#DNAReaderEdit: Last of the Songsarek followers of Meghalaya
Meghalaya is now a Christian tribal State. More than 86 per cent of its total population is from the Scheduled Tribes (STs) of which more than 84 per cent are now Christian. The process of conversion of the STs that began in the early twentieth century and picked up pace after Independence is not yet complete. In the last two decades, their share has risen from 75.3 to 84.4 per cent, marking an accretion of 9 percentage points. The Khasi and Garo are the two major ST communities. Rise in the share of Christians among Khasis has been relatively modest; they formed 77 per cent of the Khasi population in 1991 and their share now is 83 per cent. The rise among the Garo has been much larger; Christians formed about 83 per cent of the Garo population in 1991 and their share in 2011 is 96 per cent.
Meghalaya is now a Christian tribal State. More than 86 per cent of its total population is from the Scheduled Tribes (STs) of which more than 84 per cent are now Christian. The process of conversion of the STs that began in the early twentieth century and picked up pace after Independence is not yet complete. In the last two decades, their share has risen from 75.3 to 84.4 per cent, marking an accretion of 9 percentage points. The Khasi and Garo are the two major ST communities. Rise in the share of Christians among Khasis has been relatively modest; they formed 77 per cent of the Khasi population in 1991 and their share now is 83 per cent. The rise among the Garo has been much larger; Christians formed about 83 per cent of the Garo population in 1991 and their share in 2011 is 96 per cent.
The rise in the share of Christians among Garos has implied the near extinction of the followers of their traditional Songsarek persuasion, which has declined from more than 88,000 in 1991 to 17,000 in 2011. Followers of the Nimatre and Khasi persuasions has also declined, but not as drastically as that of the Songsarek. The other three tribes of Meghalaya are the Hajong, Rabha and Koch. However, these predominantly Hindu tribes. Their numbers are only 94,000 in a total ST population of 25.6 lakh. The rise of Christianity in Meghalaya has been mainly at the cost of the followers of the so-called Other Religions and Persuasions (ORPs). The richly diverse religious practices are now about to disappear. The author is with theCentre for Policy Studies