Tribal students denounce MHRD's 'plan to merge IGNTU with MU'
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 05 2018:
The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Students' Union (IGNTUSU) Regional Campus Manipur has strongly condemned an alleged attempt to 'merge' the tribal university with the Manipur University.
The student community is aggrieved to learn from a letter sent by Minister, HRD, Government of India to MP Outer II Manipur, of'exploring feasibility to merge the tribal university with Manipur University', said the union in a-statement today.
The tribal student community is against this "exploration" which is directly against the tribal rights, said the union in its statement signed by its president Siliangbou Malangmai and general secretary Mangvung Benjamin Haokip, refuting the reply of the Union Minister to MP Outer II Manipur dated October 4.IGNTUSU also voiced its grievances over the letter of the Minister which allegedly claims that the construction of a sports complex (indoor and outdoor) has been completed.
The claim made by the Minister is 'false and baseless' and the 'sports complex is far from completion', said the union.
It also refuted another claim in the letter of the Minister that the existing campus is just 25 square kms.
The campus is in fact 35 square kms, it said and called upon all tribal political leaders, CSOs, students' apex bodies of the tribal communities to stand with the union.
IGNTUSU also called on the BJP led State Government to clarify its stand on the said issue at the earliest.
It will be forced to take up any democratic means of agitations if the authority concerned failed to clarify at the earliest, cautioned the union.