Presenting the Draft Bill to the people : Out PMP in MRNLP
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 12 2016 -
Out Protection of Manipur People Bill
(PMP) and in Manipur Regulation of Non-
Local People Act (MRNLP).
This is a
development but the matter of greater
import is whether New Delhi will give the
nod and get the Bill enacted or not. More
importantly will the new Bill be acceptable
to all the people ?
The latter question is
important given the fact that the three
Bills which were passed by the State
Assembly on August 31 last year had torn
the people apart widely.
The bodies of the
nine people killed at Churachandpur in
protest against the three Bills are still
lying in state and it is not clear when the
last rites of the departed souls will be
performed.
Significantly the Government
this time has realised the infeasibility and
probably the primary reason of the last
three Bills and has now kept the base year
of defining a local person at 1972 and not
1951 as was the case in the earlier Bill.
This is obviously a significant improvement
from the last Bill, for remember an RTI
application filed by a social worker had
revealed that the National Register of
Citizens of 1951 was not available with
the State Government. Keeping the base
year at 1972 is a move in the right direc-
tion.
Even the Government of Assam had
to move to 1971 or 1972, as the earlier
base year was not feasible. Another sig-
nificant development is the decision of the
Government to invite public opinion on the
Draft Bill on or before August 24.
This is the reason why
The Sangai
Express
had carried the full text of the
Draft Bill in its August 11 edition of the
paper. Let everyone study the Draft Bill
and accordingly express their opinion.
The
primary agenda of coming out with the
Draft Bill is obviously to secure the future
of the local people and the land.
This is
an issue where the local people should
come together and join hands. If there is
anything in the Draft Bill which is not clear
then let the people spell it out and ac-
cordingly submit their observation. The
importance of the proposed new legisla-
tion should not be lost on anyone.
It is
about the future of the land and the
people and let everyone come forward and
be a part of the process of drafting the
new legislation.
The Churachandpur JAC
too should study the Draft Bill minutely
and see if there is any point which may
be construed as going against the interest
of any particular community.
Let everyone
remove the blinkers from their eyes and
look at things objectively. Absolutely
makes no sense to drive the local people
apart on an issue which is all about pro-
tecting the interests of the local people.
The issue should be understood objec-
tively.
The Government has come out with
its Draft Bill and it is only right that the
people too respond responsibly.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.