Why the wait for ILP ?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 29 2012 -
Migration of people from one place to another in search of favourable condition for living or livelihood is a global phenomenon being witnessed since the dawn of human civilization and it will continue to do so in days to come. But it becomes a problem when there is unabated immigration at one particular place or region.
Illegal immigration can have enormous demographic and social implications, capable of creating tensions and conflict not only between the immigrants and the natives but also among the native populations.
Furthermore, uninterrupted inflow of illegal immigrants can have negative impact of far greater magnitude in smaller states like Manipur which are struggling to ensure adequate provisions for shelter, health, education and other civic necessities to its people.
To avoid such catastrophic situations, some sorts of regulations have always been mooted or put in place to check and control illegal immigration. However, lack of political commitment always acted as a serious stumbling block towards ensuring proper implementation of such regulations.
Despite knowing the long term implications of unchecked immigration, politicians ignore the issue as it would amount to losing their vote banks, and today there is increasing evidences of illegal migrants being included in the voters' lists.
Behind this backdrop, Federation of Regional Indigenous Society (FREINDS), which has been campaigning for reintroduction of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Manipur, has come up with the startling revelation that the population of migrant workers has surpassed indigenous Meiteis in Manipur.
Quoting figures from the Census Report, 2011, FREINDS pointed out that the number of migrant workers in Manipur has reached 7,40,488, which is 13,103 heads higher than the population of indigenous Meeteis, excluding the Schedule Castes.
Though some people have questioned the authenticity of this figure, a drastic change in the demographic composition of Manipur from the number of migrant workers increasing by leaps and bounds over the last few decades cannot be denied.
This is the precise reason why FRIENDS and other organizations have raised the demand for re-introduction of Inner Line Permit System which was in place in Manipur until its abolition by an administrative order of the then Chief Commissioner Himmat Singh on November 18, 1950.
As FREINDS had also pointed out earlier, the demand for re-introduction of Inner Line Permit system in Manipur should not be seen as a move to repel migrant workers or prevent them from entering Manipur, but for regulating incoming and outgoing of non-local people.
In fact, Government of India has deemed it fit to make arrangement for similar restrictive regimes to regulate movement of both Indian Nationals as well as foreigners in certain areas located near the international border.
The State Government and more particularly the elected representatives should under this fact.
* 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.