Why Delay; Carry Out a Socio-economic Survey and Ethnographic Study

Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has recently announced that they are taking their campaign, the demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Meitei community, across India.

It is unfortunate that various organisations spearheading the demand for ST status for Meiteis continue to ignore the Manipur High Court Orders dated 27.03.2023, read with modified order dated 21.02.2024, which they themselves had sought on their own volition. The court in its Order referred to the letter of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, stating that “The first respondent is directed to submit the recommendation in reply to the letter dated 29.5.2013 of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India.” The first respondent is the “state government” and the Government of India had asked for sending specific recommendations along with the “latest socio-economic survey and ethnographic study”.

The state government, STDCM (Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur), MMTU and WMC (World Meitei Council) are all ignoring the advise of the Court to send the latest socio-economic survey and ethnographic study which entails carrying out a “new/fresh” socio-economic survey and ethnographic study. The criteria for inclusion in the list of ST is clearly laid down by the Lokur Committee which are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with community at large and backwardness. The criteria definitely does not ask for popularity of demand (missed calls), scarcity of land, demand by various Meitei student/social bodies or support by well wishers across the country.

The Meiteis are the dominant community with 53% of Manipur population and 40 MLAs out of 60 in the state assembly. They dominate the state government, police force, departments of Engineering, Health, Education and Judiciary in Manipur, and therefore, control the state government. They are more prosperous, influential and powerful compared to the combined minority communities in Manipur. A certain section of Meitei community is already in the Scheduled Caste (SC) list. Majority of Meitei community is already in the OBC list. They have got everything they want and now they are after tribal land in “Hill Areas” to grab it through the ST route. Any move by the state government to send a proposal to the Central government based on out-dated socio-economic survey and ethnographic study reports has the imminent risk of being misinterpreted by the tribal people and could trigger a wider conflict like the Manipur High Court Order dated 27.03.2023 had triggered the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meitei community and Kuki-Chin tribes. Only difference is that this time it may become a tribal versus non-tribal (Meitei) conflict.

Every time the MMTU, STDCM and WMC make their pitch, it becomes clearer that the sole purpose of ST demand is to grab tribal lands from the tribes in the “Hill Areas” of Manipur, which is protected by the Constitution, and they know that they can possess it if they themselves become ST. They also appear to be aiming for denying the current STs (tribals) of Manipur their due share in reservation of government jobs and seats in higher education. Of all communities in Manipur, only the Meitei community is asserting that the “integrity of Manipur cannot be disturbed”, but the tribal communities are unhappy by the way the affairs of the state are managed, detrimental to the interests of the tribal people and the “Hill Areas” that they do not want to be part of Manipur. The irony is that their own action of demanding for ST status is strengthening the feeling that the interest of the tribal people and “Hill Areas” lies in not being part of Manipur and this realisation of hegemonic attitude of Meiteis and to keep the tribes suppressed and subjugated is slowly tearing the state apart.

This matter of a nationwide campaign for ST status for Meitei community is ridiculous as it has no relevance to the Lokur Committee criteria that some people have started wondering whether the nationwide campaign is a “Bharat Darshan” for the organisers at the expense of rustic doners who are being misled and fooled. The only thing that needs to be done by those demanding for ST status is to pressurise the state government to carry out a transparent socio-economic survey and an ethnographic study through a credible independent third party. The reality of the socio-economic situation of the Meitei community is so glaringly stark that it will only expose their advancements on all spheres of life (social, economic, cultural and political attainments) that the likelihood of the result of survey showing the Meitei community as backward is NIL. Is this why the organisers are afraid to ask for new survey and study? But, they should know that keeping the pot boiling only heightens the tension that is prevailing in the air and this is not good for the integrity of the state.

Ngaranmi Shimray

New Delhi

shimray2011@gmail.com