WMC continues with ST demand
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 28 2024:
The World Meetei Council (WMC) has asked the State Government to take enlistment of Meetei/Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list more seriously than implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Inner Line Permit System and border fencing.
WMC, in a statement, said that the Meetei/Meitei people may disappear if they are not given ST status given all the threats the ethnic group has been facing.
The Centre has been seeking the ethnographic and socio-economic reports of the Meetei/Meitei people since 2013 to verify whether the ethnic group can be added in the ST list, it said and added that the successive State Governments, however, haven't sent the report to the Centre as of yet.
Saying that the Meetei/Meitei has become a very weak group today due to myriad factors, the WMC added that only enlistment in the ST list can protect the ethnic group.
The Council urged Chief Minister N Biren Singh to send the recommendation for enlistment of Meetei/Meitei to the Centre at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the WMC staged a demonstration seeking ST status for Meetei/Meitei at Langmeidong Maning Leikai in Kakching, today.