Shillong: Meghalaya is bleeding cash. While the state manages a 25,574 crore rupee budget, traditional institutions governing 97 percent of the land are starving. New data from Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh shows the three Autonomous District Councils receive only 733 crore rupees total. That is less than 3 percent of the state's entire spending power.
Individual budgets for the councils are thin. The Khasi Hills ADC holds 329 crore rupees, the Jaintia Hills ADC has 205 crore, and the Garo Hills ADC receives just 199 crore. Officials are bypassing the Sixth Schedule to hoard power. The state government now favors Village Employment Councils over traditional Dorbar Shnongs and Nokmas. These village councils answer directly to state block development officers.
Critics call this a contractor raj. The Nokma Sani Union claims the government routes grants to hand-picked firms instead of funding village-level institutions. In Tura, MDC Bernard N. Marak says projects go to politically connected firms without any competitive bidding. "The leakage between the central tap and the village bucket has consequences." Public reports cite multi-crore road projects that fall apart in months or exist only on paper.
This financial bottleneck hits the vulnerable hard. Nearly half of children under five in the state suffer from stunting. Rural blocks lack basic medicine and roads. Traditional leaders demand direct devolution of funds to bypass the state. They want an end to outside contractors and insist on independent audits to kill off fake firms. The fight for fiscal justice is now the only way to keep the Sixth Schedule alive.
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