Newmai News Network
IMPHAL, Jan 17: All Manipur Tribal Union (AMTU) today urged upon the tribal populace in the state to elect those candidates who can strengthen the Hill Area Committee (HAC) at the ensuing assembly elections, describing the committee as the sole institute which can constitutionally protect the interest of the tribals.
It accused the state government of attempting to reduce the tribals into victims under feudal policies. For example, the reserved forests in Chandel district were declared in the year 1939 when the British colonial regime forcibly made the declaration under Indian Forest Act, 1927 without the consent of the tribal chiefs, AMTU general secretary Romeo Bungdon stated while adding that the Manipur Forest Rules, 1971 further broadened the classification of the forests in Manipur into three categories- reserve forest, protected forest and unclassified or open forest.
Another controversial policy of the state is to transfer the power vested for recognition of a village in the hill areas from hills department to revenue department, most probably by overruling the HAC, he said.
The union warned that the government, under its ambiguous policies, could introduce more policies and regulations in the tribal areas undermining their aspirations. It asserted that land grabbing and displacement of villages have already begun which is a gruesome violation of Article 371 of the Indian Constitution.
The union appealed to the tribal people to focus on electing leaders capable of strengthening the HAC. It further urged hill-based political parties and political leaders to adopt such survival politics for retrieval strategies by cutting across party lines, maintaining that it could ultimately eradicate foreseeable threats.
