Q. With reference to Khasi community, consider the following statements:
1. They live mainly in the State of Sikkim.
2. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
3. They practiced a matrilineal system of inheritance.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Statement a is incorrect: The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh.
Statement b is correct: Under the Constitution of India, the Khasis have been granted the status of Scheduled Tribe.
Statement c is correct: Khasis practise a matrilineal system of inheritance. In this system, lineage and descent are traced through the mother’s clan. In other words, children take the mother’s surname, the husband moves into his wife’s house, and the youngest daughter (khatduh) of the family is handed over the full share of the ancestral — or the clan’s — property.
Source: A proposed Bill and its possible ramifications in matrilineal Meghalaya
