Sit-in presses for ST status
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 04 2022:
Urging the State Government to initiate necessary process for enlisting Meitei/Meetei community under the Constitution's Scheduled Tribe category, another sit-in-protest was staged today at Thangmeiband Khomdram Selungba Leikai.
The protest demonstration was organised by the Khwai Lamphel Women United Development Organisation, Thangmeiband.
Speaking at the protest site, STDCM Women Wing convenor and Khwai Lamphel Women United Development Organisation, Thangmeiband secretary RK Tharaksana pointed out that it has been almost 10 years since the STDCM launched different modes of agitation demanding enlistment of the Meitei/Meetei in the ST category.
Although the movement was suspended for around two years on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, the same movement has now been resumed at different localities and market places, she observed.
It is a matter of grave concern that the State Government is still refusing to do the needful, she decried.
The movement is necessitated by the fact that the Meiteis/Meeteis are no longer in a position to safeguard their identity and their own birthplace after Manipur was merged into the Indian Union and the community was listed in general category, Tharaksana said.
The movement for ST status is basically about extending a Constitutional safeguard to the microscopic community, she asserted.
Hills constitute 90 per cent of the State's geographical area while the valley area is limited to the remaining 10 per cent.
As any citizen of India is entitled to settle in any part of the country, a large number of people coming from outside the State have made their settlements in the valley as hill areas are protected from such incursion by a Constitutional provision.
As a result, the living space of the Meiteis/Meeteis is shrinking day by day.
How long the community can survive under such conditions has become a serious question, Tharaksana said.
She said that the rate of influx seen today would multiply manifold once Imphal finds its place on the railway map of India.
By then, Meiteis/Meeteis would not be able to protect their identity or their birthplace, she said.
The valley area can also be protected from incursions if it is declared as a 'scheduled land' like the hill areas, the STDCM Women Wing secretary asserted.
She maintained that they would carry on the movement until the Meitei/Meetei are granted a Constitutional safeguard.