STDCM presents case to NCST
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 22 2022: Representatives of the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) met Ananta Nayak, leader of the visiting team of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) at Classic Grande Hotel Imphal and submitted a memorandum today.

The meeting between the NCST member and the STDCM came after the latter was snubbed by the Manipur State Commission for Scheduled Tribes (MSCST) recently when the commission invited tribal leaders to meet the 7-member NCST team.

Notably, the NCST team led by Ananta Nayak arrived here in Imphal on December 20.Reportedly, as invited by the MSCST, a meeting was scheduled to be held between the NCST team and leaders of already recognised tribals at Classic Grande Hotel on the same day.

As the STDCM was not invited to the meeting, it had urged the MSCST to invite it.

STDCM presents case to NCST

Meanwhile, the memorandum, STDCM submitted to the NCST team highlighted that the indigenous Meitei/Meetei community is one of the principal tribes of Manipur and its status as a tribal should be restored by enlisting it in the list of the Scheduled Tribes of the Constitution.

A 9-member team of the STDCM visited Hotel Classic Grande today at around 9 am and through the hotel staff, they contacted personal assistant of Ananta Nayak for an appointment.

They met the NCST team leader and submitted the memorandum, copies of which were also submitted to the Chief Minister and Chairman of MSCST.

The memorandum produced four brief 'facts' in support of the demand for ST status of Meitei/Meetei and said, "The indigenous Meitei/Meetei community is one of the principal tribes of Manipur.

This fact had been recorded in the successive Census records of the British India Govt" .

The memorandum noted that after independence, when India adopted its Constitution in 1950, the indigenous Meitei/Meetei Tribe was indiscriminately left out from the list of the tribes recognized under the Constitution as Scheduled Tribes for 'reasons best known to the Government' .

"Because of the non-inclusion in the ST list, we have not been provided any Constitutional safeguards though we desperately deserve it.

As a result, we are now facing many difficulties and challenges in the protection and preservation of our distinctive identity.

"As such, we have been urging the Government of Manipur and Government of India for restoration of Constitutionally recognized tribal status to Meitei/Meetei tribe and provide Constitutional safeguards by enlisting us in the list of STs under the Constitution of India" .

In view of the 'facts' presented, STDCM requested that the NCST should advise all concerned for strict avoidance of disinformation, propaganda against the Meitei/Meetei 'tribe' in general and the STDCM in particular.

It asked the commission to do "justice" to its claim for ST status "at the appropriate time" .

Even when the State Government has not yet sent the recommendations sought by the Centre for consideration of the demand, the STDCM's memorandum said some leaders of the All Tribal Students' Union of Manipur (ATSUM) had recently camped in New Delhi and pleaded with the NCST and some Union Ministers against the merits of the Meitei/Meetei's claim for ST status by going even to great lengths to draw up support from all presently recognized tribes (STs) of India against the community and STDCM.

"The act of the ATSUM leaders appears to be a blatant display of their hostile and unbrotherly attitude against their close, genetically and historically, related brothers that we (the Meitei/Meeteis) are, while we have always relentlessly been making efforts to preserve the good brotherly relation with all other tribes in Manipur," it added.

STDCM further asserted that an "overact" of the ATSUM has resulted in a "dangerous misunderstanding" between the Meitei/Meetei and other tribes of Manipur that even the Manipur State Commission for Scheduled Tribes (MSCST), in an invitation letter dated December 15 addressed to all tribal leaders for attending a meeting with the NCST team on December 20, declared: "In view of the ST Demand by dominant tribe gaining momentum in the State, its time we collectively join hands together and fight for our rights.

Time to be united and realize our dreams" .

It may be noted that the STDCM has been demanding ST status for Meitei/Meetei for more than a decade now.

Its movement has recently gained significant momentum with many elected representatives coming out openly in support of the demand.

More importantly, the STDCM, since 2013 has been urging the State Government to send recommendations and records sought by the Centre for consideration of the ST demand.