Can Blinkit operate in Meghalaya? Here’s why the answer is ‘No’ for now

The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has halted Blinkit’s operations in Shillong earlier this month, denying the quick-commerce firm the trading licence it needed for its Jingkieng Nongthymmai premises. Blinkit had cleared every central and state requirement on paper but that didn’t matter. The council still said no.

Its authority comes from Paragraph 10 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, which lets the KHADC bar any non-tribal individual or firm from running a wholesale or retail business in the district without its explicit clearance. It is a colonial-era safeguard for indigenous livelihoods that predates e-commerce by decades.