WMC takes ST demand to PM
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 15 2022:
The World Meetei Council (WMC) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enlist Meeteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the Indian Constitution.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, WMC chairman Heigrujam Nabashyam said that the Meeteis fulfil all five criteria of the Lokur Committee to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes but the process has been at a standstill.
Saying that 91 per cent of the total areas of Manipur is covered by hills while the valley constitutes only 9 per cent, he added that Meeteis who are the indigenous people of Manipur can settle rightfully only in the valley areas along with all other communities including even illegal migrants from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Nabashyam also said that the growth of population in the valley area is abnormal.
The Meeteis were mistakenly taken as a part of Aryan society by the Parliamentary Committee in 1950-51 and because of it the ethic group still can't buy/own land in over 90 per cent of total areas of Manipur , he claimed and reiterated that the Meeteis being eligible to settle only in the valley without any Constitutional protection is a case of gross injustice.
Further, the WMC Chairman stated that the people of Manipur are still waiting for the State Government to send the ethnographic and socio-economic reports of the Meeteis as asked by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India since 2013 .