2nd People's Convention endorses 1951 as cut off base year
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 20 2015 : The 2nd People's Convention held today at MDU Hall here in connection with the popular demand for protection indi-genous people from the onslaught of influx has endorsed the earlier decision to adopt 1951 as the cut off base year for identification of indigenous Manipuri people.

It resolved that "private undertaking" and "local authority" inserted in relation to persons to be exempted under Section 8(2) of the proposed draft Bill No 1 must be removed.

The convention resolved that the electoral roll of 1948, Census report of 1951 and the Village Directory of 1951 should be adopted as referral documents under Section 2(b) of the proposed draft Bill No 1 (Protection of Manipur Peoples Bill, 2015) .

The meeting held under the aegis of JCILPS was graced by consultative (drafting) committee member Dr Aram-bam Lokendra, JCILPS convenor-in-charge Khom-dram Ratan and senior jour- nalist Irengbam Arun as presidium members.

A mass rally in support of ILPS demand and (inset) presidium members at the 2nd public convention

The convention reaffirmed that all the five points suggested by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System should be incorporated in the new Bill.

The convention resolved to insert 'non-Manipuri peoples firm, institutions or any other similar entities' within the definition of non-permanent resident as elaborated by Section 14(a) of the proposed draft Bill No 2 (MLR&LR 7th Amendment Bill) .

The fifth resolution said that no non-indigenous people should be given land ownership right in Manipur.

To ask the Government to provide a copy of the proposed amendment draft Bill of the Labour Act was the sixth resolution.

Replacement of Section 2(i) of the proposed draft Bill No 1 by the sentence "Non-Manipuri persons means those citizens of India who is not covered by Section 2(b) of this Act" was the seventh resolution.

Consultation of JCILPS as people's representatives by the Government in framing rules and regulations as and when the draft Bill No 1 becomes an Act was the eighth resolution.

The ninth resolution was about constitution of a Manipur State Population Commission or an expert committee and presentation of a white paper by the State Government on the population of non-local people in Manipur and its growth trend over the years.

The tenth and last resolution of the 2nd People's Convention was formulation of Manipur State Population Policy based on the white paper.

It is reported that all the 10 resolutions of the convention would be tabled before the Government.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by JCILPS said that a new date would be fixed for another meeting with the Government.

It said that JCILPS representatives could not go for the meeting scheduled this afternoon as the public convention ended quite late.