Need of the hour: ILP

Richard Thokchom *

Sit-In and Rally to protest Killing of Student by Police firing and pro-ILPS on July 12 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

The idea of writing this article came up in a conversation with a friend. He was worried and petri-fied that innocent school/college going students are taking the streets. Apparently, a student who was demonstrating against the state government's blind eye on the implementation of "Inner line permit" was killed on June 8, 2015 by the security forces in Manipur. I feel the situation of the parents who lost their child in such incidents, be it the "Pebam Chittaranjan in 2004 or Sapam Robinhood in 2015". Questions are being raised as to why students take an active role in mainstream political issues.

Is the question sound?

India is a democratic country and as a legal citizen of this nation we are bestowed the rights under the Indian Constitution to support the protest – which may be justified or unjustified. It has been held that the right to hold a meeting or a demonstration involves the Constitutional right of every citizen – of assembly under Article 19(l)(a), of expression under Article 19(l)(b).

As a matter of fact students' organisation around the world have taken part in political rallies and have been quite successful. For instance, the 'Tinanmen Square' protest where at least one million people, mostly students seeking democratic reform, had peacefully occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square for seven weeks when the Chinese military unexpectedly rolled in tanks to clear them out. Recent happenings in Manipur is more or less parallel with the Tinanmen Square protest.

If we cannot express ourselves against the state then that freedom is an illusion. The idea of social movement is a conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change some as-pect of their society. People from all over the world have protested in similar fashion demanding the state to bring about a change. In Manipur, it was no different.

India and its outdated laws

India as a nation has a long standing history of following outdated laws that were made by the colonisers keeping in mind the socio- economic- political conditions at that point of time. In the sixty- five odd years of its existence as an independent nation, it has not lived up to their dreams as the world largest democracy. Not every citizen mind is without fear and not everyone can hold their heads high. This is because walls of conventional and traditional laws have repeatedly broken up peace and free will in the society. Lets take for example, section 377 of the Indian penal code that criminalises sexual intercourse between two individuals of the same sex, who are adults and have an able mind, and who know what is right for them. What can we expect from a country where the state decides the sexuality of the citizens, let alone women empowerment.

The difficulty is not in accepting new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones. Laws that were made during the British period have no significance and relevance in the contemporary society. Such laws should be repealed in the same way the infamous "sati prevention act" did in 1987. I think by merely implementing ILP in only three states of NE, it wouldn't serve the cause of protecting the indigenous people of that region.

ILP. why?

Inner line permit is an act implemented by the British in 1873 under the Bengal frontier regulation act. This act was an effort by the government to regulate the movements of their subjects to "pro-tected areas" and to protect the crown's interest in tea, oil and other natural resources of the state from anyone who could possibly create a rival business. Apparently, ILP is a two faced act, one serves for the welfare of the indigenous tribe and the other to protect the crown's interest. In the present day, the government in three north eastern(Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram) states where the ILP is practically implemented have been successful in keeping a tab on the influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Rohingya tribes from Myanmar who enter other states of India via Bangladesh.

However, indigenous people apart from the three NE states(Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh) have suffered because their land is not protected from migrants or illegal immigrants. We have seen and heard of riots in Assam which was an inevitable outcome of large illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into India, mostly Muslims, in search of employment and other economic benefits. The "Bodos" in Assam feel threatened because lands, job opportunities (public or private sector) , natural resources, etc are slowly but carefully taken away from their own hands by immigrants who traditionally doesn't belong to the state of Assam. There is an increasing change in the demography of the region and the inhabitants fear that they will be reduced to a minority in their own land. We may face a similar situation if ILP is not implemented in our state.

Social and cultural Identity

Manipur has a population of 25,70,390 out of which 60,037 are schedule caste and 7,41,141 sched-ule tribes. The rest consist of people who belong to the "general" category and "migrants/ immi-grants" who have acquired constitutional right to vote, thanks to our politicians and their vote-bank politics. Any Manipuris who are rational and love their motherland would demand for the implementation of ILP practically and not only on papers.

And I would like to see that happening in the near future as it would mean that our lands and properties can not be bought by outsiders or migrants as they would not be allowed to acquire any land in the entire state, which will eventually make the indigenous people the sole owner of the land. People may argue that this same people(Manipuris) buy land and establish their families in other parts of the country. To nullify that argument, lets compare a state like Bihar which has a population of 990 lakhs people as compared to 25,70,390 in Manipur. Being just 1/40th part of Bihar, Manipur wouldn't actually make signifiant disturbance had the whole population been in Bihar. We need protection from immigrants or migrants because unfortunately we are relatively a minority community and it means that we need a platform where we as a society needs to preserve our cultural identity without any interference. ILP will serve as that platform.

Manipuri as a society in general and meetei in particular was a victim of Hindu vaishnavism and we are at fault for incorporating such multi denominational traditions in our religious rituals. If the government wants to help, preserve the cultural identity of our state then the government can at least try implement it in some parts of the state on an experimental basis and then see whether the ILP can be replicated for the whole of the state or not.

Socio- Economic and Unemployment

Taking a look at the employment related problems faced by the state, it is clear that only few can get employed in government sector and not the masses, which is sad. However, with the implementation of ILP, the masses can take up manual works and other business related activities that the outsiders currently have a strong hold on. Also outsiders with an Inner line permit doesn't have a right to acquire domicile certificates. Which means local youths and old alike, can take up manual jobs no matter how big or small their job is as long they serve their family and live a happy life, knowing that they have earn their bread and butter honestly. Factories and business related activities established by outsiders did little to solve the problem of unemployment of the indigenous peoples.

Rather they are making it hard for the local entrepreneurs and industrialists who can not compete because of their rich family background. Also, undocumented migrants/ immigrants do not pay taxes and indirectly increase the financial burden on the state. Migrants/ immigrants enter the state with an ideology of working at lesser wages than those of the indigenous ones, and this issue has also resulted in an economic crisis for the region which is mirrored in the loss of job opportunities for the locals. However, one can not be very sure that everything will fall in line once the act is implemented. The act can to an extend prevent the influx of migrants/ immigrants and keep a tab on them but the act won't be sufficient enough to protect the indigenous people and natural resources from the real exploiters, the bourgeois with their political connections will have the capability to loot the state.

Socio- political and vote banks politics.

Politicians and bureaucrats tend to show their soft side when it comes to migrants/ immigrants. Political parties blame one another for the change in demography. In fact each political party in the past has tried to accuse the other of playing vote bank politics but the irony is that every party has a fair share towards the contribution. Post election and once the results are declared, it is no longer a problem for them but for the Border security force. There are instances where a political leader in rallies supported a group of illegal immigrants only because they belong to a particular religious group.

I don't think it is justified to do so because in the long run they will demand for a greater reservation in the society, like a quota in government jobs or education. Irrespective of the religion of the migrants, they shouldn't be given any chance that benefits them over the legal citizens. Migration or Immigration in Indian context is a complex structure and measures in terms of policies implemented by the government to control illegal migration are inadequate in the present scenario. India is the only place in the world where the vote banks have a larger role than the integrity and solidarity of the nation.

Assam is the finest example of political parties showcasing their determination to hold on power, even if that means citizens faced aggression due to influx of migrants or illegal immigrants. Lack of political will along with the addition of political parties taking up different issues that only suit their political ends leads to the absence of political consensus on the issue. Supporting illegal immigrants as a means to an end by politicians will eventually only have a negative impact on the indigenous people. If politicians fails to solve problems related to migration, immigration than it may turn out to be the reason of constant turmoil and a challenge to the peace and tranquility of the nation or the state.

People of Manipur should not take law in their own hands and should not involve in hate crimes against people from the rest of the country who are still in Manipur. Implementing ILP will surely prevent unwanted violence. Having said so, I am not of the opinion that ILP is going to achieve eternal peace in Manipur but strongly believe that it will act as a shield of protection from socio-economic and political abuse until we as a state can equally compete with other developed states.