Agenda before the All Political Parties Committee on ILP
- Part 3 -

Dr. Khomdon Lisam *

Student rally for ILPS at Tiddim Road, Kwakeithel on August 05 2014 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

Possible Threat

The Government of India is trying to amend all the state local laws to bring them in conformity with the new provisions under the Indian Constitution. They are presently thinking to remove the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 and the Chin Hill Regulations, 1896 , which provide special protection and safeguard for the peaceful existence of the indigenous tribal people of North Eastern states .

Possible Provisions to be included in the new Law

1. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur, who entered Manipur before 21 January, 1972 (Statehood Day) will be not be covered under this scheme.

2. Any citizen of India born in Manipur may be exempted from this scheme .

3. All categories of students are exempted from this scheme

4. Officers from All India Service like IAS, IPS are exempted from this scheme

5. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur, who entered Manipur after 21 January, 1972 (Statehood Day) will be allowed to open Business Enterprises or shops only in the name of indigenous people .

6. Any citizen of India, who want to enter Manipur for as a tourist, on business or sports or cultural programme or delegation for the conferences will have an Entry Permit specifying the details as required on payment of requisite fees.

7. Ministers, MPs , MLAs from other states , International Tourists, International Delegates are exempted from this scheme except under specific laws.

8. At least 50% of the members of the Manipur Chamber of Commerce will be manned by local/ indigenous people.

9. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur who want to work in Manipur should have a work permit specifying the work for which he had to pay the requisite fees according to the trade. The fees must be deposited as per rate fixed by the Government for three years at a time.

10. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur working as coolies, labourer in the market places shall have a serial no. and he should display this serial no. as an armlet.

11. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur is not eligible for professional training like MBBS, BDS, BE, ME etc.

12. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur is not eligible for jobs in any department in Manipur

13. All lower categories of staff ( Non-Gazetted) either employed or on deputation are covered under

14. Any citizen of India from outside Manipur who want to invest in any business in Manipur with a bank balance of Rupees five crores may be exempted from this scheme.

Possible Actions

The following suggestions / options maybe considered :-

1. The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 is not yet repealed and being implemented in three states . So the Government of India has the authority and competence to issue an administrative order that the same regulation is being implemented in Manipur. The ILP is not meant for Tribal alone .So one more attempt may be made requesting the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to issue the administrative orders on ILP in favour of Manipur..

2. If they are not willing to do anything citing the Article 19 /35 of the Indian Constitution , we can say that "the Manipuris are minority among minorities In India . The whole population of Manipur constitute hardly 0.2 % of the total population of India . We do not want to become minority in our home land , If you are not willing , the Chief Minister , his MLAs and the people of Manipur will sit in Dharna in front of Prime Minister's office as done by Arvind Kejrwal when he was the Chief Minister of Delhi. The Indian Constitution does not forbid the Chief Minister sitting in Dharna ". Thousands of Mamipuris will join the dharna .

3. if the Government of India say that the said regulation is too old, we need a new law which is to be passed by the Parliament, then we can mutually set a target date for considering amendment of Indian Constitution to remove the constitutional discrimination against Manipuris. During the last 65 years, we never ask for constitution amendment. No Manipuri took part in the Constitutional debate of India The Indian Constitution was imposed on us after forceful merger to India . The Indian Constitution is found extremely discriminatory and harmful to Manipur. It becomes the source of all ethnic conflicts, disunity and disharmony among the ethnic groups of Manipur. The Inner Line permit system should not be the only reason for amendment of Indian Constitution. There are many pressing and burning issues which needs to be considered for amendment of Indian Constitution. We want to propose for constitutional amendment in the following areas :-

3.1 The whole state of Manipur should be declared as a Hill State
3.2 All the ethnic groups in Manipur may be brought under one uniform Land Law
3.3 The Article 3 of Indian Constitution regarding alteration of state boundaries shall not apply to Manipur to protect the 2000 year old territorial integrity of Manipur
3.4. Inner Line Permit System should be introduced to protect the rights , identity, customs , culture, traditions , religion , land , language, script , mineral resources of indigenous people of Manipur .
3.5. The Representation of People Act-1951 should be amended to ensure equal representation of States in the Rajya Sabha as done in case of many democratic countries. The number of Rajya Sabha seats for Manipur should be increased to five.
3.6. The number of Lok Sabha seats should be made viable by increasing the number of seats to six since the Anglo Indians which has a population of hardly 350,000 were given two Lok Sabha seats. Even if Shri Krishna becomes Manipur MP, he will not be able to become Prime Minister under the existing system.
3.7. The Meiteis should be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes to restore the equality among all ethnic groups of Manipur.

4. If the Government of India is still reluctant , then the Manipur State Assembly under leadership of Hon'ble Chief Minister may consider amendment of the Manipur Land Revenue Act-1960 to bring an uniform land laws for all ethnic groups in Manipur. No migrant should be allowed to purchase land without permission of the State Government . The purpose of ILP is only to prohibit the outsiders to purchase land . The amendment of the Manipur Land Revenue Act-1960 will fulfil that demand but that is not sufficient . But we need to do many other things to address the issues mentioned above.

5. Migrants will be allowed to open a shop or business enterprise only n the name of the local person.

6. At least 50% of the members of the Manipur Chamber of Commerce will be ,manned by local/ indigenous people.

7. The Manipur State Government should implement the existing Foreigners Act-1946 vigorously .People encroaching in the reserved forest and other areas should be evicted and deported.

8. The Manipur State Government may consider introducing a system of Work Permit according to the trade of the migrant worker with specific fees , renewable every three years in addition to the registration.

9.The Manipur State Assembly under leadership of Hon'ble Chief Minister may consider enacting a new legislation for regularisation of entry of migrants from outside Manipur incorporating sll the essential provisions cited above.

10. All the departments responsible for issue of ration cads, BPL cards, Electoral roll or Voter ID, , driving licence should be trained and alerted to take up verification of Ration cards, BPL cards, Driving Licenses, Domicile certificates, Electoral Rolls of all constituencies before the next Assembly Election

11..Deletion of illegal migrants and foreigners from the electoral tolls of all constituencies of Manipur under the Foreigners Act -1946 should be taken up immediately .

12. Complete Ban of purchase of land by outside migrants and foreigners in Manipur without the approval of the Government .

13. The All Political Parties Committee on ILP may fully utilise the services of the Law Department, Advocate General , retired and current High Court Judges and eminent Lawyers for drafting a BIl for enactment by the Manipur Sate Assembly in the forthcoming session incorporating the above provisions.

Concluded....