ST status for Meetei will bring unity, integrity: STDCM
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, September 05 2021: Maintaining that granting ST status to Meetei/Meitei will bring unity and in tegrity in the state, Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) has urged the state government to send the required recommendation to the Centre without waiting for public movement in order to provide constitutional protection to Meetei/Meitei.

In a statement, STDCM said that Meetei/Meitei is an indigenous community of the state.

However, the community does not have any constitutional protection since it is not included in the ST list, which is the equivalent term for indigenous community in the country.

It is the reason why STDCM brought up the demand, for which the main objective is to get a constitutional protection for Meetei/Meitei.

It is a call for co-existence, unity and integrity but not for the greed of quota, the statement said.

Unfortunately, different organisations including student bodies of communities who have got constitutional protection are opposing the ST demand for Meetei/Meitei and they are also submitting memorandum to the chief minister.

STDCM clarified that they do not need to worry over the matter since the government can introduce a reservation system based on population of each community like those in neighbouring states like Assam and Nagaland to uphold the reservation status of the existing ST communities.

The statement also urged all to support the demand.

On the other hand, there are still some sections in the Meetei/Meitei community who oppose the demand with the argument of Meetei/Meitei being an advanced community.

But one should understand that the ST status is just a constitutional protection for small and indigenous communities.

At the time of preparing the ST list in 1950, the then Meetei/Meitei people refused to accept the ST tag as they were not aware of the constitution back then.

Now, the criteria has been changed and a community can only be included in the ST list after going through certain procedures, the statement said, while urging the opposers to the demand to let the criteria and procedure decide the eligibility.

It is true that Manipur has a history of being a sovereign nation for thousands of years and it is a common history of all the indigenous communities of Manipur.

Though Meetei/Meitei adopted Hindu religion and hill people adopted Christianity at some points of history, all the communities still preserve their core values, traditions and culture.

They simply adopted a different religion but they are the same people.

Today, conditions of the Meetei/Meitei are in dire situation.

Manipur is one of the poorest states in the country.

Having a handful of rich or well-established individuals cannot make Meetei/Meitei a prosperous community.

At the same time, the ever changing ground realities like increasing influx of non-locals are affecting the demographic balance of the state and threatening the very existence of Meetei/Meitei.

This situation needs a constitutional protection and ST demand is the only solution, the statement added.

Comment