Don't wait for mass agitation: STDCM to State Govt
ST tag demand raises head again
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 09 2022: It is not right for the State Government to wait for the Meitei/Meetei community to launch an uncontrollable mass agitation before it sends a recommendation to the Central Government for enlistment of the particular community in the Scheduled Tribe category.

This was stated by STDCM working president Laishram Lokendra at the International Day of the World's Indigenous People 2022 observed today at Ima Khunthokhanbi Shanglen, DM College campus.

The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) has been demanding enlistment of Meitei/Meetei community in the ST category for the last 10 years or so, Lokendra said.

Even though the Central Government asked the State Government in 2013 to send due recommendation and necessary documents for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category, the State Government has-not yet sent any recommendation, he lamented.

He then urged the State Government to send a recommendation along with necessary documents for enlistment of Meitei/Meetei community in the ST category without any further delay.

Although the indigeneity of Meitei/Meetei cannot be contested, the community cannot be officially called indigenous people for they have not been enlisted in the ST category till date, Lokendra said.

According to Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), indigenous people are the ones who have been recognised by a Government as a tribe and enjoy some sort of protection under the Government, he said.

Should a particular community be recognised as indigenous people, they must be recognised as such in their own country even if they are not listed in the ST category, he continued.

However, the Constitution of India does not have the words such as 'indigenous people'.

As such, only the communities which are listed in the St category are given Constitutional protection, he said.

For all these reasons, it is essential to get Meitei/Meetei enlisted in the ST category in order to achieve the status of indigenous people technically.

Only then, Meitei/Meetei community would be recognised as an indigenous people at the international level, Lokendra asserted.

Meitei/Meetei people are now facing a very grim future and they are staring at the possibility of becoming a minority in their own ancestral land and ultimate extinction, he warned.

The demand for enlistment in ST category is about restoration of Meitei/Meetei people's status recorded in history.

The census record of 1891 described Meitei/ Meetei as 'Forest Tribe' .

Again, the census records of 1901 and 1931 described Meitei/Meetei as 'Main tribe of Manipur' and 'Holy Hindu tribe retaining their own culture and language' respectively, the STDCM working president said.

Given these records, Meitei/Meetei should have been listed in the ST category in the 1950 census record but the community was somehow not listed in the ST category, he added.

STDCM chief patron M Naodalenkhomba, STDCM president Dhiraj Yumnam and Thangmeiband United Club president Leishangthem Pratap attended the function as chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.

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