'ST status to Meetei/Meitei community is long overdue'
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 25 2021:
A consultative meeting jointly organised by Karbi Anglong Manipuri Cultural Association; Ima Meira Paibi Apunba Lup, Bokajan; All Assam Manipuri Students' Union, Bokajan and Manipuri Village Development Committee, Kawaram with World Meetei Convention noted that 'ST status to Meetei community is long overdue' .
The meeting held at Bokajan in the attendance of CSO leaders from across Hojai, Karbi Anglong and Guwahati acknowledged that the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Meetei/Meitei community is very much important to help protect the culture, tradition and ethnic identity of the Meetei/Meitei living in any State of India.
The meeting further noted that unless Meetei/Meitei is included in the ST list, Meetei/ Meitei shall not be able to demand the same in other States such as Assam and Tripura where the community has been living for centuries, said World Meetei Council in a press release.
The CSO leaders present in the meeting also requested Chief Minister N Biren to send necessary recommendations for the inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the ST list of the Indian Constitution, it added.
It may be mentioned that the World Meetei Convention and other CSOs have submitted memoranda regarding their demand for inclusion to the Prime Minister, Manipur CM and Assam CM.