KSO, ANSAM flout Govt-JCILPS deal
Source: The Sangai Express
Kangpokpi, August 29 2015 :
The Kuki Students' Organi-zation Ghqs and the All Naga Students' Association Manipur (ANSAM) have spiritedly refused to accept the agreement signed between Government of Manipur and leaders of JCILPS on Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015 and Manipur Land Revenue & Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2015 today.
A joint press statement signed by Seiboi Haokip and Alexander Huten, General Secretary of KSO-Ghqs and ANSAM respectively said that any provisions in the Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015 that affect the rights of the hill people should be removed.
"The Act cannot be extended to the whole state of Manipur as stated in Sub-Section (2) of Section 1 of the Act", asserted the two apex tribal student bodies.
Questioning the intention of the Government of Mani-pur (GoM) in using terms such as "small hill states" to define the state of Manipur as mentioned in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, the two student bodies lamented that there has always been a distinct demarcation between the valley and the hill areas in administration even before the inception of the Manipur State and therefore, the term "hill" should be omitted from the Act.
While maintaining that the hill areas come under the purview of Article 371C of the Constitution of India, KSO and ANSAM stressed that the status quo of the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960 should be honoured and maintained.
Calling upon all the legislatures from the hill areas to stand up and assert the rights of the tribals as empowered by Article 371C of the Constitution of India, the student bodies also impressed upon all the members of Manipur Legislative Assembly to appreciate the situation of all the communities living in the present State of Manipur.
Meanwhile, the two tribal student apex bodies also warned to take up their own course of action in case the Government of Manipur fails to respond positively to their call while holding the Government of Manipur responsible for all the consequences.