Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandhu has sought a social awakening against polygamy among the indigenous communities of the State and a proper debate on property rights for the girl child.
Polygamy is prevalent in several of the 26 tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes in the frontier State.
Mr. Khandu said polygamy needed to become obsolete in the modern world.
‘Not relevant’
“The practice must have been socially accepted in the past due to various reasons but I don’t think it is relevant today. Instead of helping the family, the practice of polygamy affects and destroys the lives of women of the family,” he stated.
The Chief Minister told Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju that the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women and the Arunachal Pradesh Commission for Protection of Child Rights have been drafting a bill for ensuring inheritance rights to the girl child.
Mr. Rijiju is on an official tour of the State.
Customary laws of the State’s tribes allow for the inheritance of land that is not ancestral property. Land bought by a father from his earnings can be given to a daughter.
Mr. Khandu said, “We all love our daughters and want to give them equal rights – in education, employment, or property. But this needs a proper debate and consultancy with regard to our indigenous identity and tribal rights specifically on property and inheritance rights”.
Boundary row with Assam
On the boundary dispute with Assam, he observed that the State government was working on resolving the issue amicably.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a 730-km boundary with Assam.
“A high-power committee, under the chairmanship of Home Minister Bamang Felix, has already conducted several rounds of consultative meetings with the stakeholders on the matter. It will hold a meeting with all MLAs and Deputy Commissioners of the districts sharing boundaries with Assam on August 26,” Mr. Khandu noted.
He said he had spoken to his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma and agreed to resolve all issues through bilateral talks. The groundwork under process was based on the recommendations by a one-man Local Boundary Commission constituted by the Supreme Court, he added.
Thanks Centre for Bill
The Chief Minister thanked the Centre for passing the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The Bill amended the constitutional list of Scheduled Tribes as recommended by the State government and added the indigenous nomenclatures of Monpa, Sajolang, Sartang, Tai-Khamti, Mishmi-Kaman (Miju Mishmi), Idu (Mishmi), Taraon (Digaru Mishmi), Nocte, Tangsa, Tutsa and Wancho.
The last four had been clubbed as “Other Naga Tribes”.
