MTU pleas for source of livelihood to IDPs
Source: Chronicle News Service

Bishnupur, January 22 2024: Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MTU) has urged the government to provide land deeds to all those people who have settled in the foothills and remote parts of Manipur for more than 60-70 years.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a campaign for inclusion of Meetei in the ST list carried out at the farmland of farmer YouTuber Lairen Mamit in Wangoo Nungai on Monday, MTU secretary (administration) Mutum Churamani informed that as part of the campaign, a sub campaign for allocating land deeds to all those who settled at the foothills and remote areas of Manipur for more than 60-70 years was also launched.

This matter should not be taken lightly, as it concerns our identity and integrity, he stressed, and appealed to the government to do the needful at the earliest.

Churamani then said that if more farmers like Lairen Mamit come forward and help in ushering, a green revolution in the state, Manipur would no longer need to depend on external sources to sustain and feed its people.

The economy would be also greatly improved, he stated and urged for encouraging farmers like Lairen Mamit.

The MTU also appealed for en suring source of livelihood to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) by assigning them works of Shinglup and facilitate farmers, affected by the ethnic conflict since May 3, undertake cultivation of farms of Umang Lai located in every locality.

In a release, MTU secretary (administration) Mutum Churamani informed that around 10,000 hectares of agricultural land remain fallow due to the conflict, thus incurring total loss of around Rs 211,50,00,000 while another 31,742 hectares of agricultural land could not be cultivated owing to erratic seasonal rainfall, he noted, adding that handloom and handicrafts sectors mainly involving women workforce too had been affected by the conflict, consequently compounding financial distress of the working class.

In view of such precarious situa tion, the agricultural lands of Umang Lai and Shinglup of the locality which are cultivated by the locals be entrusted to the displaced people/ farmers for this year as their means of livelihoods have all been shattered by the conflict, the secretary proposed, while adding that the rich people who are in possession of prime agricultural plots as land bank should also provide an opportunity for cultivating their land by the displaced people.

He stressed the need for working together and helping one another in such troubling times.

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