Amending Article 371C can bring peace, prosperity in Manipur

Dr Khomdon Singh Lisam *

Assembly building as a component of the Capitol Complex at Chingmeirong, Imphal :: Pix - Bullu Raj

From the reading of the full text of Article 371C of Indian Constitution, it is understood that this article is heavily biased, extremely discriminatory, dangerous and harmful towards the Manipuris and tends to encourage disunity, communal conflict in the name of the hill and valley and in the name of scheduled tribe and general. Earlier, the British played "divide and rule policy " to turn the ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, tribal differences within Manipur to their advantage to ensure stability, supremacy and power.

India continues the same "divide and rule policy" started by the British in the name of protecting hill people and inciting one ethnic group against another in the name of General, Schedule Tribe, Hill people and valley people. Although, Meiteis/Meeteis have the same four characteristics /criteria of Scheduled Tribes for becoming a scheduled tribe (1) First Settlers of the Country –Supreme Court Judgment (2) Mongoloid stock (3) Animism (4) Partially Hindunised, they are categorized as General.

This categorisation of the same people from the same ancestor and same origin into two different classes as General and Tribal or hill and valley people is the root cause of this communal politics inciting one ethnic group against another under India.

The amendment of the Indian Constitution will be a permanent cure to all conflict situation in Manipur.

Manipur had its own de jure Constitution before India wrote her own. Manipur had a democratic form of Government before India become a democratic country in 1950. No Manipuri was included in the Constituent Assembly formed on 1946. Tripura cannot represent Manipur. No Manipuri participated in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly on 26 November, 1948. No referendum was conducted in Manipur regarding introduction of Indian Constitution in Manipur. Rather the Constitution of India was imposed on Manipur with the 'forced annexation of Manipur'.

In this respect, we may refer to the statement of G.K. Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, which was published on 27 September, 2011 in the Telegraph newspaper. According to him, the repeal of the draconian act AFSPA -1958 was one of the first steps towards resolving the vexed conflict of Manipur's valley and hills. He said that " the ancient kingdom of Manipur had a constitution even before India wrote her own and had a proud history and was overnight turned into a C-category state in 1948. He further added " we have to build trust by dealing with the core issues . An apology , say by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, for the past mistakes could be a start".

We feel that an apology is not sufficient. These blunders remained as a source and the genesis of all conflicts in the Manipur today . The Government of India should take corrective actions through amendment of Indian Constitution to restore equality, communal harmony, social integrity, solidarity and unity of all ethnic groups in Manipur . We are one people .

We need to stand united and strong . We need to ensure solidarity and unity among Nagas, Kukis, Meiteis, Meitei Pangans. The mutual trust and respect between Manipur and the Government of India can be restored only by way of constitutional amendments and not through political domination or manipulation. The proposed constitutional amendments are as follows :-

1. The whole state of Manipur should be declared as a Hill State

This is a fact that Manipur is 90% hills. The arrival of Hinduism in Manipur had built a wedge between hill and valley . Taking the advantage of the evils of Hindu religion, the British started different administration for hills and valley in the name of protecting hill people and to woo them to accept Christianity . This policy of divide and rule initiated by the British is being continued by the Government of India by incorporating separate provision for hills and valley in the Indian constitution .

The people in the hills and valley have common ancestors and common origin. In order to stop the discrimination of one tribe at the cost of other and to bring about solidarity, unity and equality among all ethnic groups in Manipur, the the Indian Constitution be amended and the whole of Manipur should be treated as a Hill state without any distinction of religion, caste and creed .

2. All the ethnic groups in Manipur may be brought under one uniform Land Law

The Manipur Land Revenue Act-1960 is discriminatory to the extreme. The hill region, comprising about 90 percent of the total area of the State, contains only 35.45 percent of the State's total population, while the valley region with only 10 percent of the total area has to support 64.55 percent of the total population. The valley people can not purchase land and settle in the hills whereas hundreds of thousands of hill people comprising of all ethnic groups are purchasing land and settled in the valley. The valley people can not even buy back the land from the hill people. This is a gross discrimination of the valley people.

The Meities are very peculiar race – they will never leave their homestead and live in the hill areas. They never did so in the last 2000 years and they will never do it . The benefits will only go the people in the hills. Moreover, the customary land laws of the hill people makes the land very cheap as the land can not be registered in the name of the person who occupies the land. This is one reason for the hill people to remain in poverty. Manipur can not become a rich state unless the hill people are rich . Bringing all the ethnic groups in Manipur under one uniform Land Law will definitely bring emotional integration and oneness among the people in the hills and the valley.

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

The Manipuris are very proud of their history from 1445 BC to 1949. The history of Manipur is the history of all ethnic groups in Manipur including Kukis, Nagas, Meiteis and Meitei Pangans . The boundary maps of Manipur is engraved in the heart of every Manipuri. The emotional attachment is so strong that they are ready to lay down their lives to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur . This has been demonstrated on 18 June 2001 when 18 precious lives were lost and more than 5 lakh people came out in the street when the Government of India unwittingly declared the Naga ceasefire without territorial limits.

The Government of India repeatedly threaten to sacrifice the territory of Manipur on various occasions to satisfy the whims of a particular underground group-NSCN-IM This has happened in spite of many strong resolutions taken by the Manipur State Assembly to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur . This repeated humiliations by the Government of India has resulted to loss of trust between the Government of India and the people of Manipur . In order to regain the trust and confidence of the Manipuris in national building , the Government of India should immediately take steps to amend the India Constitution mentioning specifically that Article 3 of Indian Constitution shall not apply to Manipur or smaller states like Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripuura , Goa and Union Territories .

4. The rights , identity, customs , culture, traditions , religion , land , language, script , mineral resources of indigenous people of Manipur will be protected.

In the name of democracy and secularism , there is a silent war without arms –that is population invasion by migrants from other states in India . The influx of outsiders from other states has posed a threat to the Manipuri identity and culture of the indigenous people of Manipur .

It has posed a threat to Manipuri language , scripts and local dialects due to ever increasing influence of Hindi as the link language and "Bazar Bhasa " in trade and commerce. It has deprived the indigenous Manipuri population of their ancestral land , food, employment , manual work , education.

It has posed a threat to reservation quota for scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes as many of them are also eligible under the same reservation quota. It has deprived the job opportunities of indigenous population.

It has posed a threat to survival of local labourers due to controlled and unchecked influx of cheap labourers from other states, from Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

It has posed a threat to survival of small ethnic tribal groups like Aimol (2643/2001), Chothe (2675/2001), Koirao (1200/2001) ,Koireng (1056/2001), Monsang (1634/2001), Moyon (1,710/2001), Ralte (110/2001), Salhte (311 2001).

It is therefore proposed that the Constitution of India may specifically mention to protect the rights, identity, customs, culture, traditions, religion, land, language, script, mineral resources of indigenous people of Manipur.

5. All indigenous religions of the Manipur may be recognized by the Government of India

The Government of India presently lists Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Budhism in the Census records of India and nothing is mentioned about the indigenous religions of Manipur like Sanamahi Pakhangba which is one of the oldest religions in South East Asia with a sizable population.

Similarly, Kabuis and Marams have indigenous religions. All these religions may be recognized by the Government of India .

6. The Manipuri script (Meitei Mayek) should be included in the coins and currency bank notes.

Since 20 August 1992 Manipuri Language has become the first Tibeto Burman language to receive recognition as a schedule VIII lan- guage of the Government of India. The Manipuri language (Meiteilon) has it own script.

Now after painstaking research, the alphabets have been finalized. Only very few Nations in the world have their own scripts. This script should be respected and given due recognition by the Government of India.

It is therefore proposed that the Government of India may kindly consider including the Manipuri (Meitei Mayek) Script in the coins and currency notes of India without further loss of time .

7. The Constitution of India may provide for establishment of an Upper House (State Legislative Council) with a minimum of 40 members with provision for 10 nominated members.

Under the existing Indian Constitution, the Parliament is out of reach for a small State like Manipur. Even if Gopd himself is sent to the Indian Parliament from Manipur as a Lok Sabha MP, he will not be able to become Prime Minister of India. So our only consolation is the State Assembly and State Councils as provided under the Indian Constitution. Article 169 of the Indian Constitution empowers the Parliament to create a Legislative Council of state.

Further, we need experts and informed opinion on many matters of great importance to Manipur. We feel that the prominent academicians, professionals, intellectual groups, who will never contest elections should have a say in the planning, administration of the State at the legislative level. It is therefore proposed that the Indian Constitution be amended to create one Legislative Council of 40 members with provision for 10 nominated members for Manipur.

I appeal to all legislators to take these proposals into consideration while participating in the Manipur State Assembly debates and discussions.