ATSUM memo to CM opposes ST status to Meeteis
Source: Chronicle News Service / Newmai News Network

Imphal, August 31 2021: All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) submitted a memorandum to chief minister N Biren on Tuesday with regard to "the matter of Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) processing for recognition of Meiteis/Meeteis as Scheduled Tribe (ST)".

In the memorandum, ATSUM said that it "doesn't have any political affiliation or allegiance" to any political party.

"Nevertheless, as an apex hill based tribal student organisation of Manipur, it is our bounden duty to share our opinion and displeasure over the ill-conceived demand of the STDCM for recognition of Meeteis, who have been living at par with the rest of the privileged sections of societies in all spheres of lives for the past seventy-four years of independence, as ST".

ATSUM asserted that the claim that Meeteis fulfil all the criterion to become Scheduled Tribe on the basis of Mongoloid race and prevalence of distinctive religion and culture is irrational on the ground that any community big or small practices some form of religion and posses a unique culture of their own.

In other words, having religion or separate culture doesn t necessarily mean or constitute the prime reason to include a particular community in the list of Scheduled Tribe, the tribal students' body contended.

In the Constitution of India, no criteria have been spelt out for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe, it also stated.

"However, taking into account the definitions in a 1931 census and the reports of the First Backward Classes commission 1955, the advisory committee on revision of ST/SC 1967 and basically basing on Article 342 of the constitution, the following criteria are followed for specification of a community as a schedule tribe: a) Indication of primitive traits b) Distinctive culture c) Geographical isolation d) Shyness of contact with community at large, and e) Backwardness", the ATSUM memorandum pointed out.

It then said that the Scheduled Tribes are the tribes or tribal communities or part of groups within these communities which have been declared as such by the President through a public notification partly by habitat and geographical isolation but even more on the basis of social, religion, linguistic and cultural distinctiveness - their tribal characteristic.

The memorandum further said that Scheduled Tribes are spread across the country mainly in the forest and hilly regions and segregated from the rest of the world socially and economically.

ATSUM said that during a debate in the constituent assembly, Dr Ambedkar, the Chairman of the drafting committee was very particular about the word Schedule to be used before the 'tribe and the caste' to mean the 'selected or the chosen ones'.

"Thus in the context of India, Scheduled group tribe means the selected tribes for protective discrimination to be valid on for 10 years after the promulgation of the constitution of India", it further said, adding, "But since the scheduled group couldn't come up at par with the rest of the citizens in all the spheres of lives, protective discrimination continues even after sixty years of independence" .

The ATSUM memorandum said it is quite obvious that the plain people viz Meeteis/Meiteis were included in the general category of the people by the central government due to the simple fact that the Meiteis have superseded the component characteristic of a tribe.

"In the course of a continuous process of civilization dating ack from 33 AD, the Meeteis have abandoned/discarded their primitive culture traits from being tribal to general, from rural or urbanization, economic backwardness to economically advanced people in the valley of the golden kingdom (Sana Konung) .

Therefore, the empirical points of arguments and the modalities for deciding claims for inclusion of the Meeties in the Scheduled Tribe category involves rational philosophy to ascertain that the proposals are based on the broad criterion such as 'way of living'; 'social custom and religious practices; dialect'; educational and economic status", the ATSUM memorandum added.

While analyzing the above the criteria, the tribal student body said that it should be well noted that the tribes in India are tribes in transition.

It added that the criterion of backwardness does remain as the main criterion.

It added that the relative backwardness of a community as compared to the society at large and other communities in the areas has therefore to be judged.

ATSUM further added that such data should, inter-alia, include the data on the representation of the community in the government/public sectors services, political institutions like parliament, state assemblies and local bodies.

The ATSUM memorandum then said that the social divide between the people of the hills and valley and the "derogatory name given to the tribal of Manipur by the Meeteis as 'haos' besides social segregation as untouchables to the hill men/tribal is an established fact that the Meeteis have crossed several phases of civilisations to the mainstream of modernity" .

As such, ATSUM said that Meiteis/Meeteis do not deserve to be categorized as Scheduled Tribes under any circumstances.

The tribal student body then said that since time immemorial, the hill-valley divide has been a major theme in understanding the ethnic relations in Manipur.

It added that the hills nestle numerous historical communities, also known in India's Constitutional discourse as 'tribe' .

The ATSUM memorandum then said that in the wake of the STDCM pressurising the Central Government as well as the State Government for recognition of the Meetei community as ST status, a number of panel discussions "encompassing" tribal leaders, intellectuals and experts in the held of Anthropology and Sociology had been organised at different intervals and unanimous resolutions were adopted to protest vehemently against the move of STDCM.

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