ST demand gathers tempo
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 01 2015: The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) staged a sit-in-protest demanding inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the Scheduled Tribe list at Keishampat Lairembi community hall today.

A public discussion on the issue was also held as part of the sit-in-protest.

Later, STDCM members took out a rally upto the CM bungalow and submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi.

They also met the Chief Minister and shared their views on the issue with him.

The memorandum said that the committee has been pressing the demand to the Government since 2012 .

On May 29, 2013, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs directed the Government of Manipur to forward a specific recommendation along with the ethnography and latest socio-economic survey report of Meitei/Meetei for the proposal of inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the ST list.

However, the State Government has not sent any survey report to the Centre despite repeated requests from the committee, the memorandum said.

Census report of 1891 recorded Manipuri (Meitei) as one of the forest tribes of the North East region, the memorandum said and added that Census report of Assam province 1901 and 1931 also mentioned Meetei/Meitei as tribals.

It further said that the 10 lakh odd Meitei Meetei deserve a Constitutional safeguard to preserve and protect their ancestral land, distinct identity, traditions, culture and language to allay the fear of becoming minority or extinct in their own land.

Allegations by some sections of the society that the move is purely for some benefits under reservation/quota system is totally unfounded and it is just a wild speculation without having in-depth knowledge of the issue.

On the contrary, the vision of the committee is to bring the hills and plain people closer and strengthen the emotional integrity based on a cohesive ethnic and social equality, the memorandum said.

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