My fieldwork in the villages of West Khasi Hills

I flew to Meghalaya, India to start my fieldwork in late September 2005 and stayed there until late January 2006. During these 4 months I had a great learning experience revisiting my own home this time looking through the lenses of a research scholar. It was exciting, but nevertheless challenging. My research question was to find out if the Supreme Court logging ban in 1996 had any implication on the rural household strategies of the people, and if so how are these forest dependant communities coping with such an institutional arrangement. My goal was to find the data from the villages I had selected in the West Khasi Hills district of the state which will help me, answer my key research question.


During my journey through the district I visited and stayed in 6 villages, interviewing the people there and listening to their stories. According to what I have gathered so far, the logging ban had a direct effect on the lost of livelihoods in the communities I studied and it failed to protect the remaining trees and bushes from being converted to charcoal.


I was studying three types of villages and they are the ones that have had intervention from a multilateral agency, in this case through International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the ones that have had intervention from a governmental agency, in this case though the Joint Forest Management (JFM), and the ones that have had no intervention whatsoever since the ban was enforced.


IFAD has been working in some selected villages in West Khasi Hills since 1999 and the Forest Department of Meghalaya had just introduced the JFM in August 2005 in a few selected villages. It was interesting to see how the wealth-ranking index of the IFAD villages was rising since they got some support. The JFM villages have also got some support in the form of nurseries, fishponds and livestock. However, the villages that have been left out from any sort of assistance are going from bad to worst.

One such village that I visited called Lawsiej had 75 households and it took me about 2 hours to walk there from the closest metal road. When I reached the village I was shocked to see only 3 men who came to the meeting, which the headman had organised for me. I later found out that since there was no more livelihood opportunities in the villages, all the men had left their homes to work in coal mines 250 kms away near the Bangladesh border. They would only return home after 6 months with all sorts of respiratory diseases and later die from lack of medicines and treatment. It was very sad to see this trend of male workforce migration as a coping strategy for these poor communities in order to survive. However, before I left this village the headman gave me a rooster to take back with me as a special gift from the entire village. I was so touched by his generosity and I had to accept his gift or else I would be insulting his whole community if I had declined. Wherever I went I was treated in good faith and I realized that these people had no material belongings with them, but yet they were so happy.


While I was driving to another village called Nongkrem, which had got some IFAD help, I stopped on the way to give a lift to 7 women who had just returned from the market with all their supplies. Their journey home from the market was 3 hours walk and it was already getting dark that evening. Anyway they all got into my jeep and I continued to drive in this jungle mud road where only timber carrying trucks ply on. It was therefore very difficult to navigate between the deep tracks created by the tyres of these heavy trucks. Since the ground clearance of my jeep was no high enough, I had to drive in between these deep mud tracks, which also had stones and boulders along the way. As we drove down a steep descend heavy fog suddenly appeared and both my headlights failed to dim, so I was driving blind.


In the process I managed to hit a rock on the road, which then broke the joints that held the spring of the left back tyre. The bang was loud, but I continued to drive slowly up the hill and finally after a few minutes the spring came off with the shock absorber and the left back tyre hit the mudguard of the jeep and we were stuck on the hill. Anyway to cut the story short, I had to ask all the women to disembark and walk home from there. I was lucky that there was enough space for the trucks to pass from the side of my broken jeep. After locking the jeep, I too continued on my journey on foot and reached the village in an hour just in time for my meeting.


The next morning I took a ride on one of the timber trucks to meet the people in another village called Nonglang with also got some IFAD support. In the mean time some village boys from Nongkrem walked to the market bought the spare parts for my jeep, returned to repair it and then drove the jeep back to me to Nonglang where I was still busy with my interviews. It was simply amazing as I though I would be stuck there for days. So much for jungle driving!

Buffalo Hospital in Dong-ki-ing-ding Village

On the evening of the 12th of January 2006, as part of my Ph.D. research work for the London School of Economics, I visited the village of Umniangriang located 49 km away from Mairang in the West Khasi Hills district in the state of Meghalaya. I was respectfully received by Mr. Boxstar Nongrang, the 31-year-old intelligent and dynamic Sordar (elected chief) of the village who had been waiting for me with his team of village committee leaders. We got along very well as we were about the same age and had a similar outlook to life. However, he had a long beard and was already married with four kids. The Sordar did not waste any of my time and wanted to show me the dysfunctional infrastructures in his community right away. So we drove for 2 kms down the road to meet the Sordar of the next village of Dong-ki-ing-ding, which happened to be the closest market centre for the all eight villages in the surrounding area.


We were taken to see the hospital that was built by the government about 10 years ago in front of the Christian secondary school. On arriving at the site I was shocked by what I saw. The gates of the hospital were locked forcing us to duck under the broken barbwire fencing to enter the compound. When we got inside I found that the hospital too was locked and had no one occupying it - no doctors, no nurses, no equipment, no medicines, absolutely nothing. To my astonishment I saw two buffaloes sitting in front of the hospital enjoying the grass in the compound. The condition of the hospital was appalling, it was already rotting to pieces as the termites had eaten up all its doors and many windows were broken. So here was the most important infrastructure built to serve the public health needs of all the eight villages in the area, but tragically it never opened for business. Surely it is shameful and unacceptable that after so much has been already spent from public funds to build such a hospital, nothing has been done in a decade to make it functional.


Only bitterness and hurt can be felt when one is faced with wasteful and uncaring behavior from the government making me wonder when the political leaders responsible will wake up and feel concern enough to open the hospital. According to the Sordar the landowners donated the land, which the hospital was built on, on the condition that the members of their family would get some sort of employment from it. That agreement was broken because the hospital was never opened, and now after 10 years of waiting in vain the landowners want to take the government to court. I was also told that many sick people have died in the surrounding villages over the years because they could not get access to medicines in time and they could not afford to go all the way to Mairang for getting hospital treatment for their illnesses. These innocent lives could have been saved if the hospital in the Dong-ki-ing-ding village was fully operational. I spent a night in the village of Umniangriang and visited the thatch house of a single mother who lost her little 1-year-old girl because she had no money and no medicines to save her from her illness. So I question the concerned authorities and their responsibility for the plight of our poor villagers dying from easily preventable diseases. Are they going to continue to shut their eyes and turn a deaf ear while the poor villagers suffer? On my 3-month journey across West Khasi Hills, I found many other villages in the same pathetic state of affairs. So where has all the money for the support and development of these villages gone?


The people whom I met from the different villages asked me to help them out, but being only a research scholar I cannot do much. However I can use the power of my pen to put pressure, to raise public awareness and debate at the local, national and international level about the unfair treatment and injustices that is being meted out to the poor people in my state. After seeing the reality of how our people life in the villages with my own eyes, I am leaving home feeling very sad and angry to finish my academic work in England. But I call upon all the concerned citizens and stakeholders, NGOs and especially the young people who are the current and future leaders of our state to shake up and put massive pressure upon some of the elected sleeping leaders, so that they wake up before its too late.

Direct Funding to the Village Councils

A special call was made to the Government of Meghalaya by the Dorbar Shnongs (Village Councils) to recognize their traditional system of grassroots governance and to give them the full responsibility of implementing the "Direct Funding" for the development of their villages. The Dorbar Shnongs wanted the government to start with an allocation of Rs. 2 lakhs for small villages and Rs. 5 lakhs for big villages in the entire state of Meghalaya, which will be audited by government authorities. They understood that if such a funding came straight to the villages, it would really speed up their growth and development process. It would also lighten the responsibility of the concerned MLAs & MDCs with regard to building footpaths and other small infrastructure related work that the villages themselves can take action upon.

On 21st August 2004, the Government of India published in many national newspapers the words of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India who said "the system of governance that is planned from the top-down does no reflect the true realities of the people on the ground and must be stopped…if we want strong and meaningful governance we need everyone to be included in the decision making processes from the bottom-up right from the village level." The newspapers also published the words of Dr. Monmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister of India who said, "the most important responsibility of this government is how to shape the traditional institutions of self-government, so they are included in big projects for their own development and growth."


In his letter to the political leaders on 6th March 1989 and to the Governor on 24th February 1989, Bah B. B. Lyngdoh, our former Chief Minister stated that he had spoken in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly saying that the Government of Meghalaya has decided to preserve and strengthen the traditional governance system of the Syiems, the Dolois and the Nokmas. He also stated that the government will open different ways to lift the honour and rank of these traditional leaders. The Governor also stated that the Government of Meghalaya, through the government notification of 22nd February 1989 has appointed a "High Powered Committee" consisting of – Chairman – B. B. Lyngdoh, Members – O. L. Nongtdu, P. R. Kyndiah, P. A. Sangma, and Member Secretary J. M. Phira, IAS. But nothing is known what became of this High Powered Committee, which just ended only in publicity and promises that were made from time to time by the political leaders.


Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India spoke in Parliament on 18th May 1989 and said, "The Panchayati Raj Act was (released) for Meghalaya because they already have the Dorbar Shnongs as existing traditional institutions of self-government which we must preserved and strengthen." But what is really surprising is that since 1992 the Gram Panchayat (Shnong) in other states in India got direct funding from their respective state governments. However, in our own state of Meghalaya where the approval was already granted because of the existence of the Dorbar Shnongs, no support of any kind has come through from the government so far. I really wonder what is holding them back. I have observed in my travels across India that while other states in our country are moving forward and developing rapidly, we in Meghalaya are shamefully moving backwards.


In 2004 about 3100 Gram Panchayat (Shnong) in the state of Karnataka got direct funding from their government for projects amounting to about 60 lakhs per village, supporting an array of developmental initiatives that benefited them. I spent a night in the village of Umniangriang, which is about 49 kms from Mairang, as part of my own Ph.D. fieldwork meeting with their Natural Resource Management Group and 4 Women Self Help Groups. After a long conversation with Mr. Boxstar Nongnang, the young and dynamic Sordar of the village, I was told that he and Mr. John F. Kharshiing, Chairman of Ka Dorbar Ki Nongsynshar ka Ri Hynniewtrep have been working very hard to push for this direct funding mechanism to work in our state. I want to salute their tireless efforts to help our poor villages and I call upon all other concerned stakeholders to join forces with them in this noble cause.


The Sordar also told me that the Government of Meghalaya has rejected the central government’s approval for direct funding to the Dorbar Shnongs because our political leaders will not have control of the money that will flow directly to the villages. I would argue that if this great system can work and benefit the villages in many other states in our country, what is the real problem of making it work in our own state. I think our leaders really lack the political will to make it work. I really believe that if there is a strong will to make it work, there will always be a way. It is now up to you the people of the state to put tremendous pressure on our political machinery to jump start the direct funding engine in Meghalaya before the villages run out of gas.

My Journey to the Himalayan Foothills

It was on the 27th January morning at 7am that I started on my solitary journey to the Himalayan foothills. After being in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and listening to his teachings, I was ready for my journey. But I have never felt so lonely as on that 20 kms hike that morning. I started walking alone up a slippery trail from the town of Mcleod Ganj, but I was later joined by 3 stray dogs, two black and one brown that accompanied me all the way to the top on the mountains.


About 2 hours later as I was approaching the top, I was then escorted by a huge eagle soaring above my head. I realized that I was not alone anymore and that God had sent me some friends to accompany me on my journey. When I got to the base camp on top, I found a shopkeeper there who told me the trail ahead was covered with snow and too dangerous to proceed. But I decided to walk on after taking some pictures and I climbed higher into the mountains in front of me.


After walking for another hour I got to the top of a big rock and was breathless and covered in sweat. I decided to stop and then took off all my clothes, boots, backpack and shouted at the top of my voice "Let me heal my broken wings and fly free as a bird." It was an amazing experience where I felt one with the snow covered mountains and I was not even feeling cold at all. I felt that I had to let go of all my baggage and just meditate with nature in the snow. I closed my eyes said a prayer and did some breathing exercises and felt some powerful, burning and fresh energy rise from within me. I felt love and compassion. I remembered my good friends around the world and sent blessings for them in the cold wind from 3000 metres above the sea!