ILPS toothless here, says JCILPS
Source: The Sangai Express

Bishnupur, September 12 2022: Stating that the Inner Line Permit System (ILPS) currently enforced in the State is totally hollow and toothless, the JCILPS has warned that all the indigenous people would disappear from the soil of Manipur if the ILPS is not made effective enough at the earliest.

A discussion session on ILPS rules and guidelines was held today at Yangoiningthou Community Hall, Bishnupur under the aegis of the JCILPS.

Speaking at the gathering, JCILPS convenor Phulindro Konsam said that the discussion session was specifically organised to highlight the loopholes and inadequacies of the ILPS presently enforced in the State.

Following the merger of Manipur into the Indian Union, the erstwhile independent kingdom was reduced to the status of a Part C State and it was put under a Chief Commissioner in 1950, Phulindro recalled.

The Chief Commissioner abolished the Pass and Permit System which was there in Manipur and it opened a floodgate of influx.

The incessant influx not only drastically changed the State's demographic profile but also posed grave threats to the socio-economic and cultural life of the indigenous people, Phulindro said.

Just as indigenous Tripuris had been reduced to minority in Tripura, indigenous Manipuris are now staring at the same fate, he warned.

After sustained mass movements for enactment of a legislation which can effectively protect indigenous people from incessant influx, the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation was extended to Manipur and ILPS was introduced in the State in 2019 .

But a closer analysis revealed that the ILPS enforced in Manipur does not contain any element which can protect the indigenous people and their rights, the JCILPS convenor remarked.

He also condemned the State Cabinet decision to adopt 1961 as base year for identification of non-local people against their demand to adopt 1951 as base year.

Pointing that a number of companies based outside the State are working in the State and they have been bringing hordes of labourers, Phulindro informed that district level committees would be constituted to monitor the non-local labourers brought in by these companies.

Apart from being hollow and toothless, the ILPS is not implemented properly even in its current form and shape, he decried.

He asserted that there is no point in implementing ILPS in its current form and shape in the State.

JCILPS co-convenor W Second compared the ILPS enforced in the State to a toothless tiger.

Saying that the population of non-local people has been growing at an alarming rate in the State, W Second sought immediate attention of the Government into the issue.

Comment