WMC urges
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 28 2024: The World Meetei Council (WMC) has once again urged Chief Minister N Biren Singh to send the socio-economic and ethnography reports of Meetei to the Centre so as to begin the process to add the ethnic group in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the Indian Constitution before the proposed delimitation in 2026 .

In a letter signed by its president Heigrujam Naba-shyam, the council said that the State Government is not submitting the two reports to the Centre.

The two reports are necessary to initiate the process of including the Meetei community in the ST list, the WMC added.

Saying that the Supreme Court recently made a landmark verdict on the power of the States to sub-classify Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in granting quotas to ensure fair competition in job reservations and others, the Council added that there is no need for any group to worry about Meetei taking disproportionate shares of benefits, should they be granted Scheduled Tribe status.

The fate of Meetei hangs in balance, it said while stating that the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly segments will have a far reaching consequence on the Meetei if the exercise is done before the ethnic group gets the ST status.

Taking all the factors into account, the council urged the Chief Minister to send the two reports to the Centre expeditiously so as to secure the future of the Meetei community.

The WMC cautioned that they may even demand resignation of the Chief Minister if the matter remains unresolved.

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