Indigenous people are Scheduled Tribes, so are Meeteis

Dr Th Ranjit *

Anthropologically and historically the Meeteis settling in the central valley of Manipur and elsewhere are the original settlers /aborigines and one of the indigenous tribes of the state, belonging to the great Mongoloid race, like the Tangkhul, Kabui, Kom, Thangal, Mao, Maram, Vaiphei, etc. To say in other words, there is a close relation of blood and birth among these different ethnic communities or indigenous people inhabiting the state.

After the historical tragic incident of forced conversion of Meeteis into Hinduism during the reign of king Pamheiba / Garibaniwaz (1709-1748), they have been known as Aryan Hindu instead of Mongoloid Hindu. According to Supreme Court of India, in its verdict on January 5, 2011, it has been stated that Scheduled Tribes are the descendents of indigenous/aborigines/ original people of the country, and therefore, the Meetei community being bona fide indigenous people of the state, are also Scheduled Tribe of the country but yet to be recognized by the Government of India.

Actually, Meetei continued to be a major tribe in the official British records, till Manipur merged into Indian Union in 1949. In 1891 census, Manipuris (Meeteis) were recorded as forest tribe; 1901 census, main tribe and 1931 census, Hindu tribe but retaining their distinctive language and culture. But after the merger of Manipur into Indian Union and subsequent to the formation of new Republic of India on 26th January, 1950, the indigenous or tribal status of the Meetei was abruptly dropped and the Meetei was enlisted in the general caste/category, due to unholy influence of some Manipuri Hindu fanatics and some political leaders having vested interests and the so called scholars of that time.

Consequently, the social chasm between valley people and hill people that was created in 18th century when the former was converted into Hinduism, was further deepened due to the categorization of the people of the State as General, ST and SC by the constitution of India, over and above the British policy of divide and rule between hills and plains that came after 1891.

Since the Manipur valley was formed from a big lake in the geologic past due to the siltation of organic matters and sediments from the surrounding hill ranges, is very fertile and very suitable for agricultural activities for a long time. In fact, agricultural produces of this small fertile valley districts are largely contributing to the livelihood of the people of the state, both hill and plain.

But, this small portion of arable land occupying about 4% of the total geographical area of the state, is giving shelters and foods to about 70% of the total population of the state- both indigenous and non-indigenous. Unfortunately this so important plain area of the state, peopled mostly by the Meeteis, is not protected by the Indian Constitution.

That is, any person in India can purchase or own land in this so precious land of the state. In the hill districts, on the contrary, no people belonging to the general category/OBC can buy land and settle there as the areas are protected under Scheduled-V / Article 342(1) of the Indian Constitution. As we all know, the fertile land of the valley districts, good for agricultural purposes, are gradually dwindling due to the faulty policy of the government, procurement of lands by rich people and businessmen in the name of urbanization for construction of buildings, hotels, educational institutions, industrial establishments, stone crushings, brickfields, for expansion of roads, airport and railways by the government, etc.

It is feared that there will be hardly any land left for agricultural activities to meet the growing food grains demands, employment avenues of our Indigenous people in the fields in rural areas and the like. The situation will be grimmer when Indian Railways reaches Imphal and Trans Asian Highway passes through the State in the next few years that the lands owned by poverty stricken and unsaved majority Meetei population and other indigenous people/Scheduled Tribes will fall prey to the land hungry business sharks and multimillionaires when they wanted to establish their business centres.

In this way, if the valley areas of the state are not given any safeguard or protection by Indian Constitution, constitutionally unprotected lands of the state peopled mostly by Meeteis but producing the maximum agricultural yields of the state will be in the hands of the outsiders or non-indigenous people and as a result of which Meeteis, in particular and other indigenous people in general will face unprecedented problems in terms of food security, employment avenues, business opportunities, demographic imbalance, etc.

If the government and people are sensible and sincere enough to utilize our small fertile lands in the valley judiciously and purposely, we can save our land, identity, culture and future generations from being exploited by greedy non-indigenous people, who are more skilled, hard working, organized and resourceful than indigenous inhabitants.

Therefore, in order to save the Meetei in the valley and other indigenous people of the state or sons of soil from possible exploitation in near future by ever increasing population of people coming from outside, the valley of Manipur should be protected under the Indian Constitution as is done in the hill districts of the State. Restoration of ST status to Meetei community, one of the indigenous people of the state will save our fertile valley which is producing foods, mainly for the population of the state, on one hand and the Indigenous Meetei population from being gradual extinction or degeneration in the next 3-4 decades in his natural habitat, on the other.

Not only this, Meetei can continue to live on, generation after generation, in his ancestral land with his old folks who are living mostly in the hills, in harmony, ethnic equality and peace. Over and above this, Meetei can compete comfortably with the rest of the country in central sectors – education, jobs, etc. in proper platforms for their rights and opportunities, to the envy of other indigenous people of the country, as enshrined in Indian Constitution and bring laurels for the state – hill and valley people.

In fine, the realization of Meeteis, that they were in higher social status than ST/SC because of their being in General category was nothing but a false pride, is paving a great step forward in fostering peace, development and unity among the indigenous people of the state. This historic event of Meetei’s returning to ST status in near future because of his being indigenous people and recognised by Govt. of India should not be assumed as down grading of social status but a genuine desire to mingle once again in their natural habitat for living in peace, progress and happiness hereafter with his consanguineous relatives, who are known as “Scheduled Tribe” under the Indian Constitution but as “Indigenous People” by the Supreme Court of India and UNO.

This new move to change in the social status of Meeteis from General to Scheduled Tribe should be seen as ‘Home-Coming’, and should not be seen to grab land, power and quota of our present ST brethren, as some myopic and un-educated people think wrongly. It is purely to save Meeteis in the valley, who are actively and successfully playing trump card of Big Brother to save Manipur since long time in the history of the state.