Present lull before the storm ? Serious concerns over influx
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 19 2018 -

The present may just be the proverbial lull before the storm.

To the All Manipur Students’ Union, Manipur (AMSU), the incessant influx of non-locals into the State is a cause of great concern while to the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System it is alarming.

Both should be more than enough to wake up the Government to the reality at hand.

Delay passing or coming out with a Bill to check or regulate the inflow of non-locals into the State and Manipur may see a repeat of the days of 2015 and 2016 when Imphal and the valley areas were literally paralysed for days on end with school kids coming out of their class rooms to brave the water canons.

What happened after the State Assembly passed the three Bills on August 31, 2015 must still be fresh in the mind of the Government and surely no one would like to see a repeat of the past and this is why the Government needs to take everybody along while drafting any new Bill.

The CSOs of the hills and the valley too need to sit down so that whatever the Government comes out with is equally acceptable to all. Obviously the Government cannot afford to see another Bill which may be dubbed ‘anti-tribal’ by any section of the people.

The concern raised over the incessant influx of non-locals is understandable for the concern is real, very real and if needed measures are not taken up, the danger of the local people being swamped by non-locals is a distinct possibility and this is something which the Government should wake up to.

On the other hand, the people too need to seriously study why Manipur continues to attract so many people from other parts of the country and this is where The Sangai Express is constrained to repeat a point which has been pointed out in this column numerous times.

Unfortunate it is, but there is nothing much to suggest that the local people have seriously mulled over this question. Stop creating vacuum in the job market.

As long as the vacuum remains others will naturally rush in to fill up the vacuum and this is what has been happening.

And it is expected that the non-locals will try to fit into the local set up by hook or crook and this is one reason why cases have emerged of the non-locals adopting local surnames or surnames which sound local.

As the JCILPS has said on more than one occasion, there are localities in Imphal where the number of non-locals may out-number the locals soon if corrective measures are not taken up and this is a serious concern.

Uprooted in one’s own home and nothing could be more worrisome than this. The point is, if the large scale influx of non-locals is to be checked then the people and the Government need to work together.

Let there be a Bill to regulate the inflow of non-locals and at the same time let the people ensure that there is no vacuum in the job market (manual works) which will attract others.

On the other hand, the hill people too need to come to the point that it is the valley which needs some sort of a protection for the hills already have Constitutional protection and non-tribals cannot buy landed properties in the hills.

The point that any Bill passed to regulate the influx of non-locals should bring all the local people together and not become a dividing force should not blow over the head of anyone.