Imphal, January 14: The All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM) has insisted that delimitation exercise should go ahead in the five hill districts even if the valley districts are spared from the same exercise.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet held on January 10 resolved to leave out the 'problem States' from the delimitation process.

According to an ordinance approved by the Union Cabinet, the existing structure of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies of five States including Manipur will keep untouched till 2026 .

Briefing media persons at its office today, ATSUM spokesman Joseph R Hmar asserted that the ordinance as well as the Cabinet decision to this effect was a blunder.

ATSUM cannot accept the Union Cabinet decision to defer delimitation exercise in Manipur till 2026.Let there be no delimitation in valley areas where the people are against it but the same exercise should be carried out expeditiously in hill districts where the people are in favour of it, said Joseph.

Informing that ATSUM general assembly will be held in Tamenglong on January 18, he conveyed that a conglomerate of several tribal organisations christened Committee on Tipaimukh Dam has also been constituted.

The Committee has also warned anybody going to the dam site without its prior permission, he conveyed.

He also decried that the State Government has failed to fulfil its assurance of providing assistance to Parbung rape victims.

Regarding the Tribal Reservation Bill, the spokesman observed that even as the bill was passed in 2006, it is yet to be made an Act.

He further appealed to the Govt to table the Bill in the forthcoming Assembly session.

Citing the Indian Constitution (the 84th Amendment) Act 2001, under which it was put forth that the constituencies shall be so re-delimited that population on the basis of 2001 census of each Parliamentary and Assembly constituency in the State (Manipur) shall so far as practicable be the same throughout the State, the United Naga Council (UNC) Manipur, the Kuki Inpi Manipur, Mizo People Convention Manipur and the Hmar Inpui Manipur have sought immediate attention of the Prime Minister so that justice prevails in the issue surrounding delimitation process in the State.

In a joint memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, the four bodies reminded that after the Delimitation Commission started functioning from July 4, 2002, a writ petition was filed by ten political parties in the Guwahati High Court in 2005.Subsequently, the Court passed an order stalling the delimitation process and instructing to maintain status quo of the existing structure of Assembly segments and Parliamentary constituencies.

This was followed by a counter petition in the same Court in November 2006.Being disappointed with the verdict of the Gauhati High Court once again, the organisations of the tribal people of Manipur filed an appeal petition to the Supreme Court.

The apex Court stayed the order of the High Court and directed the Delimitation Commission to resume process of delimitation of constituencies in the State of Manipur, recounted the joint memorandum.

In accordance to the latest data made available to the Delimitation Commission on the basis of the census report of 2001 by the Registrar General and census Commissioner of India, the number of seats reserved for scheduled tribes in Manipur was calculated under the guidelines and methodology of the Delimitation Commission.

As per the calculations of the Delimitation Commission, number of Assembly segments should increase by five in tribals areas of the State whereas the valley area should lose Assembly constituencies, it noted.

However, the ten political parties adopted an avaricious attitude towards the Assembly seat allocation prepared by the Delimitation Commission.

It is all the more very unbecoming of the political leaders to raise false alarm and issue threatening statements, it observed.

Reacting with shock to the media report about the State Cabinet's recommendation to the Union Cabinet to promulgate an ordinance so that delimitation exercise based on 2001 census figure is not carried in the North East States, the four bodies asked whether the UPA Government was so vulnerable to contravene the Forty Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the Delimitation Act 2002 and the Census Act 1948.If the media report was true, it would be no exaggeration to say that a "vicarious Prime Minister becomes anti-tribal, anti-poor and anti-constitution" , it observed.

The four bodies urged upon the Prime Minister to keep off 'Apartheid Policy' towards tribal people of Manipur in the matter of delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in the country.

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