The Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT) has urged Governor Satya Pal Malik not to approve the Khasi Social Custom of Clan Administration bill in its present form as it discriminates against Khasis who carry their father’s clan name.
The SRT met Malik in this regard to raise its concerns over the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) bill. The organisation’s raison d’etre is to push for greater acceptance within the matrilineal Khasi society of adopting the father’s surname.
In a memorandum, the Governor was told that this bill is basically the same as that passed in 2018, which was returned by then Governor Tatagatha Roy.
While the bill does allow for men of the Bhoi region to pass on their clan name to their children in specific circumstances as is acceptable there, the SRT finds it objectionable that other Khasi men are denied the same right. It also fears that further divisions between the Khasi-Jaintia could be created if the Jaintia Hills ADC passes its own rules on customs that are different to those of the KHADC.
“If the offspring of a Khasi father and a non-Khasi mother can be a ‘Khasi’ as per the ‘Ringbia or Shaw Bhoi’ practices [then] how much more can an offspring of a Khasi father and a Khasi mother adopting the father’s title immeasurably be more Khasi than the former,” the SRT said.
Khasis who carry their father’s clan name are usually discriminated against and denied their rights even before this bill came about and the SRT thus requested Malik not to give his assent to the bill until it is amended.
