MMTU Youth Wing slams census, delimitation move
'Weed out the illegal immigrants first'
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 10 2025: On the eve of the World Population Day (July 11), the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU), Youth Wing has questioned if the Government of India's decision to carry out delimitation after census operation in April 2026 is driven by a separate agenda to wipe out indigenous communities.

The decision to carry out census and delimitation exercises without doing anything to identify illegal immigrants is biased and one-sided, said a press release issued by the MMTU Youth Wing.

The Census of India Act 1948 clearly lays down that no census operation should be carried out in areas where there are controversies over the rate of population growth, it said.

It is known to both the Centre and the State Government that a large number of illegal immigrants have settled in Manipur.

The 2001 census saw an outrageous growth rate of 118 per cent in Chandel.

The same census data showed abnormal population growth in nine sub-divisions of the hill districts.

Because of the controversies resulting from these abnormal population growth, no delimitation could be carried out in Manipur, it said.

The census data of 2001 indicated population growth rate of 168.78 per cent in Purul sub-division, 143.12 per cent in Mao-Maram subdivision, 122.64 per cent in Paomata.

According to these census, a woman who got married at the age of 12 must give birth twice a year and a mother must give birth to 20 to 24 children, the MMTU Youth Wing said.

As per the National Family Health Survey, the birth rate of Meitei is 1.77, Muslim 2.34 and Christian 2.94 .

In the meantime, large numbers of Kuki-Zo people from Myanmar immigrated to Manipur illegally and settled in Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Pherzawl, Tengnoupal etc, and at many places the immigrant population has outnumbered indigenous population, it said.

The Government of Manipur formed a Cabinet sub-committee on February 16, 2023 and at the first instance, it detected 2480 illegal immigrants in Kuki inhabited areas.

After this, the work of identifying illegal immigrants was put to a halt.

At present, there are over 2500 villages of Kuki-Zo illegal immigrants from Myanmar in Manipur, it said.

Around 6000 Paites from Chin Hills, Burma were settled in Manipur at the request of the Paite National Council in 1955 .

Again, 1500 Kuki families from Myanmar were allowed to settle in Manipur following a request from the Burma Kuki Refugee Association in 1973 .

Many more Burmese refugees were settled at Ukhrul, Tengnoupal and Kamjong etc at the request of then MP P Haokip to the Government of India.

Thousands of Hmars came to Jiribam and settled there in 1951-56 .

As a result, Jiribam was flooded by immigrants and non-local people.

The growth rate of immigrants and non-local jumped from 12.8 per cent in 1951 to 140 per cent in 1961 .

After the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, a large number of Bangladeshis came and settled in Jiribam.

Thus the indigenous people of Jiribam came under severe existential threat, the MMTU Youth Wing continued.

Churachandpur and Kangpokpi are the two districts where maximum numbers of immigrants have been fraudulently enlisted in the voters' list.

In Tengnoupal, Pherzawl and Chandel districts too, large numbers of immigrants have been enlisted in the voters' list on the sly.

The Government of India must review the settlement of illegal immigrants and enlisting them in the voters' list of Manipur, it asserted.

It further questioned as to why the Foreigners' Act 1946, Passport Act 1920 and the Registration Act 1939 which are there to check immigration from foreign countries are not enforced properly in Manipur.

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