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IMPHAL, Aug 3: The demand to grant the Meiteis a Scheduled Tribe (ST) status continue to create pandemonium in Manipur.On Saturday, All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) in a memorandum submitted to Manipur chief minister O Ibobi said, "In the event of the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee Manipur (STDCM) gaining momentum for recognition of Meeteis as ST and considering the impending dangerous socio- political upheavals in the state, we, the executive council of ATSUM, on behalf of the tribal communities of Manipur beg to submit this memorandum for your impartial judgement and action".The ATSUM said it does not have any political affiliation or allegiance to any political party."Nevertheless, as an apex hill based tribal students’ organisation living in the state of Manipur, it is our bounden duty to share our shared opinion and displeasure over the ill- conceived demand of the STDCM for recognition of ST to the Meeteis who have been living at par with the rest of the privileged section of societies in all spheres of lives for the past sixty years of independence".The ATSUM memo said the 'illogical' claim that the Meeteis fulfilled all the criterion to become ST on the basis of Mongoloid race and prevalence of distinctive religion and culture is irrational on the ground that any community big or small practice some form of religion and possess a unique culture of their own. In other words, having religion or separate culture doesn’t necessarily mean or constitute the prime reason to include a particular community to be in the list of scheduled tribe, ATSUM stated.According to the tribal student body, in the Constitution of India, no criteria has been spelt out for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe."As however, taking into account the definitions in the 1931 census and the reports of the First Backward classes commission 1955, the advisory committee on revision of ST/ SC 1965 and the joint committee of Parliament on SCs and STs orders amendment bill 1967 and basically basing on Article 342 of the constitution, the criteria such as for specification of a community as a scheduled tribe include indication of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with community at large, and backwardness," ATSUM pointed out."The Scheduled Tribes are the tribes or tribal communities or part of groups within these tribes and tribal communities which have been declared as such by the president through a public notification partly by habitat and geographical isolation but even more on the basis of social, religion, linguistic and cultural distinctiveness---their tribal characteristic. Scheduled tribes are spread across the country mainly in the forest and hilly regions who are segregated from the rest of the world socially and economically," the memorandum further pointed out.According to the tribal student body, during a debate in the constituent assembly, Dr. Ambedkar the Chairman of the Drafting Committee was very particular about the word Scheduled to be used before the ‘tribe and the caste’ to mean the ‘selected or the chosen ones’. Thus in the context of India, scheduled tribe mean the selected tribes for protective discrimination to be valid only for 10 years after the promulgation of the constitution of India. But since the Scheduled group couldn’t come up at par with the rest of the citizens in all spheres of lives, protective discrimination continues even after sixty years of independence. It is quite obvious that the plain people viz. Meeteis/ Meitei were included in the general category of the people by the central Govt. due to the simple fact that (the Meetei) have superseded the component characteristics of a tribe, ATSUM stated.
In the course of a continuous process of civilization for over a period of 2000 years dating back from 33 AD, the Meeteis have abandoned/ discarded their primitive cultural traits from being tribal to general, from rural to urbanization, economic backwardness to economically advance people in the valley of the golden kingdom (SANA KUNUNG). Therefore, the empirical points of arguments and the modalities for deciding claims for inclusion of the Meeteis in the ST category involves rational philosophy to ascertain that the proposals are based on the broad criterion such as way of living, habitation in Geographically isolated areas, hilly terrains, islands, deserts, etc., prevalence of Primitive traits in the matters of clothing, cleanliness, etc., engagement in occupations like hunting, trapping of birds and animals, stone carvings, making articles from forest woods and bamboo, hike and skin work, etc., mostly non-vegetarians with distinctive food habits like consuming roots and tubers, meat of animals, homemade alcoholic drinks, etc. And social customs and religious practices such as peculiar ritual and ceremony for marriages, specific deities and peculiar ways of worshipping, peculiarity in dress eg. Wearing headgears, ornaments and tattooing, etc., unflinching faith in the diktats of clan heads, dialect, peculiarity of language/ dialect generally distinct from general population in the areas.Educational and Economic status such as very poor rate of literacy as compared to the general literacy rate in the areas, living below poverty line and no sense of savings and dependence on money lenders."While analysing the above criteria, it should be well noted that the tribes in India are tribes in transition. The criterion of backwardness does remains as the main criterion. The relative backwardness of a community as compared to the society at large and other communities in the area has therefore to be judged. Such Data should inter-alia; include the data on the representation of the community in the Government/ public sectors services, political institutions like parliament, state assemblies and local bodies," the ATSUM memorandum said."The social divide between the people of the hills and valley and the derogatory name given to the tribal of Manipur by the Meetei as ‘haos’ besides social segregation as untouchables to the Hill men/ Tribal is an established fact that the Meeteis have crossed several phases of civilisation to the mainstream of modernity. As such they do not deserve to be categorised as ST under any circumstances. Since time immemorial, the Hills- Valley divide has been a major theme in understanding ethnic relations in India’s north eastern State of Manipur. The Hills nestle numerous historical communities, also known in India’s constitutional discourse as ‘tribe’. Generally speaking, the Hill people are understood as ST for their primitive characteristic, topographical isolation and economic backwardness," ATSUM further stated.The memorandum then said in the wake of the STDCM delegation to Delhi demanding for recognition of ST status by a section of Meetei community and the positive response of the Prime Minister for approval from the State cabinet, the ATSUM organised a penal discussion on 27th July2013 at Tribal Research Institute, Imphal, encompassing tribal leaders, Intellectuals and experts in the field of Anthropology and sociology. The distinguished members present in the august gathering unanimously resolved to protest vehemently the move of the STDCM and also to form a Core Committee drawn from various disciplines in order to make a concerted tribal movement. Pertaining to this, the Government of Manipur has been urged to refer to the Chairman of the Hill Area Committee in all matters relating to the administration of the Hills under article 371 (c) of the constitution of India.It also said in the light of the above facts and circumstances, your kind attention is sought to defuse the claim of the STDCM for recognition of ST status to the valley people. While championing the common goal to bring cohesion, socio-cultural harmony and peaceful co- existence of various ethnic groups, your good government is expected to lend a helping hand to defuse the claim of the STDCM before the damage is done."We look forward to seeking your opinion, suggestion and advice for the well being of the State," the memo invited.
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