Community voices from rural Meghalaya highlight pressing issues at Agenda for Rural India

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 16, 2023

Rural Voice, Socratus and NESFAS concluded the ‘Agenda for Rural India – Shillong’, a day-long convening focused on the question of ‘how the development agenda should for Rural India be framed’ held on Friday at The Habitat, Shillong.

Speaking at the programme, Editor-in-Chief, Rural Voice Harvir Singh said, “The focus of these convenings is to tap into the rural voices of the citizens from the grassroots. Our goal is to provide a bottom-up approach to bridge the divide between the rural communities and policymakers, bureaucrats, politicians, experts, and media.”

He added, “This is crucial in order to create a more inclusive and representative decision-making process. By amplifying the voices of those living in rural areas, we can ensure that their needs and concerns are being heard and addressed. Together, we can strive for a more equitable and informed society.”

The convening involved diverse rural stakeholders from over 7 districts of Meghalaya including farmers, women SHG Members, rural entrepreneurs, Bee Keepers, artisans, teachers, Village Employment Council Members, village council members and weavers.

There were over 60 participants from Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Karbi tribes with both men and women representation where they discussed and deliberated on multiple issues they face as rural citizens desiring to see implementation of certain policies.

Agenda for Rural India, Shillong is part of a series of convening of rural people being organised nationwide by Rural Voice, a digital media organisation and Socratus, an NGO working in the social and rural sectors.

Earlier convening was organised at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh in June, In August convening was organised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha and in Jodhpur Rajasthan.

NESFAS, an NGO working for the rural sector and Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems was the local partner for the Agenda for Rural India convening at Shillong.

Raising a number of issues, the participants expressed concern of the poor soil health, soil erosion, unavailability of quality seeds and bio-inputs, increasing incidents of pest attacks, poor irrigation facilities and poor rural connectivity are pulling back the agriculture sector.

In addition, there is poor marketing infrastructure for agricultural produce, low price realisation and lack of proper storage facilities and cold storage and stressed that climate change is a big problem for the agriculture sector as more extreme weather incidents are increasing.

In the area of social sector participants flagged the issue of poor health and educational infrastructure.

The participants pointed to the absence of teachers in the village schools and poor building infrastructure, unemployment, a high rate of drug use, early marriage and no proper childcare facility were raised as big social problems, problems in rural connectivity and the supply of electricity, drinking water problem.

Participants were of the opinion that governments and political systems must act fast to resolve the problems raised by them wherein they demanded that the government should support farmers in adopting traditional farming, providing bio fertilizers and bio pesticides to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to start better irrigation facilities.

One important issue raised by participants from Garo hills region was increasing human wildlife conflict which is becoming a big problem for farmers.

Issue of poor Governance and corruption in government schemes and departments was also flagged as a major issue by the participants.

Director Socratus Prachur Goel, said, “For making policies, the practice of holding dialogues with rural citizens takes on profound significance. It is through these dialogues that we bridge the gap between urban and rural perspectives, gaining valuable insights into the unique challenges, needs, and aspirations of our rural communities.”

“The convening today has brought forward important insights, which we hope will be useful for the planned meeting at New Delhi. We are confident that this collaborative effort will enhance our collective understanding of the region and lead to a more impactful and successful rural convening”, said Pius Ranee, Executive Director, NESFAS.