All party meeting deliberates new draft Bill : New draft Bill proposes 1972 as base year
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 09 2016 : With the completion of drafting a new Bill for protection of all indi- genous people of Manipur, a meeting of all political parties was held today at the Chief Minister's Secretariat.

The meeting was presided by Chief Minister O Ibobi and the participants discussed the acts of omissions and commissions and lapses, if there are any in the draft Bill.

Some political leaders who attended the meeting said that most of the participants were appreciative of the draft Bill and they felt there were little provisions/clauses which could be added.

Students of Tamphasana Girls Hr Sec School, Ibotonsana Hr Sec School and CC Hr Sec School protest at Keishampat on 29 May 2016 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

Notably, the meeting was attended by representatives of Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress, BJP, LJP, CPI-M, CPI and JD-U. However, NPP and NPF stayed away from the meet- ing.

Taking due note of the fact that the Manipur Peoples Bill 2015 was withheld by the Government of India, the meeting discussed about nam- ing the new Bill with jargon different from the earlier one.

Some of the participants proposed replacement of the term 'inner line permit sys- tem' with 'indigenous people protection'.

In a remarkable deviation from the PMP Bill 2015, the new draft Bill proposed Janu- ary 21, 1972 as the base year for identification of indig- enous people of Manipur.

Notably, the PMP Bill 2015 adopted 1951 as the base year for identification of indigenous people of Manipur.

Most of the political par- ties which attended the meeting expressed their ap- preciation on adopting January 21, 1972 as the base year as Manipur has its cen- sus records in 1972, con- veyed the political leaders.

Nonetheless, all the politi- cal parties agreed on referring the draft Bill to constitutional and legal experts so as to plug in all loopholes and lapses, if there is any.

The draft Bill would be studied in another meeting of all political parties after it has been referred to constitutional and legal experts.

This would be followed by another meeting with all stake holders belonging to all com- munities including JCILPS to elicit their opinions on the draft Bill, added the political leaders.