NOTES 81 system having reached its limit on a world scale and its being superseded by socialism. Even cooperatives^ whm no attempt is made to regulate the anarchy of market forces, will only lead to further impoverishment and inroads into the subsistence of the tribal people. Once basic class interests are challenged, undemocratic attempts at suppressing the tribal peoples5 movements for the preservation of egali-tarianism are bound to follow. Already strategic demographic reorganisation is being mooted in the Meghalaya area under the pretence that "regrouping of villages would not only make the provision of bas'c facilities an easy and cheiper task but would also lead to settled modes of cultivation, thus doing away with the wasteful aad uneconomic method of shifting cultivation.5?22 Given the fact that only 11 per cent23 of the worst-affected area can at best be served by such methods, and even this by spending enormous sums of money, it is clear that the purpose of regrouping is other than philanthropic. It is obvious from the experience of the US-style 'strategic hamlets5 in the Mizo hills and the tribal wars of the Indian Government that there is no limit to which a bankrupt Government will not go to implement its anti-people policies. CRN 1 Shillong Herald, September 13, 1972. 2 K Saigal, "The Strategy for Economic Giowth in Meghalaya," North-Eastern Affairs, Vol I, No 2, July-September, 1972, p 16. 3 Report on Second Round Socio- Economic Survey in Garo Hills, Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Assam, Shillong, 1962, p 56. 4 Ibid., p 57. 5 Ibid., p 67. 6 Ibid.,? 72. 7 Garo Hills District Annual Area Employment Market Reports : 1967-1972. 8 Parima.1 Chandra Kar, "Socio-Economic Problems of Economic Development in the Hill Areas of Assam", AICC Economic Review; Vol 21, No 9, November 15,1969, pl5. 9 MJ K Th^varaj, "Constraints on Resource Mobilisation'^, Social Scientist, Vol 1, No 1 August, 1972, pp 27-28. 10 Report of the Commissioner/or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (19th report), Government of India Press, Faridabad, Delhi, 1970, p 33. n "All the King's Horses and All the King's Men,'^ Social Scientist, Vol 1, No 1, August, 1972, p 60. 12 Information obtained from Sansangiri Research Farm, Garo Hills, Meghalaya. 13 Parimal Chandra Kar, op. cit, pl5. 14 Review of Agricultural Activities During 1970-71 : Department of Agriculture, Government of Meghalaya, Tura, Garo Hills. 15 See footnote 10, p 34. 16 Ibid. 17 Times of India, October 18, 1972. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 K Saigal, op. cit, p 17. 21 Parimal Chandra Kar, op. cit, p 17. 22 K Saigal, op. cit, p 48. 28 Survey Report on the Industrial Potentialities of the Garo Hills, Directorate of Industries, Government of Assam, Shillong, 1969, p 22.