Ethnicity & Tribalism
– a hindrance to Mongoloid people's transformational development -

Elder T Haokip *

Lushai (Mizo) community presentationat the Chin-kuki Group Folk Dance Festival on May 23 2009

By and large the hill people of North East India, who belong to the Mongoloid race are listed in the Constitution of India as Scheduled Tribes; known in common parlance as tribal. There are several divisions, sub-divisions and minor divisions of Indian Mongoloids living in North East India and an overwhelming majority of the said divisions- except some comparatively advanced communities like the Meiteis of Manipur, Ahoms of Assam, etc, are in the Scheduled List as tribal.

In spite of this artificial separation the existence of a strong feeling of affinity among the various Mongoloid people of North East India can be seen on closer observation. Economically, they are much below the National average.

Ignorance of one's potentialities and the bountiful natural resources in their own surroundings, absence of motivational program and lack of skill for gainful and more remunerative employment opportunities are simply the hallmarks of such tribal families living in the far flung and remote areas of the North Eastern States.

At this juncture, Government's intervention in the form of MGNEGA came to the tribal people like a rescue force sent to save occupants of a sinking boat. In spite of certain loopholes in its planning and implementation stages due to reasons, some of which seemed avoidable and some are not that easy to avoid instantly, it has brought about radical changes in the physical outlook of village setup through laying out paved village roads spread with singling with proper drainage and culverts, making it jeep able during dry seasons of the year.

Due to slow receptivity of these tribal villages, in spite of an all out effort to give proper orientation by Government machinery the qualities of work undertaken are, in most cases, far from being satisfactory. Whatever the case might have been, changes have come to our tribal and rural villages. At this stage it is necessary to revisit the whole system of planning, implementation and release of fund and monitoring procedures if Government's ambitious plan of Vision of 2020 is to be achieved.

This being an excellent development program, District administration should be allowed to decide sustainable programs, there must be scope for entertaining suggestion from the public besides holding open discussion sessions preferably twice a year - at planning and implementation stages at District level with flexibility. Honesty and sincerity at the district level functionary should percolate down to the village level monitoring cells. This wonderful program needs extension achievement of the vision 2020.

Ethnicity & Tribalism:

When we have so many ills confronting our region it is quite unfortunate that the Mongoloid people occupying the portions of land known as the seven Sister states, is yet to appreciate the beauty of standing together in an effort to confront three big enemies - Isolation from mainland India, Hunger and hatred and ethnicity. Once and for long period of time ours was a peaceful region. Tempted by the enormous wealth of India, the East India Company, on the initiative of 24 merchants of London with 125 shareholders, was established on 24th September 1599.

The speed with which the EIC grew in amassing wealth and influence finally led to the direct involvement of the British crown for permanent establishment of the British rule in India. The disintegration of Mughal Empire after the death of Aurangzeb in February 1707, defeat of the allied army at Buxar on October 22, 1764, paved the way for further annexation of the divided Indian princes by the British crown without much difficulty.

In spite of the failure on the part of Indian princes to give a befitting resistance to the ever advancing British hegemony against the Indian soil, the Kukis of Manipur rose up and fought against the British for 2 years from 1917-1919 protecting the Independent Hill country/the Kuki Country, also known as no man's land. When subdued through brute military force of the British crown, the brave Kuki warriors preferred to be sent to jail and not surrendered. They simply gave up the war because they had lost their heart and home and spent out food and ammunition.

History would testify to the fact that no other forces from the region dared challenge the British hegemony except the independent loving Kukis, who valued their sovereignty more than anything else. This being a historical fact no explanation is considered necessary here.

This incident recorded as Kuki Uprising became an important factor that compelled the British crown to revise its administrative policy in the North Eastern region of India in particular. The signing of merger agreement by the Maharaja of Manipur has been deemed exclusively for the valley area only and but not the Kuki occupied areas as the same was stiffly opposed by them.

In spite of the Kuki people occupying such unique position in the History of India's Independent movement, Manipur and India miserably failed to understand the unique history of the Kukis in defending the land. A proper revisit of the past is the need of the hour. To me this is nothing but an act of sheer tribalism.

TRIBE/TRIBALISM : Tribe is a stage of development of all human races and sub races. It is not necessary to remain as tribal just to enjoy Constitutional support. When you become good enough to conduct your own affairs systematically and honorably, then you consider yourself not a tribal.

Tribalism denotes the quality of development when they are in the tribal stage of development. The action of a race or a group of people when it undermine the dignity of other people group intentionally or out of mere prejudice, it is nothing but tribalism of the core. The fact that each group of people of the Mongoloid race of NE India, fighting for a homeland in its own unit, disregarding the welfare of the other groups is nothing but an act of tribalism.

A closer analysis reveals that the simple reason for taking up of arms by restless youths of the region stemmed mainly from a number of factors:

a) Feelings of isolation and insecurity of one group against another bigger group or between one tribal group against unrestricted migrants from other states or countries,
b) The need for preservation and protection of their own identity, culture and economic security. Looking at its strategic geopolitical condition, its fragile socio-economic status, and smallness of its population, had there been a strong democratic expression of such common problems ours with regional character there is no valid reason New Delhi should not listen to the genuine aspirations of the Region as a prospered NE would speed up "the shining India" slogan and could have avoided so many unnecessary bloodsheds because of inter tribal rivalry emanating mostly from divide and rule policy; a legacy we have inherited from the British regime.

The problem of socio-political unrest of NE India therefore, need to be seen as a struggle for poverty eradication, or in other words, a desire to see the region free from economic exploitation, ignorance about opportunities offered by the 21st century, tribalism and ethnicity, the apparent absence of political will motivated by true concern for the protection of Tribal rights against encroachment from various angles like uninterrupted inflow of illegal immigrants, (Tripura for example) the near total absence of tangible and concerted efforts to pursue a vision that would take the gen-next safe to a secure future, the near total absence of industrial undertakings, lack of incentives and training opportunities to equip our youth with time tested skills for self-employment, frustration due to ever increasing number of unemployed youth seemed to have given birth to insurgency. Central and state Government need to evaluate their own performances on how sincere they are in the matter of solving issues confronting the Mongoloid people of North East India in general and that of the Hill valley divide issues of Manipur in particular.

A land is blessed when its rulers rule with justice, equality and without discrimination. Narrowing down our discussion on more than 30 long years pending inauguration issues of Sadar Hills, what have been said and observed mostly by many leaders and eminent scholars come under "lack of balance approach" because of not revealing the truth.

The Kuki are for peaceful co-existence for mutual benefit. Look at Moreh, Churachandpur, Sadar Hills where Meitei, Naga and Kuki co-exist. Government of India need to do a sincere self-introspection on how sincere it has been in dealing with issues involving the future of Kukis, Nagas and the Meiteis, which indeed demand sincere efforts with strong political will.

At the same time, the need for involvement of sincere mediators; senior citizens; think tanks; representing all the communities involved that can go and listen to the stake holders seems to be the need of the hour. Openness on the part of GOI and the non-state actors may eventually pave the way for identification of the issues at hand and work towards finding out a mutually beneficial and acceptable solutions.

Constructive ideas emanating from some prominent senior citizens belonging to the Naga, Kuki and Meitei participants of the just concluded 3 days workshop on 'Conflict Transformation' organized by Peace Coalition of North East India, Manipur chapter sound quite optimistic as the need for voluntary involvement of senior citizens for peace initiative was frankly shared.