A campaign will soon be launched in Meghalaya for bringing about a “social revolution” to strengthen families through the institution of marriage and equitable distribution of wealth, which would supplement the inner-line permit (ILP) as and when it is implemented.

Emerging from the icy-cold water of Crinoline swimming pool where he swam to welcome the New Year, Maitshaphrang convener and RTI activist Michael N. Syiem told The Telegraph that he has resolved to take up the proper implementation of the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act, 2012, and bring in a legislation for equitable distribution of self-acquired property and ancestral wealth.

“These are two issues which we intend to start the campaign this year and get them implemented in right earnest. We are going to start this month with a meeting of people who are concerned,” Syiem, who has been taking up the twin issues for years, said.

The former Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) president said even if the ILP is implemented in Meghalaya, it would be like a defunct safety net.

“We need to strengthen our families. In spite of the ILP, people can still come into our land because of the loopholes in the institution of marriage and the absence of equitable distribution of property and ancestral wealth,” Syiem said.

He said according to RTI findings, none of the state government departments have implemented that law on compulsory registration of marriage.

The act mandates that married men and women will have to compulsorily furnish marriage certificates for all official purposes.

“It is time that the loopholes we see through broken families are fixed. We need a kind of a social revolution,” he said.

Syiem said a law was required to be enacted on equitable distribution of self-acquired property and ancestral wealth to economically empower men and women who hitherto are left without any share in the self-acquired property and ancestral wealth.

Many Khasi men do not have any say in self-acquired property and ancestral wealth, he said.

According to local customs and traditions, Khasi and Garo men do not inherit property and, hence it is a necessity to have the act in place, he added.

Meghalaya, which is mostly covered under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, has demanded that the Centre extend the provisions of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873 so that the permit regime can be implemented.

This came following the passage of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, by the BJP-led government.

Within this month, the state government plans to meet Union home minister Amit Shah to take forward the unanimous resolution adopted by the state Assembly in December asking the Centre to include Meghalaya as one of the states where the ILP regime would be in place.