The stench of the diesel fumes stood out, as it didn’t jell well with the nature. We got down at Bapung village and started walking on a small metal road the goal of our trip being coal mines. Despite of my several visits to various mining areas in India, Meghalaya coal mines were an attraction. More so because the state falls under the 6th scheduled of the Indian constitution, according to which, people solely own the land and forests and the state and centre have little or no control whatsoever. All over India environmentalists, human right activitists, and social workers, were demanding that forests should be given back to the tribal and local communities, as they were in the precolonial days. Generally the mineral rights to belonged to the States but in Meghalaya the rights belonged to the land owners, which were not subject to any regulation or restriction by the State with the result that the landowners are free to grant leases underterms and conditions entirely at their pleasure.