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Manipur rally for tribal land rights
Wednesday, 11 August 2010 03:14
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Imphal, Aug 10: A large number of people took out public rallies in different parts of the hill districts of the state today under the aegis of Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas, Manipur (COPTAM) demanding steps for ensuring constitutional protection of tribal Areas of Manipur along with rectification of the overlapping jurisdictions of the villages between the existing adjacent districts and conduct of Census operations after an official finalization of existing overlapping villages by the concerned hill district administrators as well.
The public rallies in various parts of the hill districts of the state which were extensively held this morning at Chandel district head quarter, Moreh sub-division, Saikul and Kangpokpi sub-divisions in Senapati district and Litan area in Ukhrul district under the sponsorship of the Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas, Manipur (COPTAM) were supposed to be an expression of the tribal bodies’ desire to have a proper demarcation of district boundaries of the state.
More than 5000 people, including students of various schools and colleges of Sadar Hills area, participated in the rally which began from Thomas Ground and went up to Kangpokpi ADC Complex, passing through IT Road.
The people led by the leaders of COPTAM and Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) of Sadar Hills also submitted a memorandum to the chief minister through the ADC, Kangpokpi.
The memorandum submitted by COPTAM to the chief minister for the protection of tribal areas of Manipur mentioned that the state government should try to fulfill the demands of the committee at the earliest in view of safeguarding the interests of tribal people of the state.
The demands of COPTAM placed before the state government are related to delinking of revenue collection from census operation and district boundary demarcation; conducting census for the overlapping villages by the concerned hill districts as done in 2001 Census; maintaining land records in the respective hill districts and collection of land revenues thereof by the concerned hill districts; and providing steps to ensure constitutional protection of tribal areas of Manipur as done in all tribal areas of other north-eastern states.
During the rally the copies of satellite map of Manipur as framed by the Manipur Remote Sensing Application Centre (MARSAC) were burned down by the people citing flaws in the tribal regions of the state.
The Chairman of COPTAM, Sadar Hills area, Lamcha Chongloi stated that the protests and demands of the committee are intended to safeguard the rights of the tribal people and are not meant to create communal tension amongst the various communities of the state. The COPTAM stands against the wrong policies of the government and is not against promoting communal harmony in the state, he noted.
Lamcha further appealed to all to render utmost help and support to the COPTAM to help safeguard the rights of the tribal people who have been facing myriad problems pertaining to poor socio-economic conditions.
Likewise, several thousands of villagers took out rallies at Pallel, border town Moreh, Churachandpur district headquarter and Chandel district headquarter today and submitted their univocal memorandums demanding delinking revenue collection from Census Operation and District boundary demarcation, immediate conduct of census for the overlapping villages by concerned hill district as was done till 2001 Census, maintaining of land records in the respective Hill districts and collection of land revenues thereof by the concerned hill districts and to initiate steps for constitutional protection of Manipur’s tribal areas as was done in all tribal areas of North-East India, to the state government through the concerned Deputy Commissioners and SDOs at the end of the public rallies.
In the meantime, the Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas, Manipur (COPTAM) in its direct memorandum to the chief minister O Ibobi Singh today mentioned that the Manipur tribals staged their peaceful public rally for protection of tribal areas and safeguarding of the tribals as guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
The memorandum of the committee further mentioned that the root cause of the infamous overlapping Census Operation, 2011 and its sister issues like district boundary and revenue collection is due to occupation of some pockets of Hills Areas by non-tribals who later refused to either maintain land records or pay land revenue to the concerned Hill District citing administrative convenience as an excuse for doing so. Such communal attitude is antithesis to the much hyped Manipur integrity issue since all the district boundaries will eventually become a communal boundary.
If the government felt it convenient to place Jiribam sub-division under Imphal East district which is about 250 kms apart, how and why the non-tribal settlement in pockets of hill districts refuse to be part and parcel of the hill districts.
The memorandum also further mentioned that the revenue collection had neither been linked with all previous Census operations nor it was accepted as the sole criteria for demarcation of district boundary in the history of Manipur. There are different sets of rules, regulations and procedures to be followed for demarcating district boundaries. Thus, the unscrupulous sign board erected by PWD in the middle of Kangvai village and redrawing of district boundary by MARSAC is illegal.
The memorandum of the COPTAM also further mentioned that the overlapping census villages are part and parcel of hill administration prior to Independence and continue to remain so when the entire state was divided into five Revenue Districts in 1996. The said areas or villages also fall under reserved MLA constituencies and ADC Constituency drawn in 1972 till the latest ADC election in 2010.
It is also mentioned in their memorandum that nevertheless more than 120 tribal villages are subjected to pay hill house tax to the concerned hill districts while paying land revenue to the neighboring valley district. Such double taxation of weaker sections of the society is a unique case of state sponsored atrocity committed against the minorities, the official memorandum of the COPTAM added.