ATSUM places 5-point charter of demands, warns of agitations
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Lamka, August 08, 2014:
Submitting a 5-point charter of demands concerning the grievances of the hill people of Manipur to the state government, All Tribal Student's Union, Manipur (ATSUM) has warned the government of launching various forms of agitations, if its demands were not met.
In a statement, the student body said in the course of its journey, the student body has confronted with lots of problems and compounded against all odds while fighting for their rights enshrined in the Constitution of India.
ATSUM maintained that the main cause for the never ending deprivation and non-functional of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) has been the fear of people's representatives of losing favour from political bosses.
Saying that the root cause of the discontentment, chaos and social fragmentation will continue for decades, if Article 371(C) is not implemented in letter and spirit, ATSUM warned the government of launching different forms of protest in Manipur if the said Article is not implemented properly at the earliest possible.
ATSUM placed a charter of demands including regularisation of contract graduate teachers of 2006 batch, proper infrastructure for government school in the hill districts, and early setting up of B.Ed centres in the hills.
Regarding the health sectors, ATSUM demanded the government to invoke the power conferred under Art.
309 of the Indian constitution for preventing artificial bankruptcy of professionals in Manipur health services, and to strictly adhere to regional characters in matters of admission and recruitment of jobs in RIMS.
The students' body asked the government to reinstate 100 rosters or at least place of reservation of ST in Sl no.2 of the existing 200 point rosters of Manipur Reservation of vacancies in post and services for scheduled tribe and scheduled cast.
Urging the government to ensure proper functioning of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC), the statement of ATSUM pressed the Governor of Manipur to discharge his special responsibilities under 371(C) of the Indian constitution.
The statement added that the union will oppose the NLUP 2014 that infringes the tribal land directly or indirectly.