'Govt trying to breach tribal customary practice'
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 25 2014 : The decision of the Govt of Manipur to constitute a Village Development Committee (VDC) without participation of village headmen, chief or khullakpa and village authority member is complete deviation from the age-old customary practice which will not be acceptable to the tribal people of the State, said Somi Keishing.

Speaking to few media persons at Tangkhul Avenue, Somi Keishing, Advisor of Tribal Chief Forum Manipur (TCFM) stated that there are host of problems yet to be solved by the Govt and because of sidelining the problems in time it have culminated in Alternative Arrangement demand by the Nagas and separate State by the Kukis.

Instead of taking serious political will, the Govt is trying to intrude into the sensitive area of customary practice of hill area which is very unfortunate.

The so called Govt notification on the formation of VDC is nothing but divide and rule policy to create parallel power in the small village which is the smallest unit of development activities, said the TCFM advisor.

The Village Authority Act, 1956 and the rules frame thereafter is also not to the satisfaction of the tribal people for many reasons that the Act itself limited village authority members to 12 only, but most of the tribal villages have more than 12 clans where clan wise representation has been followed since time immemorial.

In most villages of Ukhrul district, the village authority Act has been regarded as a inanimate Act, because of this the TCFM proposed a proper draft amendment of the VA Act 1956 and the draft has been submitted to the Governor, Chief Minister, Hill Area Committee (HAC) Chairman.

VDC is a guideline only but Village Authority Act 1956 has its own law, why the VA elected member cannot be given the responsibility of all the development responsibility of the villages, said Somi Keishing.

The matter has been taken very seriously by the TCFM and necessary legal advice from the competing court will be sought if the Govt did not withdraw the order and in this regard, respect of the tribal custom will heal the wound of Manipur people and relationship, any contrary to the customary habit will distance the tribal people from the mainstream.

Particularly there are more than 900 odds villages in the entire hill areas of the State settling in 20,089 sq km with lakhs of population representing the State should not be overlooked, Somi Keishing warned.

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