Khasi Hills: panel to vet changes in lineage Act

Faced with opposition to the amendment Bill on the Khasi Lineage Act, 2005, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council...

Faced with opposition to the amendment Bill on the Khasi Lineage Act, 2005, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Chief Executive Member H S Shylla has decided to constitute a select committee to study the feasibility of the Khasi Social Custom of Lineage First Amendment Bill 2007.

The Bill proposes to debar the offspring of the mixed tribal and non-tribal parents of Scheduled Tribe status and also do away with the Tang Jait, a practice conducted by Khasi traditional religion to give a new clan to a non-Khasi woman who marries a Khasi man.

United Democratic Party leader Bindo M Lanong opposed the introduction of the amendment Bill during the KHADC session on Thursday. He said there has been widespread opposition against the Bill from several organisations namely Lympung Ki Seng Kynthei, Seng Khasi and Seng Khihlang. He informed that the effort to amend the Khasi Lineage Act, 2005, have been criticised by many for innumerable loopholes.

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Another UDP member Harding Massar said that the KHADC executive committee didn’t consult other parties on such an important legislation, which affects the customary practices of the community. Opposition members said that the amendment Bill seeks to create divisions among the Khasi community.

Only after Shylla agreed to form a select committee to study the amendment Bill, members allowed the amendment Bill to be introduced in the District Council. He also assured that the amendment Bill doesn’t intend to do away with the Tang Jait.

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