50 Years of Meghalaya Statehood

Meghalaya, a state of India, is located in the North Eastern part of the country. It is bounded by the Indian state of Assam to the north and northeast and by Bangladesh to the south and southwest. The state capital is the hill town of Shillong, located in east-central Meghalaya.

Meghalaya—alaya ("abode") and megha ("of the clouds")—occupies a mountainous plateau of great scenic beauty. It became a state in 1972. Area 8,660 square miles (22,429 square km). Pop. (2011) 2,964,007.

Meghalaya was inaugurated as an autonomous State on 2nd April 1970 at Garrison Ground, Shillong. It was created within the state of Assam by the Assam Re-organization (Meghalaya) Act, 1969.

Meghalaya as a state was inaugurated on January 21st, 1972 by the then Prime Minister of India Smt. Indira Gandhi, in the presence of the Governor, Shri. Biraj Kumar Nehru. Hundreds of people attended the inaugural ceremony at Polo Ground to witness this historic moment in the State's history. Captain Williamson A. Sangma was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

The Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA) was launched on the 9th of September 1968 in the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo Hills. The adherence to non-violent and constitutional struggle ultimately crystalized into an organization known as NVDA volunteers. The existence of the NVDA made the Hill State Movement for Meghalaya a unique one in that it was largely a non-violent and peaceful movement.

Celebrating 50 years of Meghalaya's statehood the college organized panel discussions, lectures, popular talks, webinars and several competitions involving student and teacher participants from various parts of the state. A high mark of the celebrations was a Webinar organized by the Department of Khasi titled "Ka Jaitbynriew Hynniew Trep haka Jingiaid Lynti ba 50 Snem" which was later published as a book. During the release of the Proceedings Volume the volunteers of the Hill State Movement were felicitated by the present Chief Minister of the State Shri Conrad Sangma.