A review of Hawaibam Biren Singh's Social Geography of Manipur

By Y Imo Singh *

Hawaibam Biren's book is basically a comparative geographical study in the area of socio-economic and cultural change among the tribal and non-tribal people living in Manipur. The study reveals the relative upliftment of the people during the post independence era. Despite the developmental programmes undertaken by the Government of India since 1951, the general development of the scheduled tribes and scheduled caste so far does not give much significant impact on the socio-economic life of the majority of the people belonging to these classes.

They are still amongst the most disadvantaged sections in the society. They continue to suffer from poverty and deprivation than the rest and thus distinct differences have existed between the tribals and the non-tribals. From this perspective, a comparative account of socio-cultural and economic transformation between the two groups have been considered to be significant in determining the degree of change and a future course of action to achieve the national goal.

The author identifies the non-tribal group as comprising sections such as Meiteis, Brahmins, Muslims, Nepalis, Bengalis and other scheduled caste communities. Meitei community constitutes about two-thirds of the population. Except for the urban dwellers, the rest of the population attains social, cultural and economic developments at different rates.

The author has certain objectives for taking up the work and they are worked out on the basis of empirical observations. He tries to analyse the comparative economic patterns of the two groups, the basic amenities provided by the Government, the socio-cultural changes, the degree of political consciousness among the groups, the industrial potentiality of the State in relation to the overall transformation of the people, the infrastructural facilities provided during the plan periods and their impacts and the points that might be enforced for radical transformation and the socio-cultural integration of the people of the State within the frame work of its existing socio-economic base.

The book is divided into ten chapters. The first chapter is the introductory chapter. The second and third chapters deal with the physical and historical bases of the area. The second chapter gives general information on the geology, relief, drainage, climate and natural vegetation of the area. The third chapter discusses the definition and the origin of the tribes and also the origin of the Meities which is mostly based on the British records. Also it gives a brief history of Manipur based on the British records.

Also it gives a brief history of Manipur based on a certain Manipuri Puya and the State Royal Chronicle. The history of Manipur before 33 AD is portrayed in the book as less cohesive and less palatable mixture of history myths and geology. There have been changes in the population and the settlement patterns in the region. The fourth chapter deals with the changing patterns of population and settlement giving emphasis on its growth, distributional pattern, density, occupational structure etc.

Enough tables are included to explain the total population growth during 1951-2001, community-wise growth during the same period, the future projection and the regional variation is the distribution and density of population. The chapter also discusses the rural and urban settlements, classification of towns, changes in the sex-composition of the State in the last century.

The author has pointed out that the population of Manipur, though very small, is composed of communities having different ethnic identities, religious, language and socio-cultural traits. He has identified the population of major ethnic groups and also discusses at length the literacy and the progress of education since independence.

The State has limited agricultural lands and per capita land holding is progressively diminishing particularly in the valley. The author has indicated it as one important constraint in agricultural expansion and modernisation. However, there are enough cultivable lands in the hills provided there is enough water to raise crops. He further states that the State has a very low cropping intensity. Intensive cropping is practised only in the irrigated fields of the valley. Paddy is the principal crop both in the valley and in the hills. Most farmers in the hills raise crops using age-old traditional implements.

The State is largely dependent on forests and agricultural resources. Power production, though it increased significantly in certain years, has been fluctuating in the last 50 years. Certain minerals of economic importance have been located in the hill districts but they are not yet exploited. Although the survey of India has taken up systematic geological prospecting has not been done in the State.

Therefore, thorough knowledge about its mineral wealth is still unknown. The State has vast industrial potentialities but due to lack of infrastructural facilities like power, skilled labour, good transport network, entrepreneurship, financial institution etc these potentialities have gone waste and thus the State has remained industrially backward.

The State has no medium and large scale industries but small scale industries. These small scale industries are public sector undertakings and many of them are now dead with the exception of few industries such as agro-based, forest-based and engineering industries. Besides these, handloom industries, handicraft, sericulture, khadi and village industries are quite popular both in the hills and valley. These industries have contributed quite significantly in the people's economy and almost all the industrial outputs are contributed from this sector.

The State has also good tourist potentialities. But these potentialities cannot be tapped for lack of tourist resorts. The State has to develop the essentials for tourists. Since 1951, the State had a planned development of road network and as a result there is a considerable network of road. However the State still suffers from shortage of transport.

In the hills side, there are many areas that are still inaccessible. This lopsidedness in development is the result of rugged topography, limited cultivable land, higher dependency rate, lack of proper educational and medical facilities, lack of modernisation of agricultural practices, absence of non-agricultural activities, transport problem, rural poverty and absence of local entrepreneurship etc in the hills.

To conclude the review, I must say that this book is one of the treasures that the geographer of the State has produced so far. Students of geography and the research scholars in the field of geography will find in the book a tremendous source of information regarding the geography of the contemporary society. For general readers it is a good reference work.