Judicial Panel to Probe Violence in Manipur

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• Violence in Manipur
• Reasons behind the violence in Manipur
• Major communities residing in Manipur
• Meitei community want ST status in Manipur
• Why Tribal groups are opposing ST status for Meiteis?
• News Summary: Judicial panel to probe violence in Manipur
• Measures announced to restore peace in Manipur

 

Why in news?

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on a visit to violence-hit Manipur to resolve the ongoing ethnic crisis.
• During his visit, he announced a series of measures aimed at restoring peace in Manipur.

 

Violence in Manipur

• Violence between Manipur’s Kuki tribe and the majority Meitei community continued to rage in several parts of Manipur for many days.

 

Reasons behind the violence in Manipur

• Manipur was boiling since February 2023
  • Manipur has been restive since February when the state government launched an eviction drive seen as targeting a specific tribal group.
  • The drive led to protests but not on the scale of the one seen recently.
• High Court’s order as a trigger point
  • The recent protests were triggered by the Manipur High Court’s direction to the State to pursue a 10-year-old recommendation to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the non-tribal Meitei community.
  • The Court’s order has brought the historical tensions between the valley-dwelling Meitei community and the state’s hill tribes to a boil.
• Violence started
  • A ‘tribal solidarity march’ was organised by the All-Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) against the order of the High Court.
  • Violent clashes broke out at various places in Manipur during the course of this march.

 

Major communities residing in Manipur

• The State is like a football stadium with the Imphal Valley representing the playfield at the centre and the surrounding hills the galleries.
• The valley, which comprises about 10% of Manipur’s landmass, is dominated by the non-tribal Meitei who account for more than 64% of the population of the State.
  • This area yields 40 of the State’s 60 MLAs.
• The hills comprising 90% of the geographical area are inhabited by more than 35% recognised tribes.
  • This area sends only 20 MLAs to the Assembly.

 

Meitei community want ST status in Manipur

• There has been an organised push in support of this demand for at least since 2012, led by the Scheduled Tribes Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM).
• Recognised as tribe before merger with India
  • In their plea before the High Court, it was argued that the Meitei community was recognised as a tribe before the merger of the princely state of Manipur with the Union of India in 1949.
  • It lost its identity as a tribe after the merger.
• Need to preserve tradition and culture
  • The demand for ST status arose from the need to preserve the community, and save the ancestral land, tradition, culture and language of the Meiteis.
  • As per the arguments forwarded by the community in the court:
    • The community has been victimised without any constitutional safeguards to date.
    • The Meitein/Meetei have been gradually marginalised in their ancestral land.
    • Their population which was 59% of the total population of Manipur in 1951 has now been reduced to 44% as per 2011 Census data.

 

Why Tribal groups are opposing ST status for Meiteis?

• The tribal groups say the Meiteis have a demographic and political advantage besides being more advanced than them academically and in other aspects.
  • The Meiteis are a dominant group controlling the state and its apparatuses.
  • Hence, the claim that Meiteis need ST status to protect their culture and identity is self-defeating.
• They feel the ST status to the Meiteis would lead to loss of job opportunities and allow them to acquire land in the hills and push the tribals out.
• The Manipuri language of the Meiteis is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• Sections of the Meitei community — which is predominantly Hindu — are already classified under Scheduled Castes (SC) or Other Backward Classes (OBC).

 

News Summary: Judicial panel to probe violence in Manipur

Measures announced to restore peace in Manipur

• Judicial probe panel
  • The judicial committee, led by a retired High Court Judge, would investigate the cause of the violence and identify those responsible for it.
• A peace committee
  • A peace committee, led by Governor Anusuiya Uikey and comprising different stakeholders will be constituted.
  • The peace committee will also include representatives of the Civil Society Organisations.
• An inter-agency unified command for better coordination
  • An Inter-Agency Unified Command will be set up for “better coordination” among all security agencies on the ground.
  • It will be headed by Kuldiep Singh, security advisor to the state government.

• Transfer of the present Manipur DGP P Doungel
  • The government transferred Manipur DGP P Doungel to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) (Home).
  • Rajiv Singh, a Tripura cadre IPS officer posted as IG, CRPF, in Tripura, has been appointed as the new Manipur DGP on inter-cadre deputation.
• Relief and rehabilitation package
  • The minister announced a relief and rehabilitation package of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of those killed, with both the state and central governments contributing equal amounts.
• Medical teams to be sent in Kuki-Zomi dominated areas
  • Pointing to shortage of medical staff, particularly in Kuki-Zomi dominated areas, the Minister said eight medical teams comprising 20 specialist doctors have been constituted by the Centre.
  • These teams will be sent to Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh.
• Steps taken along the Myanmar-Manipur border
  • For a permanent solution, India has done border fencing along 10 km of the Myanmar-Manipur border on a trial basis, and done the tendering process for another 80 km.
  • The work of collecting the biometrics of people coming from the neighbouring country has begun.

 

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Q1) What is the geographical location of Manipur?

Manipur is a state located in northeastern India. It is situated in the eastern part of the country, sharing its borders with the states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south, and Assam to the west. To the east, Manipur shares an international border with Myanmar (Burma). The geographic coordinates of Manipur range approximately between 23.8379° N latitude and 93.5360° E longitude. The capital city of Manipur is Imphal, which is located in the central part of the state.

 

Q2) Who are Kukis?

The Kukis are an ethnic group predominantly residing in northeastern India, western Myanmar (Burma), and Bangladesh. They are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic community and belong to the larger Kuki-Chin-Mizo group of people. The Kukis are known for their rich cultural heritage, traditional customs, and distinct language, which belongs to the Kuki-Chin-Mizo branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. They have a long history and have inhabited the region for centuries.

 

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Source: Judicial panel to probe violence in Manipur: Amit Shah | PIB | The Hindu