Remove 'any Kuki tribes' from ST list: TIM, MA
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 23 2025: Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) and the Meitei Alliance (MA) have jointly submitted a memorandum to Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram, urging immediate deletion of "Any Kuki Tribes" (AKT) from the Scheduled Tribes list of Manipur under Article 342 of the Constitution.

The appeal followed the Government of Manipur's official stance, based on cabinet decisions on October 19, 2018, and January 2, 2023, with a formal recommendation sent to the Ministry on February 8, 2023 .

The memorandum elaborated that the inclusion of AKT in the ST list is constitutionally flawed, ethnographically baseless, and poses a serious threat to the rights and peaceful co-existence of the state s recognised communities.

Terming AKT as an "arbitrary and improper inclusion", the signatories stated that the same was inserted into the ST list in 2003 through politically motivated and non-transparent means.

They pointed out that AKT, unlike other Scheduled Tribes in Manipur who are linguistically and culturally distinct, is an ambiguous and undefined category lacking legitimate basis.

The memorandum asserted that AKT is not recognised by any native Scheduled Tribe communities in Manipur, including Thadou, Paite, Hmar, Zou, Gangte, Simte, Aimol, Vaiphei, Kom, and those under the Naga fold, nor by the Meetei community.

Rather, its inclusion has exacerbated ethnic tensions and disrupted social harmony.

It further highlighted that AKT is a duplicate of the Thadou tribe, which has been listed as a Scheduled Tribe since the first post independence Census in 1951 .

The 2011 Census recorded the Thadou population at 2,15,913, whereas AKT, introduced decades later, recorded a separate population of 28,306, raising serious questions about authenticity and duplication.

The memorandum also criticised the continuation of colonial-era broad classifications, recalling that general labels such as "Any Kuki Tribe" and "Any Naga Tribe" were temporarily used in the 1951-56 period.

These groupings were deleted following a survey by the Kaka Kalelkar Commission and ethnographic verification by the Government of India, resulting in the 1956 SC/ST Amendment Act, which replaced vague entries with 29 specific Scheduled Tribes.

The re-insertion of "Any Kuki Tribes" in 2003 was therefore seen as a violation of this settled framework.

The organisations contended that "Kuki" is neither a tribe, nor a language, nor a distinct culture, but rather a loose political label often used to group unrelated communities.

The term, according to the memorandum, lacks ethnographic or linguistic grounding and serves only to confuse and misrepresent identities.

Raising concerns about the unlimited and undefined scope of AKT, the memorandum claimed that it opens the door for fabrication of tribal identities using labels such as Khongsai-Kuki, Doungel-Kuki, or even Rohingya-Kuki and Kachin-Kuki.

This, they warned, could allow foreigners and illegal immigrants to access tribal rights, posing a threat to land, resources, and constitutional privileges of genuine Scheduled Tribes in the state.

The memorandum alleged misuse of AKT by certain clans and family names like Haokip, Kipgen, Doungel, Guite, and Sitlhou, which are surnames traditionally known to be sub-clans within the Thadou or related tribes such as Paite and Vaiphei.

"Such misuse has resulted in confusion and duplication," it stated.

The memorandum argued that AKT is inconsistent with the official ST framework of Manipur, where all other listed tribes are well-defined and historically recognised.

It pointed out that AKT alone lacks definition, making it a legal anomaly and an outlier in the constitutional list.

The two organisations also stated that AKT does not fulfil the core criteria for ST recognition, such as a unique language, separate cultural heritage, or geographical isolation, and has instead fuelled ethnic discord and legal confusion.

They maintained that there is no need for AKT, and its deletion would help preserve the integrity of the ST list and the unity of recognised communities.

Rejecting the use of AKT in Assam, Meghalaya, or Nagaland as justification, the organisations said that Manipur's ST list is already well-defined and refined, and cannot be compared with other states still using legacy classifications.

The memorandum termed AKT a constitutionally flawed and ethnographically invalid category, a potential source of communal strife and identity fraud, and a threat to legitimate tribal identities.

It called for the immediate deletion of "Any Kuki Tribes" from the ST list of Manipur and cautioned against substituting it with any other misleading nomenclature such as "Kuki tribe" .

The organisations stated that "only such action could uphold the legal, cultural, and demographic integrity of Manipur and foster lasting peace and mutual coexistence" .

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