 14, 2022
      M’laya set for six-month long load shedding from March 20

      M’laya set for six-month long load shedding from March 20

      March 17, 2021
      High Court quashes creation of OSD post

      High Court stays all Govt job recruitments in State

      April 5, 2022
      Assistant professor killed in tragic accident

      Assistant professor killed in tragic accident

      October 2, 2021
      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      0

      Two unknown dead bodies recovered

      0

      Weekly market not to reopen in Sutnga Elaka

      0

      Illegal sand, boulder mining along Umiam River banned

      0
      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      May 23, 2022
      VPP demands white paper on boundary pact with Assam

      Need for independent inquiry: Ardent

      May 23, 2022
      Inked border pact cannot be revisited: CM

      Conrad rules out repeal of State gambling law

      May 23, 2022
      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      May 23, 2022

      Recommended

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      DOME OF DOOM: New Assembly’s showpiece collapses

      May 23, 2022
      VPP demands white paper on boundary pact with Assam

      Need for independent inquiry: Ardent

      May 23, 2022
      Inked border pact cannot be revisited: CM

      Conrad rules out repeal of State gambling law

      May 23, 2022
      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      Mohrmen to contest 2023 polls from Jowai

      May 23, 2022

      About Highland Post

      You’re visiting the official website of Highland Post, a leading and most circulated English daily of Meghalaya published by the Mawphor Group. Stay updated with our e-edition for latest updates from Meghalaya, North Eastern India and World as a whole.

      Registered office:
      Mavis Dunn Road, Mawkhar,
      Shillong-793001, Meghalaya
      Phone no: 0364-2545423
      Email: [email protected], [email protected]

      Like Us on Facebook

      Follow Us on Twitter

      Tweets by HP

      © 2021 Highland Post – All Rights Reserved.

      • About
      • Advertise
      • Privacy & Policy
      • Contact
      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • Meghalaya
        • East Garo Hills
        • East Jaintia Hills
        • East Khasi Hills
        • North Garo Hills
        • Ri Bhoi
        • South Garo Hills
        • South West Garo Hills
        • South West Khasi Hills
        • Statewide
        • West Garo Hills
        • West Jaintia Hills
        • West Khasi Hills
      • North East
      • National
      • International
      • Health
      • Editorial
      • Musey Toons
      • Sports
      • Writer’s Column
      • Letters to the Editor

      © 2021 Highland Post - All Rights Reserved.