Men’s Rights in Meghalaya

The story of a men’s liberation movement

By Lhendup G Bhutia



LONG CRUSADE Dr A Lyngwi, 82, the oldest member of the SRT, with others of its Cherrapunji unit Minutes away from Shillong’s bazaar, through a road that dips and rises like a saddle and is often shrouded in a thick layer of fog, stands Earle Holiday Home. Restored after years of disuse, the structure may serve as a lodge for backpackers, but back in 1920, it was built to function as a sanatorium for British soldiers during World War I. It is rumoured that even a certain Subhash Chandra Bose spent a few nights here.

Today, however, within the closed doors of the lodge’s hall, three men and a woman sit around a table, discussing what to many local ears is heresy. Meghalaya is one of the world’s last surviving matrilineal societies, a source of wonder for anthropologists and visitors. The four people at the table are discussing how to overthrow that tradition.

The quartet—Pilgrim K Lakiang, a retired civil servant, Kieth Pariat, a trustee of the lodge, Rivertis Parionly, an assistant scientist, and Otricia M Warjri, a school teacher—are office-holding members of a group named Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT, which when translated means ‘a new hearth’). Calling their stir a men’s liberation movement, their objective is to convert the centuries’ old matrilineal system of Khasi succession into a patrilineal one. The SRT has around 3,000 members, many of them silent supporters, too afraid to support this rebellious ideology openly.

The SRT was founded in Shillong on 14 April 1990. The four rebels claim and then remind you that the date coincides with the birth anniversary of another liberator, BR Ambedkar. Their movement, they say, is important. For, in it, they contend, lies the survival of Khasis.

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Khasis reside mostly in the Khasi and Jaintia hills of the northeastern state of Meghalaya. A significant number also live in what is now Bangladesh. According to folklore, they are descendants of what they call the Hynniewtrep (‘seven huts’). The legend goes that God divided the human race into 17 heavenly huts. The residents of seven climbed down a ladder resting on the state’s Sohpetbneng peak to start the Khasi race. Historians trace the tribe’s descent to an ancient Mongolian group that crossed the Himalayas southwards to what is now India.

Khasis practice matrilineality, among the last few societies in the world to do so. According to a few writers of the past, like Lewis H Morgan and Fredrich Engels, the matrilineal system predates patrilineality. Although this hypothesis is often disputed, these thinkers claim that humanity’s earliest domestic institution was not that of the family but of the matrilineal clan. Khasis, many believe, adopted such a system because their men were warriors who raided the plains and waged wars with other tribes and were away for long stretches of time.

In Khasi society, not only do children take their mother’s last name, it is the men who move into their wives’ homes after marriage. Not just that, even property is inherited by daughters. The Khaduh or youngest daughter acts as the custodian of ancestral property. Being the youngest, she is expected to take care of the property for the longest possible period. In such a family, the father has little authority. It is the maternal uncle, whether married or not, who acts as the children’s guide.

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Twenty years ago, Keith Pariat did something unspeakable. He gave his firstborn, a daughter, his last name. Pariat is a trustee of Earle Holiday Home and a well-to-do contractor in Shillong. Pertinently, he is president of the SRT. He was simply doing what he believed in. However, his decision did not go down well with his wife’s relatives. And last year, when his daughter won a scholarship from the state’s governor, she was forced to drop his last name as her own. Not doing so would have lost Keith Pariat’s daughter her rights to ancestral property owned by his wife.

“Even 22 years since our group’s formation,” says Pariat, seated around an oval table with three other members of the group, “we are forced to practise such antiquated traditions.” The SRT’s chief argument is that while matrilineality may have worked for Khasis in olden times, it’s an unfeasible idea now that Meghalaya—especially Shillong—is so closely connected with other patrilineal cultures. The group says that this system has had hurt the social standing of Khasi men, and thus injured the tribe’s stature overall. “They don’t own property, live with their mothers or wives, and they don’t even have much say in the lives of their children. Often, they don’t even get loans sanctioned in their names because they don’t have property to show as collateral,” says Pariat, adding that many young males have turned into drunks and substance abusers as a result. The group claims that many Khasi women now marry non-Khasis because men of patriarchal set-ups are so much better placed, rendering Khasi men a raw deal. Inter-community marriages also have another peculiar aspect. Whenever non-Khasi men marry Khasi women, the tradition of matrilineality grants them access to the property inherited by women. This way, Khasi property ends up in the hands of others.
Every few months, the SRT holds awareness programmes at various Khasi villages and towns. It puts up loudspeakers at village bazaars or centres and hands out brochures explaining its ideology. One point that the group has taken up is an aspect of the Khasi Custom of Lineage Act of 1997 that bars sons, in the absence of daughters, from inheriting family property. According to the tradition of rap iing (which roughly translates to ‘help the house’), which this law binds them to, sons cannot inherit ancestral property even if the family has no daughters. A girl from another family has to be adopted, who then acts as a custodian of the property.

The group also intervenes on behalf of men who find themselves victimised for asserting themselves. It steps in, for example, when government offices refuse to provide youngsters who bear their fathers’ last names with Schedule Tribe certificates.

The SRT, however, does not insist that its members give up matrilineality. Change will be slow, it expects, and the idea is to gain momentum over the years to overthrow the system eventually.
Khasi society, no longer as insular as it was once, is indeed undergoing a transformation, according to Iamon M Syiem, former SRT member and current head of the sociology department of St Edmund’s College, Shillong. “Families are turning nuclear and clans no longer wield as much influence as they once did,” she says, “Although Christianity never directly interfered in the practice of matrilineality, the religion with its strong patriarchal orientation is playing a part in the consolidation of the authority of the father, who is gradually taking over the role so far of the maternal uncle.” The professor says that the SRT’s agenda is best viewed as a reaction to a traditional set-up, just as feminism is to a patriarchal one.

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Long before he learnt of the SRT, Tensing Paul Syiem got married in a church under the protection of policemen in plainclothes. Syiem was born and raised in the Assamese town of Digboi, where his Khasi parents lived patrilineally. In Cherrapunji, where he moved for a job, he fell in love with a Khasi woman named Shidalin Phanbuh and laid down two conditions if they were to marry: she would live in his house and their children would bear his last name. After a two-year courtship, Phanbuh eventually accepted his terms, but was thrown out of her mother’s home. Days before the wedding, the groom-to-be was delivered a curt message from his bride’s maternal uncle: ‘I will slit your throat before letting my niece step into your house.’

With an affidavit on the threat filed at the magistrate’s office, and under the guard of a posse of policemen, Tensing married Shidalin Phanbuh without any trouble. The sole representative from Phanbuh’s family at the wedding was her long separated father, though even he refused to step in Tensing’s house. To him, the couple had committed heresy.

Tensing is now general secretary of the SRT’s Cherrapunji unit and his case is often offered as an example of the oppression faced by those who espouse the group’s ideas. There are, of course, many other such stories. Many Khasis have been mocked and ridiculed for daring a break with tradition.
Today, among those present at Earle Holiday Home are SRT Vice-President Rivertis Parionly and General Secretary Otricia Mary Warjiy. Parionly is 34 years old and works as an assistant scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department at Shillong. He remains a bachelor because all the women he has proposed to so far have turned him down, unwilling to move into his house, as he’d want. Warjiy, among the young girls who have joined the group because they have come to believe that Khasi males need a better deal, continues to face pressure from her maternal clan to drop her father’s surname.

The SRT, however, wasn’t the pioneer of this so-called men’s liberation movement. Such voices were raised even half a century ago.

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In fact, that honour goes to a Khasi group called Iktiar Longbriew Manbriew (ILM: ‘The authority to live a proper life’) that came into being in 1961, inspired by a book titled Ithymmei Ka Longbynriew (‘Source of Humanity’). Written a year earlier by JD Lyngdoh, the book sought an answer to the question of why Khasi men were lagging others sociologically and economically, and argued that that this was the doing of matrilineal succession.

The 82-year-old Dr A Lyngwi, the sole surviving member of the ILM, who lives in Cherrapunji, recalls travelling to various villages, holding public meetings and engaging intellectuals in debates. He grew inured to chants of ‘traitors’ and ‘infidels’ whenever they’d address public gatherings. Once, when a debate held in a hall in Cherrapunji bazaar turned exceptionally heated, a group of women accosted ILM activists as they were leaving the hall. Some of them bore knives, and Lyngwi and his colleagues had to flee. Without much support, the group disbanded in about a decade.
Lyngdoh, however, kept up his campaign for a patriarchal society. In 1989, he stood for elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, hoping that he could pitch his ideas from within the government. He lost. And in 2005, he passed away.

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Today, it is the SRT that is leading the campaign. Its agenda is resisted not only by Khasi traditionalists, but also by some scholars. Analysing the male’s social standing within Khasi society, Tiplut Nongbri, a professor at Jawarharlal Nehru University, in a 2011 study titled ‘Deconstructing Masculinity: Fatherhood, Matrilineality and Social Change’, argues that the matrilineal system is not detrimental to the status of men. She explains that although women are custodians of property and the family line is traced through them, they wield little actual power.

Hasina Kharbhih, a well-known social activist in Shillong who works on issues of child trafficking and HIV/AIDS, and who recently completed a survey for the Centre on the status of women in Northeast India’s various tribes, says that the notion of matrilineality being beneficial to women is far from the truth. “What we found in our survey is that women are excluded from decision-making both within and outside the family,” she says, “Very few of them make it to elected positions within clans and villages. And there is as much, if not more, violence and abuse directed against women in Meghalaya than in any other state.”

Lancelot Gross Lyngdoh, who heads the SRT’s Cherrapunji unit, is an abiding practitioner of the group’s ideology. Many years ago, he’d given his daughter his title, and his incensed brother-in-law turned up to pick a fight with him. But Lyngdoh confronted him right at the door. “Don’t you step in here,” he warned him, “This is a man’s house.”

Meghalaya's Matrilineal Society A Myth, 800 Rape Cases

Garo Hills: More than 800 rapes have been reported from Meghalaya in the past 10 years. Meghalaya's matrilineal society seems to be hardly safeguarding women. On December 13, 2012, an 18-year-old girl was gangraped by a group of 16 in Williamnagar.

"I was coming back from the winter festival with two other friends. A group of boys chased us. I ran, fell down. They hit me with a stone. I fell down and then they tore my clothes and raped me. I recognised two boys," the survivor said.
Bleeding and semi-conscious, she was brought home by two boys she recognised. Her parents are still in a shock. "It is a shame that boys from our community did this. My daughter should get justice," her mother said.

All the 16 boys have been arrested. Eight of them are in juvenile custody and eight in jail. The trial has begun, but Williamnagar does not have a fast-track court. "People are less bothered. They don't feel angry it seems. We came for a public protest. But nobody came out. We even called them with a microphone. Nobody came out," said PMDR member Jaynie Ninring.

Between 2002 and June 2012, there have been 830 cases of rapes in Meghalaya. For a matrilineal society these are very disturbing numbers. Lalnuthari D Shira of Sentinel for Human Rights, Garo Hills, said, "In reality we are not safe and this word matrilineal is not safeguarding us. In 2002, one girl was picked up by a group of boys in a van. She was raped, gangraped and dropped under a bridge. Till date we are waiting for justice."

There are cases where minor girls have been raped and murdered. The Williamnagar rape victim has been given a compensation of only Rs 25,000 rupees. Activists claim this is the only instance of compensation in Garo Hills. "What do I say about compensation? What can we do? I want life imprisonment for those 16," said the father of the survivor.

These rapes not only break the myth about the safety of women in a matrilineal society but they also point out to the complete absence of a collective voice against such crimes.

Meghalaya Wants To Develop Shale Gas Production

Shillong, Dec 6 : The Meghalaya government on Wednesday said it wants to tie up with private power producers for the development of its shale gas assets in the state.

“Meghalaya has a lot of shale gas potentiality, but lacks the technical know-how for its development,” Power Principal Secretary J P Prakash said.

At a conference on ‘Empowering the North East-overcoming challenges in development of the power sector in the NE India’ here, he said: “The state desires to tie up with private power producers for developing shale gas in the state. We urge Independent Power Producers Association of India to induce private companies which are experts in the field to invest in the state.”

A detailed study on the amount of shale gas present in the state is being conducted by a Mumbai-based company, he said.

Shale gas is a natural gas within shale formations under the earth’s crust.

Chief Secretary W M S Pariat asked IPPAI to submit its recommendations and inputs emerging from the conference to the state government.

Claiming that North East was not only a power hub for the country, but for the South East region, Pariat, however, stressed on the need to bring society in tune with projects undertaken.

Stating that the issue of land acquisition needed to be looked into, the chief secretary said: “Land acquisition is a difficult aspect with the unique land tenure of the state, but, it is ensured that land for power projects is acquired through government.”

He said that it was also important to take local sensitivity into account when planning for setting up of hydel power projects.

Meghalaya Panel Favours Inner Line Permit

Shillong, Dec 5 : The Meghalaya government-constituted panel on influx Tuesday unanimously resolved to recommend immediate implementation the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to check the influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in this mountainous state.

The committee, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M. Lanong, would submit its recommendation to the Mukul Sangma government in a day or two.

"Although alternative proposals were made such as implementation of three-tier card system, a consensus decision emerged on the need to introduce Inner Line Permit system in the state," Lanong told journalists.

The mandate of the Lanong committee is to review the situation of influx in the state and to suggest a multi-pronged strategy and a practical approach to tackle the problem.

The ILP is issued under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, by the state governments to Indian citizens entering Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. The then British government had introduced the Act in the northeastern states to "protect the tribals from exploitation by restricting entry of outsiders".

In Meghalaya, ILP was repealed from Garo Hills in 1897. The issue of Garo Hills being outside the purview of the ILP was discussed threadbare and the committee decided that the government must ensure (if needed through legislation) that ILP covers the entire state and should not be implemented partially.

"The provisions of the Act cannot be implemented partially. We cannot have two sets of law for the state, so we have to tread carefully, although there is a general consensus that ILP should be introduced in the state to check influx," said Lanong.

Earlier, the committee thought of presenting two options - the ILP or the three-tier identification system, whichever is conducive.

In the latter, permanent residents of the state would be presented a green identification card, while "semi-permanent" residents like central government employees, businessmen and contractors would be presented with a blue colour card.

A temporary red colour identification card would be issued to "tourists, labourers etc".

This card would be issued at the inter-state entry points and Meghalaya Houses. The permanent card would be issued after identification by the Dorbar (traditional bodies) and confirmation from the deputy commissioners.

Chief Minister Sangma, who had earlier admitted that the entry of illegal immigrants into the state was alarming, said the state would have a "more stringent institutionalised mechanism" than the ILP.

Shillong Bypass To Open Year Ahead Of Schedule

By Deepak Kumar Jha

Shillong, Dec 5 : The over two-decade wait for better and fast road connectivity to the North Eastern States of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura via Shillong bypass is likely to be over in a few days’ time. Though almost 20 years late, the NHAI’s ambitious 48 km Shillong Bypass project has been completed a year ahead of its December 2013 schedule.

The Meghalaya Chief Minister’s office has expressed desire to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and other functionaries of the UPA-II for commissioning of the Rs. 220 crore project. The much awaited Bypass would help ease traffic congestion in the city and would be beneficial not only to landlocked Meghalaya but also for other States in the region like Mizoram, Tripura and parts of Manipur.

The social economy of the entire region is expected to get a major boost as the project is likely to save more than Rs. 5,000 crore annually in the region. Trucks and other heavy vehicles moving to Jaintia Hills, Barak Valley and further would take this route. Also, the bypass will come as a big relief to the air-travellers as there will be a cut of almost one-and-a-half-hour drive from the city to the airport. Often there were complaints about people missing flights as they got stuck up in traffic.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told The Pioneer that the Shillong Bypass would be inaugurated before Christmas. “We are planning to inaugurate the project sometime in the second or third week of December. This would be the first project in the region which is being completed one year ahead of the deadline,” Sangma said.

The project was delayed due to several problems, including that of alignment in different parts of East Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts. The Bypass starts at Umiam in Ri-Bhoi district and ends at NH 44 near Mawryngkneng in East Khasi Hills district and includes a major and eight minor bridges in this hilly area also adding to the scenic value in the region.

Shillong Bypass is one of the two most ambitious NHAI’s projects in North East with the other being the 61.80-km four-laning of Guwahati-Shillong NH-40 which is still under development. “This is one of the rare feats of the country’s road making agency which has completed a difficult project almost a year ahead of its schedule. The Meghalaya Government wants to commission the project for national interest,” said a MoRTH official.

On the other hand, the widening of Rs. 530 crore NH-40 began which began early this year. This too is on track after facing a roadblock recently at Umsning in Ri-Bhoi district due to land compensation and realignment problems. The Centre-approved project is also likely to ease traffic snarls on NH-40, which connects Shillong to Barak Valley in Assam and Mizoram through NH-44.

Brewing Up A Storm

By Manosh Das

Shillong, Nov 12 : It is known to all that rice forms the staple diet of the people of Meghalaya. Besides a variety of sweets and snacks, it is also used to make beer. Rice beer is quite popular among the indigenous communities in the northeast. There is also a lesser known nerve-relaxing wine based on the staple cereal.

"People know about the local rice-based brew called 'Ka Kiad' in Khasi, but few are aware of wine being made of rice," said Derby Shullai, whose rice-wine was a major attraction at the 10th Shillong Wine Festival organized by the Forever Young Club at the scenic Crinoline Water Falls in Pine City on Saturday.

"I prepare the wine from joha rice, which is first boiled, fermented and then strained," said the homemaker, who prepares the brew at her house in the Risa Colony locality of the city.

"While the local rice-based brew is crude as it is not properly distilled, the rice wine that I prepare is distilled over a year in hygienic conditions," she said. There is a great demand for her rice wine. It has refined starch, she said adding that wine is good for health.

Elderly Matilda Mary Sawkmie took to wine making ever since she retired as deputy secretary in the Meghalaya government. "I have been making wine from locally grown strawberry, pineapple and 'sohiong' just to remain active in life," the elderly lady giggled.

Young Rachael and her friend set up a counter selling dry wine based on local fruit 'sohmon'. "Our wine has a pungent odour and a taste that tingles the tongue," she beamed.

In fact, locally grown ginger, mulberry fruit, strawberry, litchi, pineapple, passion fruit, blackberry, plum, banana, jackfruit have all been fermented to produce a sensual variety of wine.

Even as wine making is still to be legalized by the state government, the 'Scotland of East' has been raising a yearly toast every winter for a decade now.

Meghalaya Sets Mining Policy, But Gaps Remain

By Esha Roy

Shillong, Nov 5 : After some 80 years of unregulated mining, mostly coal and limestone, the northeastern state of Meghalaya is set to adopt a mineral policy that aims to organise the lucrative sector and boost its performance. The state cabinet approved the Meghalaya Mineral Policy 2010 last month and it is due to be introduced in next month’s state assembly winter session for approval.

The state government was forced to act after it was punished by the Guwahati High Court twice. Last year the court fined the state Rs 50,000 for not having a mining policy, and Rs 5 lakh earlier this year for not regulating the rampant mining. The court also directed Meghalaya to submit a report on framing the policy by November 30.

Coal and limestone mining are two of Meghalaya’s biggest industries and the state also has sizable deposits of uranium, granite, kaolin, clay and glass sand. But since all land in the state falls under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution and is protected tribal land, the mines belong to tribal owners. Mining in the state is therefore disorganized. The sector is not known for safety measures, no pollution-control certificate is required and any resident is allowed exploration and mining.

Meghalaya is also notorious for rat-hole mining where small 1-2 ft holes lead to mining tunnels. Due to the size of these tunnels, only small-built adults or children can be employed as miners and estimates show that about 70,000 children are employed in the sector in Meghalaya’s seven districts.

Mining minister B M Lanong, however, said that there is no question of immediately suspending rat-hole mining under the new policy. “This is a traditional form of mining in Meghalaya which has been in practice for 80-odd years now and we can’t just end it. It would mean a war between the government and the stakeholders which is the coal miners,” Lanong told The Sunday Express.

The Centre has never interfered with the traditional mining methods of the state, the minister said. “They have never been strict with mining in Meghalaya because they know this is tribal land and customary laws prevail,” he said. Now, the new policy has put in place safeguards and mine owners will be responsible for who they employ. This means no child labour and workers will have to be given food, medical assistance, sanitary surroundings and safety equipment.

While Lanong admits that mine owners will still not need environmental clearance or permission from the forest department to begin mining, the state will over time switch to a more scientific method of mining, he said.

While the mining policy envisages FDI, Lanong said this is on the back-burner for now. “There has been a lot of opposition to FDI in mining from members in the assembly, especially the opposition. I personally feel this would be a great boon for the state and I’m personally behind FDI, we have not ruled it out. If a foreign concern wants to invest, we will definitely consider it,” Lanong said.
Highlights of the mineral policy

* To carry out geological mapping of mineral resources.
* To promote necessary linkages between mining, mineral industry and power generation.
* To promote research and development activities in mineral sector.
* To promote private sector participation in mineral development, including exploration, infrastructure building and mining.
* To encourage FDI in consonance with the national policy.
* To safeguard the rights of miners, mine owners and mining industry.
* For promotion of export, state government would make efforts for setting up dry ports equipped with all basic amenities at suitable sites.
* Mineral related tourism would be promoted.

Cherrapunji A Testing Ground for Global Products

Cherrapunji, Nov 1 : Known for being the wettest place on earth, this sleepy Meghalaya town near the India-Bangladesh border has attracted some top-notch companies of the world who are testing their products here.

The tag “Cherrapunji,” known previously as Sohra, is said to work wonders for the companies’ new products, which the buyers instantly associate with trustworthiness and quality.

“Tested in the wettest place on earth in monsoons” — so goes the blurb in an advertisement for Italian-made Geox waterproof shoes, an amphibious shoe line.

Sohra has an average annual rainfall of about 12,000 mm and by comparison, Hartley Bay, one of the rainiest places in Canada has an annual rainfall of about 4,500 mm.

The highest recorded total annual rainfall was 24,555 mm in 1974. The maximum for a single day was recorded in 1876 when 1,040 mm fell in 24 hours. Sohra also holds the world record for a month’s rainfall when 9,300 mm fell in July 1861.

Venice tour guide Andrea D’Alpaos, Spanish lawyer David Subirats, Swiss photographer Claudia Leisinger and British ski instructor Rob Spears were recruited by Geox to test its waterproof shoe range in June.

Also, Yamaha sent three of its newly launched gearless scooters here to test the drive-worthiness of their machines. While Yamaha is keeping the exercise under wraps, sources say the company is likely to feature it in their upcoming commercials.

Apart from this, there are a host of other companies lined up to exploit Meghalaya’s scenic beauty and the ideal location for shoots. The reason behind this rush, Pradip Sadarangani, an associate professor at IIM-Shillong said, was because “Cherrapunji” is a name that everybody seems to know.

“Our human minds work on association with time, place, things and persons. When we associate a known place with a new product, it helps our mind identify the product easier,” he said.

A marketing expert, Sadarangani, thinks there are other places in Meghalaya that could also serve advertisers.

 “Advertisers can take note of places like Mawlynnong, the cleanest village in Asia, and the serene 18-hole natural golf course in Shillong,” Pradip said.

Shillong Fashion Week Boon For Northeast Designers

Shillong, Oct 22 : The first edition of Shillong Fashion Week (SFW) has turned out to be a boon for local talents who were looking for a chance to showcase their creative skills to the fashion enthusiasts across the globe.

Approving the two-day event that ended Saturday, Senti Nongrum, a designer from Meghalaya, told IANS: "SFW is a very good base for young designers like me who will take time to get their first break into major fashion weeks. SFW has given me an opportunity to showcase my designs to the world."

"There is a lot of talent in the northeast and we just need a platform," added the designer who used handloom from her region to create modern apparels, inspired by a traveller's suitcase.

From maxi dresses to formal wear to accessories, her collection had everything for those who love travelling.

Elizabeth Marbaniang, another designer, presented their traditional attire Khassi on the ramp with a little modern twist.

"My collection has got a very traditional theme as we tried to showcase the Khassi attire in a modern way by adding bling and sequin work on the 'poshak' (garment). Our culture is known for many things, so it's always good to promote it though SFW," said Marbaniang.

She thanked organisers of the event for giving preference to northeast designers over established names.

This was Marbaniang's first ever participation in a fashion show.

"Before this I was doing individual shows and I am thankful to SFW for bringing in this initiative here and giving all the local designers chance to prove themselves to the world," added the youngster who is also from Meghalaya.

Initiated under the leadership of state Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, SFW, kick-started here Friday at the North Eastern Hills University (NEHU) convention centre.

From established designers like Nachiket Barve, Raakesh Agravwal, Anand Bhushan to local talents like Bung Keisham, Senti Nongrum, Heritage Mizoram, Magic N and Sophia M Sangma, the fashion gala had the mix of both the world.

Rapborlang, a local designer, is overwhelmed with the experience.

"I think this is the biggest platform for me and now I can move aheadit's amazing," said the designer who presented a collection inspired by 1960s look of Audrey Hepburn.

In terms of business, there were hardly any buyer, but it didn't disappoint the established names as the felt it was time to explore "new territory".

"We haven't really done any stall and I haven't met any buyer as yet, so business is not something that I am thinking of. For me, this edition was basically to introduce the idea of fashion week in the northeast area. I think slowly other things will work when people will start looking around for designer stalls and retail possibilities," Urvashi Kaur, one of the participating designers, told IANS.

Anand Bhushan agreed and said: "I have not come here for business. Not many people know my label here, so for me, it was start off to introduce myself to the people here. SFW was more about exploring new territories."

India’s First Glass Mosque Opens

Shillong, Oct 22 : India has opened its first glass mosque and the biggest in the northeast Meghalaya state that is expected to draw hundreds of tourists to the marvelous worshipping house.

“The mosque will mark the unity of all religions,” Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Vincent H Pala told The Times of India.

Pala also highlighted the “uniqueness” of the mosque and its “spirit”.Built in Shillong city, the capital of Meghalaya state, Madina Masjid is the first glass mosque in India.

The four-storey building - 120 feet high and 61 feet wide — stands inside an Idgah Complex in the city’s Lahan area and is close to the garrison grounds along the Umshyrpi River.

At night, the mosque’s glasswork glows and glitters.

Being the biggest mosque in the area, the 120-feet Medina Mosque will allow women to offer prayers and also house an orphanage.

It also includes a new theological institute that would host Islamic teachings and a library that would have books on comparative religious studies.

Attending the inauguration event, legislator Syeedullah Nongrong, who is also president of the Shillong Muslim Union, praised the new mosque role in attracting new tourists to the city.

“The mosque will also be a tourist attraction,” Nongrong said.

Muslims account for 160 million of India's 1.1 billion people, the world's third-largest Muslim population after those of Indonesia and Pakistan.

Indian Muslims have long suffered decades of social and economic neglect and oppression.

They are under-represented in public sector jobs, register lower educational levels and hit by higher unemployment rates.

No FDI in Mining in Meghalaya

Shillong, Oct 19 : The Meghalaya government Thursday said it had done away with foreign direct investment (FDI) in the mining sector after several organisations protested the controversial Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy, 2012 that was approved by the state cabinet Oct 5.

"The government has done away with that clause in the Mines and Mineral Policy that encourages foreign direct investment in the mining sector," Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of mining and geology Bindo Lanong told IANS.

The state cabinet has however approved rat-hole coal mining in the state.

Rat-hole mining is a primitive method that entails clearing ground vegetation and digging pits ranging from five to 100 square metres to reach the coal seams.

Several organisations under the banner of Social Organisations of Meghalaya against Land Alienation (SOMALA) had earlier demanded that the FDI clause be repealed from the Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy 2012.

The opposition National People's Party and Meghalaya state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party had criticised the earlier decision of the state cabinet to allow FDI in mining, saying that it would have a negative impact on small-time miners and lead to the total sellout of the state's natural resources.

Meghalaya has a total coal reserve of 640 million tonnes, besides 5,000 million tonnes of limestone reserve and other minerals like Uranium.

"FDI is a central subject and the state government cannot decide alone on this issue and if the government felt it necessary to go for FDI in the mining sector with an intention to ensure job opportunities to the tribesmen of the state, we would then seek the central government's consent on the matter," Lanong said.

"It is their (SOMALA's) misconception on the policy, but the fact of the matter is that the government had decided to do away with the clause that sought to encourage FDI in the mining sector," the deputy chief minister clarified.

India's First Glass Mosque in Shillong

Shillong: India will have its first glass mosque - in the country's northeast. Madina Masjid, an imposing and resplendent structure of glass dome and glass minarets, will formally open doors to the devotees on Thursday in Meghalaya's capital. "It is an architectural marvel," Congress legislator Sayeedullah Nongrum, who helped in the mosque's construction, told IANS.

"It took us one and a half years to complete the only glass mosque in India and the largest one in the northeastern region," said Nongrum, who is also general secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union (SMU).

The four-storey building - 120 feet high and 61 feet wide -- stands inside an Idgah Complex in the city's Lahan area and is close to the garrison grounds along the Umshyrpi river. At night, the mosque's glasswork glows and glitters.

The mosque houses a new orphanage named Meherba, a library and a 'markaz'-- an Islamic theological institute. Madina Masjid has a capacity of around 2,000 people and has separate space for women to offer prayers.


Nongrum said the new theological institute would impart Islamic teachings and the library there would have books on comparative religious studies. "This place will be open for everyone, but one should maintain the mosque's sanctity," Nongrum said, adding that the mosque was set to become a tourist attraction. Around Rs 2 crore was spent on the building, with fund from SMU and well-wishers, he said.

Nongrum said most of the people who built the mosque were Hindus. The mosque was completed in July and SMU will maintain it. Union Law and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is scheduled to inaugurate Madina Masjid, along with Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Vincent H. Pala, on Oct 18.

Nongrum said 51 boys and girls are already in an orphanage in the complex and go to a primary school in the Idgah complex established in 1942. The complex also has a minority co-educational institution, Umshyrpi College, set up in 1994. In 2008, the Idgah was the first in the region to open doors to women devotees.

"I have seen Muslim women offering prayers with great difficulty in the absence of space and privacy, especially while at work or out of home. When our women go to market, which is considered to be the worst place for a Muslim women under Sharia, we men do not object.

So, why can't women go to a 'masjid' and offer prayers? Why fanatics object to it?" he said, adding, "I don't believe in the interpretation of fanatics. 'Purdah' means inner shyness of women. If the shyness is retained, she can go anywhere. There's nothing forbidden in going to a place and offering prayer.

The Shillong Muslim Union was formed in 1905 in erstwhile East Bengal, which stretched from Siliguri to Cox's Bazar and Chittagong to Dibrugarh. After India's partition in 1947, SMU narrowed down its activities to Assam.

Since Meghalaya's formation in 1972, its activities have been limited to the state. India has about 165 milllion Muslims, the third largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.

Meghalaya Govt Directs Cyber Cafes To Install CCTV

Shillong, Sep 26 : Meghalaya government today directed all cyber cafes to install CCTV cameras in their shops besides taking clients IDs and details in a bit to tackle cyber crimes emanating from these cafes, officials said. In an official notification of the Meghalaya Cyber Cafe Rules 2012, all cyber cafes
are directed to install cameras besides taking all details of their clients including ID cards, officials said.

"Today we will notify the Cyber Cafe Rules 2012 under the Meghalaya Information Technology Act," state Information Technology Commissioner and Secretary D P Wahlang said, while inaugurating a seminar – Cyber World and its challenges – organized by Lady Keane College here.

He said the cyber rules are specifically meant to tackle cyber crimes emanating from the cyber cafes operating in the state and preventing them for propagating ideologies which are not in consonant with the state.

According to the IT Commissioner, the rules have been framed as such to give access to the police the details of anyone using the cyber cafes at any given time.

Meghalaya Set To Make Its Mark On Fashion Map With Shillong Festival

By Nimerta Chawla

While many continue to complain that there are too many fashion weeks in the country, here is another territory on the Indian fashion map that is set to host its own style fiesta.

The North-East will be hosting the first-ever 'Shillong Fashion Week' from October 19-20, bringing together popular designers such as Jenjum Gadi, Anand Bhushan, Tamara, Gaurav and Ritika, Sophia M. Sangma and Arya to showcase their work.

An exclusive fashion presentation initiated by the state of Meghalaya, the two-day affair aims at raising awareness about fashion and current trends among the people of Meghalaya and neighbouring states.

Models walk the ramp for designers Anand Sharma, pictured left and Jenjum Gadi pictured right

While some of the participating designers, such as Gadi and Bhushan, have already been a part of the prestigious Wills Lifestyle India and Lakmé Fashion weeks earlier, and gained much recognition for their designs, there are some who will be debuting at the fashion week.

Designer Duo: Anand Sharma who will participate in the Shillong fashion week, pictured right and Jenjum Gadi, pictured right, has showcased his collection in Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week

'This first of its kind fashion fete is going to be a big platform for local designers and models to showcase their talent. It's an initiative to get Meghalaya recognised as a fashion city,' says Julie Deb, co-founder, Shillong Fashion Week.

I'm No Dictator, Says Hitler From Meghalaya

Shillong, Sep 6 :  Hitler, the name of a garment store in Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat, had to be changed after its owners were hit by protests. But what if a person is the namesake of the Nazi dictator?

Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator from the NorthEastern state of Meghalaya, believes that a name doesn’t represent the true characteristics of a person and sees no need to change his name.

“I am no dictator and neither am I the namesake of  Hitler,” said Marak, explaining that his name was incomplete without his surname. “No one in his assembly constituency has ever questioned me about my name,” he said.

“Parents often name their children after great leaders but sometimes due to ignorance they get fascinated by those personalities,” SN Lamare, a professor of history at the North Eastern Hill University said.

The legislator too admitted that he was an infant when his father fondly named him Adolf Lu Hitler followed by the surname.

“I have never asked my father why he chose this name for me,” said Marak, known more popularly as Hitler and Lulu.

Recently, a shop in Ahmedabad was forced to drop its name (Hitler) after protest by the Jewish and local community and even people outside India. In India, however, the general notion associated with the name Hitler is someone who is a very strict person, as cited by the shop owner in Ahmedabad who said that his partner’s grandfather who was a strict disciplinarian was the inspiration behind his shop’s name.

Although Marak in the past faced some difficulties while travelling abroad, he never faced any problem while travelling in India. “Once when I was travelling from Amsterdam as a  minister, I was questioned at the Amsterdam airport about my name on the passport and officials even cross-checked with authorities to confirm my Indian citizenship,” he said.

“Indians are more sensible. We don’t believe a name represents a person’s true character. A person with the name Hitler can be a good person,” Apurba K. Baruah, a political scientist at the North Eastern Hill University, said.

Power Failure Forces NEH Varsity To Close

By Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati, Aug 27 : Educational institutions in India face unscheduled shutdowns for a number of reasons.

But a Central university in Meghalaya's capital Shillong broke new grounds when it tripped over power failure.

Last month, North India hit the headlines following a two-day power grid outage. But the North Eastern Hill University (Nehu) has already been without power for six days.

With dark classrooms and no water supply, the university was forced to declare an unscheduled holiday till September 2. But officials say it might take as long as 45 days for power to return to the campus.

On the afternoon of August 20, lightning struck the university's 3MVA transformer. A back-up transformer failed to start.

"On August 22, we purchased a 1MVA transformer for Rs. 15 lakh, but it failed to take the load and crashed," said vice-chancellor AN Rai.

Generator sets proved inadequate.

Repairing the damaged transformer will take at least 45 days, said an official of the university. It would take 90 days and a cost of Rs. 25 crore for a custom-made transformer to reach Shillong.

With no power to illuminate the classrooms - the dense foliage between buildings makes interiors dark even at noon - and run computers and other essential services like water supply, students and research scholars  gheraoed the vice-chancellor on August 24.

The classes were suspended and around 2,500 students and teachers were advised to leave the campus.

"We have shifted to my mother's house but I have been reporting to the hospital, where even the steriliser is not working let alone other power-intensive medical tools. We have been literally groping in the dark," Caroline Mukhim, a doctor at the university's hospital.

While locals have shifted to their own houses or to their relatives', the 70% non-locals are in a dilemma.

"We want a written assurance from the university authorities that they would provide generator, mineral water and candles," said research scholar R Shangpliang.

‘Book’ Replaces ‘lock’ in Shillong

A labourer paints the gate of the National People's Party's new office in Shillong on Thursday.

Shillong, Aug 24 : The NCP “clock” in Meghalaya will not be heard ticking for quite a while as change is blowing over the hills in the abode of clouds.

The winds of change could be witnessed today in the heart of the city as labourers were deployed to wipe out the NCP symbols, which have been dotting the walls of the party office since March this year.

The “clock” was subsequently replaced with a “book”, which is the symbol of the National People’s Party (NPP), hitherto, a Manipur-based party.

This was contrary to the claims made by former Lok Sabha Speaker and erstwhile NCP leader Purno Agitok Sangma that he would form a new political party.

The NPP, Meghalaya state unit, will be launched here tomorrow afternoon in the presence of the defeated presidential candidate where state NCP workers are expected to enrol themselves with the party.

After having fought a losing battle in the bitter war for Raisina Hill last month, Sangma had set the tone for the formation of a new political party, which would be “tribal-centric”, but “open for all”.

Sangma, who arrived this evening from New Delhi, admitted that NPP is already a registered recognised party with the Election Commission, and only the Meghalaya state unit of the party will be formed here tomorrow.

All the NCP members and legislators will be present during the formal launching of the state unit.

Sources said the 13 NCP legislators would not immediately join the NPP lest they unnecessarily attract disqualification from the state Assembly.

“The legislators have been deliberating the fundamentals of the prospect of merging with the NPP, and they are yet to decide when they would part ways with Sharad Pawar-led party,” the source said.

The 13 legislators include Sangma’s sons — James and Conrad. Sources said Sangma’s daughter, Agatha, who is currently the Union minister of state for rural development, would not jump ship as yet.

“She (Agatha) might even join the NPP just before the next Lok Sabha polls,” the source added.

According to Sangma, the state NCP legislators will not face any problem in joining NPP, and that it will be considered as the merger of NCP with NPP.

The formation of the NPP here also comes just few months away from the next Assembly polls scheduled for February-March next year.

A few months ago, the state unit of NCP had announced the list of more than 20 candidates, including sitting legislators, who will be contesting the Assembly elections.

Ironically as it may sound, it was the former Lok Sabha Speaker who had inaugurated the Meghalaya NCP office on March 17, and it will be the same Sangma who will launch the NPP state unit from the same venue.

Before he threw his hat into the presidential ring against UPA nominee and eventual winner Pranab Mukherjee, Sangma had resigned both from the NCP and the Meghalaya Assembly.

It may be mentioned that the NPP had fielded five candidates in the 2012 Manipur Assembly polls, but could not win any seat. Five years earlier, the party had three legislators in the Assembly.

Northeast Exodus: Meghalaya To Send Team To Other States

Shillong, Aug 17 : Expressing concern over "students' exodus" from southern states fearing attacks, the Meghalaya government Thursday decided to send a delegation to these states to unearth the truth.

Many students from Meghalaya and the northeast region left Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Maharashtra after circulation of SMSes about northeast students being attacked.

The SMSes on the attacks emanated after the Assam ethnic violence.

"It is a matter of concern (students leaving southern states fearing attack) and such incidents would have serious ramification in the long run," Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"We have checked with our counterparts and found that most of the information being circulated through SMSes are rumours," Sangma said.

He said a delegation would be sent to the affected states and the union home ministry was being approached to facilitate the visit.

"The director general of police and the chief secretary are in constant touch with their counterparts in the states. I have also taken up the matter with my counterparts there," Sangma said.

Meghalaya Police have also set up a helpline 91-8575001111.

Bus Plunges Into Gorge in Meghalaya, 31 Dead

Shillong, Aug 9 : Thirty-one people were killed and 27 injured when a bus proceeding from Guwahati to Agartala rolled down a hill in Meghalaya on early Wednesday, police said.

Two women were among those killed when the bus rolled down a 100 metre deep gorge in Tongseng, East Jaintia Hills district police chief MK Dkhar told IANS.

Tongseng is about 150 km east of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. The privately-owned night bus was on its way from Guwahati in Assam to Tripura capital Agartala.

Of the injured, Dkhar said seven were rushed to Silchar Medical College in southern Assam and the rest in nearby hospitals in the district.

“The rescue operations are over and investigation has begun to ascertain the cause of the accident,” the officer said.

A Tripura official told IANS in Agartala that 27 people died on the spot.

The driver of the bus, who also died, lost control of the bus when he was taking a turn in the terrain cramped Assam-Agartala highway.

Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey told IANS that a state government team had left for the site.

He said the place where the disaster site was “extremely accident prone”. “Every year a number of accidents have occurred in the area. killing many people.”

15 Miners Trapped Inside Coal Mine in Meghalaya

By SUSHANTA TALUKDAR

• 
  Coal mining in most parts of Meghalaya is done in an indiscriminate and unscientific manner of manual extraction and is popularly known as rat-hole mining as the miners crawl inside a long tunnel and use basic implements to burrow and extract coal. This photograph shows a miner inside a typical rat hole mine. Photo: Rajkamal Goswami, ATREE.
• 
  An surface picture of a coal mine in Meghalaya. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

Fifteen miners are trapped inside a rat-hole coal mine near Nangalbibra area of South Garo Hills district in Meghalaya since Friday afternoon after water from an adjacent abandoned mine gushed in when the miners accidentally hit on the wall of the abandoned mine.

Meghalaya Director General of Police N. Ramachandran told The Hindu that there was very little hope of any survivor.

“There were total 30 miners working in the rat-hole mine. Fifteen managed to come out while 15 others got trapped inside. It is suspected that the miners accidentally punctured the wall of a flooded abandoned mine and huge quantity of water gushed inside the mine in which they were working.

For the last two days the district authorities have been trying to pump out the water. The mine operator did not inform either the police or the district authorities. We have registered a case under Section 304 (a) for negligent action and arrested the main operator of the mine,” he said.

Unscientific mining

Coal mining in most part of Meghalaya is done in an indiscriminate and unscientific manner of manual extraction and is popularly known as rat-hole mining as the miners crawl inside a long tunnel and use handy implements to burrow in and extract coal.

South Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner in-charge R.P. Marak said a magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident while efforts were on to rescue the trapped miners. The district authorities have also requisitioned the services of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for rescue operations.

The 1st Battalion NDRF has sent two rescue teams which are expected to reach the site on Wednesday night. The DGP said that the mine was located in a remote location and condition of the road leading to the site is also bad. The coal mines are located at Rongsa Awe village, about 10 km from Nangalbibra.

These rat-hole mines are privately owned. In Meghalaya, land and resources are privately owned by local tribal communities and the State government has little control over it.