Action -Taken Report sought by ST Panel From Manipur Govt on AFSPA and Territorial Disputes

Amidst the ongoing tension in the strife-torn state, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has sent a reminder to the Manipur government seeking an action-taken report on its recommendations in December 2022. Last year NCST sent a report to the N Biren Singh Government which flagged several issues including the wrongful inclusion of the hill villages of the state with the valley districts. The geographical demarcation has been at the heart of the ongoing divide between the Meitei and Kuki communities, where the Kuki community claims the Hills as theirs under the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960 which restricts the non-tribals from purchasing land in the hills.

​According to the NCST report the issue lives with Kakching, Tengnoupal, Kangpokpi, Imphal West, and Bishnupur distracts where foothills between the valley and the hills have been overlapping the districts. In current times the dispute is between Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts, where Meiteis are settled in Bishnupur and Churachandpur has the settlement of Kukis among other Tribal communities but not Meiteis. Similarly, there is a dispute between the Kakching and Tengnoupal districts.

​As per the report, in the Booklet of Census of India 2011 and Administrative Atlas, “Manipur has wrongly included several hill villages under valley districts” and the issue was duly communicated to the state government by the office of the Registrar General of India in 2017. Following that, in October 2022 Govt of Manipur had, according to the NCST report asked the respective district councils to make necessary corrections with the concerned disputed areas. The NCST report was prepared in December 2022 after a meeting with Manipur government officials, representatives from the All Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM), and the Joint Coordination Committee on Tribal Rights in Imphal (JCCOTR). NCST had also called for a review of AFSPA which was withdrawn from 15 police stations in the valley districts but not from the hills, calling it discriminatory in nature. NCST’s observations have been termed one-sided and biased by a section of the Manipur people. Remember the trouble started on May 3 after the demand of the Meitei community for the ST status reached the corridors of the court and the high court had passed an interim order that sparked off the tensions.

​The ST panel has sought a report from the Manipur government detailing the actions taken by the state on the issues flagged by the panel within 30 days from the receipt of their reminder notice.