ATSUM alerts HAC on ST demand of STDCM
Source: Chronicle News Service / Newmai News Network
Imphal, October 22 2022:
With the movement of Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei community in the ST list of Indian Constitution gaining momentum, All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) has urged the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) to peruse the situation and intervene accordingly.
In a memorandum submitted in this regard to HAC chairman Dinganglung Gangmei, ATSUM said that the demand for ST status of Meitei/Meetei community is gaining momentum as most of valley legislators and MP (Rajya Sabha) are openly declaring their support without taking into account the irrationality of the demand and sentiments of the tribal community of the state.
It urged the HAC chairman for utmost perusal and intervention as the future of tribal communities looks bleak and uncertain if the 'majority and advanced' Meitei/Meetei community happens to figure in the ST list of Indian Constitution.
According to the ATSUM memorandum, the apex tribal students' body contested demand of the 'majority' community as it posed serious threat to the land and existence of tribal people.
It said that Meeteis/Meiteis are an advanced community marked by 2000 years of civilization, unbroken lineage of kingship, superlative cultural advancement and Meitei language (Manipuri) is figured in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The Meetei/Meitei community has done exceedingly well in the fields of technology, medical, engineering, sports and of late civil services under UPSC, it said, adding that 15 students from the community cracked the NDA examination last year, two civil service this year and the bulk of MBBS successful students in the whole North-Eastern states.
Despite being already categorised as SC and OBC, the same Meitei/Meetei community is propelling an intrusive agenda for inclusion in the ST category with the sole objective of grasping the benefits accompanying the status, ATSUM said.
The ATSUM memorandum further said that the entry of Meena community of Rajasthan into the ST category in 2008 has seriously dented the prospect of other aspirants from the tribal community of India within the purview of UPSC, SSC and other equivalent examinations under the Government of India with them reaping the maximum benefits and left others in trickles.
If the Meetei/Meitei community which is far advanced than the Meena community is incorporated, it will definitely spell a collective doom for the whole tribal community of India and Manipur in particular.
The 'illogical claim' that the Meiteis 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 possesses a unique culture of their own, ATSUM said in the memorandum.
ATSUM also claimed that the social divide between 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 civilisation to the mainstream of modernity.
The hill people are understood as Scheduled Tribe for their primitive characteristic, topographical isolation and economic backwardness.
As such, the Meitei/Meetei community does not deserve to be categorized as Scheduled Tribe under any circumstances, it added.
ATSUM then called upon the Hill Areas Committee and its members to stand by the wish and desire of the tribal community of the state as and when the time comes for the state government to discuss the claim of STDCM for recognition of ST status to the Meitei/Meetei community.
It further said that the tribal community of Manipur will never accept demand of STDCM from being met by the government and should be prevented at all cost.
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