Reservation Imbroglio in Manipur

Thumpungpa Simphuti *

The topic of reservation has in the recent times dominated the scene in the national politics. Away from the hot spot and the fanfare glare of the Central Government, in the faraway State of Manipur, the debate on reservation is quietly threatening to snowball into a major conflict.

The recent agitation (on the 6th of October) by the tribal students for reasonable representation in Manipur University was crushed by brute force of the police aided by some of the locals (belonging to the majority Meiteis) leading to hundreds of students injured and ended up in jails.

Reservation has been a delicate issue in Manipur even before Manipur University (MU) was upgraded to the Central University in 2005 and the recent unprecedented agitation launched by the tribal students. The main contention leading to the present situation is the judgment of the University Bill, 2005 which has reserved only 7.5 per cent for the scheduled tribes in Manipur University.

The point of grievance and disapproval is that this miniscule percentage is far too less for the tribals who constitute a huge 34.2 per cent (2001 census) of the total population of the State. The pity position of the tribals is neither helped by the fact that the Scheduled castes with just 2 per cent are availing 15 per cent reservation benefits in the University.

The main demand of the tribal students is 34.2 per cent admission and job reservation in the University taking into consideration that there are just 3 lecturers belonging to schedule tribes out of 167 lecturers and 30 tribals out of the 322 non-teaching staffs in the University.

During this entire episode, the standpoint of the MU authority has been that it is powerless to intervene on the reservation issue because of the fact that Manipur University is no more a State university but a Central University operating under the guidelines of the Centre.

While, the non-tribal students' bodies like the All Students' Union Manipur (AMSU) brazenly asserts that the demand of the tribal students is against the interest of the State of Manipur. It is worth pointing out that even when Manipur University was a State university, the reservation allotment for the scheduled tribes was never fulfilled.

Even in the newly created Manipur Institute of Technology (MIT) which is under the State supervision, the allotted 31 per cent reservation (according to State policy) for the tribals is not implemented at all (not even a single tribal student is short listed). The popular argument for the non-fulfilment has been the notion of merit—the tribal students/candidates are simply considered unsuitable for the positions which have to be filled in by the candidates belonging to general category.

This gross assumption deliberately overlooks or ignores the fact that most of the students and teachers belonging to Scheduled tribes from Manipur are performing competently in colleges and universities across the major Indian cities. Why should there be any difference in Manipur? Also, how can merit be the issue here taking note of the fact that, for example, numerous individuals belonging to general category who could not even pronounce or speak English fluently are employed as English teachers across colleges in Manipur?

The evocation of the notion of merit or performance to curtail the reservation privileges of tribals in Manipur is a joke. Instead, the systematic deprivation of the tribals can be attributed to the deeply entrenched communal divide between the tribals and non-tribals (the majority, Meiteis). In other words, reservation issue in Manipur cannot be seen in 'isolation' but it is intricately connected to the whole idea of what the tribals get should be adjusted and regulated in convenience to the interest of the 'non-tribals'.

The name of the game is zero-sum. The 'non-tribal' category in Manipur is an ideological, political and encompassing one. It includes the Schedule castes, some of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the general category, which are all consisting of the majority community in Manipur, the Meiteis.

The differentiation of the majority Meiteis into general category, Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Manipur implies that the overwhelming privileges and benefits would be reaped by them with the SCs and OBCs getting 15 per cent and 27 per cent respectively of the total 50 per cent reservation, not to mention the remaining 50 per cent unreserved seats for the general category.

That leaves, as stated before, the tribals who constitute 34.2 per cent of the total population of Manipur with only 7.5 per cent reservation. The point that needs to be enforced again here is that while the 'non-tribals' mainly comprising the majority Meiteis and further segregating themselves into general, SCs and OBCs gleefully consume the large chunk of the spoils, the tribals who are the most deprived section in Manipur are still left in doldrums.

In Manipur, one seldom hears the voice of dissent when it comes to given certain privileges to a reserved group so long as it belongs to the 'non-tribal' fold but the same attitude is not shown when it comes to reasonable reservation for the tribals (scheduled tribes).

There is strongly held view especially amongst the majority Meiteis in Manipur that if the tribals are given reservation in proportion to their population (which is of course not unreasonable), the 'interest of the State' would be harmed as though the tribals constituting 34.2 per cent of the total population do not include in that definition.

Coming around to the UGC reservation policy, evidently in Manipur, it is seriously flawed. It has led to large scale deprivation of already deprived tribals who are in no way minuscule in term of population. How is this justified?

If one can recall the remark of Minister of Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh when Manipur University Bill, 2005 for the upgradation of Manipur University to a Central one was passed in the Parliament, the aim of the upgradation is to do away with the shortcoming in the area of education as well as to improve the social and economic conditions and welfare of the people of the State of Manipur, their intellectual, academic and cultural development.

But one needs to seriously ask, how is it possible to achieve these goals when the deprived large chunk of the population are denied a reasonable reservation and therefore of the basic right to education? Or is it that the tribals of Manipur do not fit into this grand vision?

The anomaly in the reservation policy especially in Manipur needs to be uncompromisingly addressed by revising and amending the relevant Act if the Government is indeed serious in its intention of uplifting the deprived sections as it claims to be.

Related Articles in e-pao.net

• Timeline for Reservation issue in Manipur University
• Manipur - A land of discontent :: N Haokip
• Who is Responsible? - 1 :: Mohen Naorem
• Who is Responsible? - 2 :: Mohen Naorem