Meiteis tagged Forest Tribes in 1891,1901,1931 Census: AMBA
More teeth given to ST demand
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 16 2023:
The Meitei/Meetei people were classified as one of the Forest Tribes of Manipur before Indian Constitution came into force in 1950, said a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the All Manipur Bar Association (AMBA) today.
The Meitei/Meetei were classified as one of Forest Tribes of Manipur in the Census report of 1891, 1901 and 1931 and the Imperial Gazetteer of Indian-provincial Series Eastern Bengal and Assam 1909, read the memorandum urging the Prime Minister to include the community in the ST list.
The memorandum stressed that the whole communities living in the North East India are specified as Scheduled Tribes except the Meitei/Meetei, inspite of the community being an original indigenous tribe of Manipur.
The community was indiscriminately left out of the specified list of Scheduled Tribes while all the other communities were given the status (ST) under Article 342 (1) of the Indian Constitution, it added.
In the memorandum, AMBA said it is an axiomatic truth that the Meitei/ Meetei/Manipuri was the first tribal settler in the valley of Manipur and none refutes this aboriginal position which rightly call the Meitei/Meetei/Manipuri as the original indigenous people.
This is well supported by the Imperial Gazetteer of Indian-provincial Series Eastern Bengal and Assam 1909, read the memorandum reproducing a section of the Gazetteer�"The origin of Manipuri people is obscure, and the written records, having being mainly composed since they became Hindus, are not worthy of credit.
' From the most trustworthy traditions, the valley appears originally to have been occupied by several tribes, which came from different directions.
Although the general facial characteristics of the Manipuri are Mongolian, there is great diversity of feature among them, some showing a regularity approaching the Aryan type" .
AMBA quoted a January 5, 2011 judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of Kailas & other Vs State of Maharashtra (Criminal Appeal No 11 of 2011) that read "the original inhabitant of India were the Pre-Dravidian aborigines, that is, the ancestors of the present Tribes of Adivasis (Scheduled Tribe) " .
It is the Constitution of Indian which is keeping us together despite all our tremendous diversity, because the Constitution gives equal respect to all communities, sects, lingual and ethnic groups, etc in the country, said AMBA.
The Constitution guarantees all citizens freedom of ' speech (Article 19), freedom of religion (Article 25), equality (Article 14 to 17), liberty (Article 21) etc and thus the Meitei/Meetei cannot be put to exception for getting such Constitutional right, added AMBA.
AMBA's memorandum stressed that the Meitei/ Meetei, also known as Kathe (Manipuri) are living in Manipur since time immemorial with distinctive tradition, culture, religion and language with unique history and classified as one of the Forest Tribes of Manipur as per the Census report of 1891,1901 and 1931 and the Imperial Gazetteer of Indian-provincial; Series Eastern Bengal and Assam 1909 .
AMBA highlighted that after the end of the British colonial rule, in the year 1947, Manipur remained as an Independent State thereby adopting the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947.But, on October 15, 1947, Manipur was merged to the Union of India.
Thereafter, when the Indian Constitution came into force in 1950, the indigenous Meitei/Meetei/Manipuri was indiscriminately left out of the specified list of Scheduled Tribe.
The whole communities living in the North East are specified as Scheduled Tribe under Article 342 (1) of the Indian Constitution 1950 except the Meitei/Meetei/ Manipuri community living in the valley, it added.
AMBA asserted that it is crystal clear that the Scheduled Tribe identity is denied to the Meitei/Meetei for the last so many years in-spite of great public demand and agitations by the Meitei/Meetei without any attention by the Union Government.
The ST tag is highly needed for preservation of cultural heritage, land, language, religion and indigenous identity, AMBA said seeking the attention of the Prime Minister and anticipating his support for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the list of the Scheduled Tribes.
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