The northeastern state of Manipur is witnessing a social turmoil. People are on a warpath to protect their identity and land-rights. Houses of lawmakers are being torched, government offices damaged, curfews defied, resulting in violent clashes between agitators and security personnel on the streets. At least 10 agitators have lost their lives in the past few weeks in acts of retaliation by police.

The genesis of this social unrest lies in the tendency, pervasive across the northeastern region, to create exclusionary mechanisms to firewall any move by ‘outsider’ to grab or settle on their lands. It stems from the perceived fear of getting outnumbered and uprooted by ‘others’ and eventually losing identity.

Background

Manipur consists of hills and valleys. There are five hill districts, which account for 90 per cent of the total land area, and the rest 10 per cent lies in the four valley districts. However, 64 per cent of Manipur’s population reside in the valley districts with only 36 per cent in the hills. According to the 2011 Census, the density of population of the four valley districts was found to be 735 persons per sq km, while the density in five hill districts was only 47 persons per sq km.

Manipuris residing in the valley, also called Meiteis, have a perceived fear that they are being fast marginalised by influx of ‘outsiders’. The hill districts inhabited by various tribes, on the other hand, have laws that prohibit non-tribals (which even include people from the valley) from purchasing land there.

As the Meiteis were feeling the pinch of population pressure on land, they now want land rights to be exclusively reserved for indigenous people (tribal as well as non-tribal) across the state. There demand is the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system or any similar law which would bar ‘outsiders’ from buying land and settling in Manipur.

What is ILP?

ILP is a special pass or permit that anyone willing to visit Manipur will have to obtain before entering the state. The system keeps a track on the number of people entering the state. The ILP system dates back to the British era when it was introduced to separate hills from valleys in larger Assam province. At present, ILP system is in force in three other northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

Agitation for ILP



The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS), an umbrella organisation consisting mainly of student organisations, have been spearheading the ILP agitation for several months. The ILP agitation has been confined mainly to the two valley districts of Imphal East and Imphal West, with other two valley districts of Thoubal and Bishnupur partly affected. The hill districts had largely kept away from the ILP agitation as land encroachment was non-issue for them due to protective laws.

Giving into the agitation by JCILPS, the state government passed three Bills in the Assembly on August 31 - protection of Manipur People Bill; Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reform (Seventh Amendment) Bill; and Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill. Purportedly, the Bills had mechanisms to prevent ‘outsiders’ or non-indigenous people from buying land in the state.

Tribal Backlash

Soon after the Bills were passed in the Assembly, the state witnessed, with the worst affected being the district of Churachandpur. The valley, which was the centre-stage of turmoil till now, has become rather peaceful. The tribals were up in arms as they felt the Bills were designed as part of a conspiracy to oust them from their lands, and hence had to fight back.

The bone of contention was the Protection of Manipur People Bill as it described ‘indigenous Manipuri’ as one whose (or forefather’s) records are there in 1951 Register of Citizens (NRC). According to the tribal community, very few tribals had made it to the NRC 1951 as they were not fully settled and were in transition in those years. They fear the definition of ‘indigenous Manipuri’ in the Bill would make them “outsiders” in their own lands. That would also make them ineligible for purchase of land across the state.

Angry with their political representatives for having not opposed the Bills in the Assembly, the tribal protestors even burnt down the homes of few legislators and a minister on August 31. At least nine protestors have lost their lives in police reprisals since then.

There has been a history of distrust between the tribals and the Meiteis in Manipur, says Pradip Phanjoubam, senior journalist and a political observer, based in Manipur. This feeling of distrust has now incensed the fear among the tribals that the Meiteis were up to grab their lands.

“There may be other factors operating at the subconscious level: the fact that the state’s hill population is free to descend to the valley but reverse movement is prohibited. The agitation may also reflect insecurities caused by the Naga demand for Greater ‘Nagalim’, and by Mizos for Greater Mizoram,” says Phanjoubam.

Terming the three Bills passed on August 31 ‘anti-tribal’, all four Naga People’s Front MLAs had resigned from the Legislative Assembly last Saturday. The rest of the legislators from the hill districts belong to the ruling Congress party and have not tendered their resignation, despite growing pressure on them from the tribal society.

Since violence broke out in the hill districts, the state government has come out with many statements making it clear that the Bills passed were not against the interest of the tribals and that the contentious clauses could be reviewed or deleted. However, peace still eludes the hills of Manipur.