IMPHAL, July 2: The Muan Tombing led All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) submitted a memorandum consisting eight charters of demands to Governor Vinod Kumar Duggal in a meeting on Wednesday.
ATSUM representatives hold talks with the Governor for 40 minutes at around 3:30 pm in the Raj Bhavan , ATSUM president Muan tombing said.
The memorandum which consists of eight charters of demands include the non-fulfilment of flagship programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Health Services, anomalies in PMGSY, failure to expedite the commencement of Schedule Tribes (ST) Commission, culture of service extension particularly for Schedule Tribes, non-existence of State Chief Information Commissioner, lack of development of proper educational institutes in hill districts.
President Muan Tombing said they have highlighted various grievances of the tribals such as total negligence of reservation of tribal quota in every government department, denying of the tribal rights by the Manipur Assembly Secretariat where out of a total strength of 319 only 17 are STs which is against the reservation norms and the anomalies in the implementation of tribal sub-plan (TSP).
ATSUM representatives have urged the Governor to intervene on their behalf in these matters for the quick redressal of their grievances to ensure equality, fraternity and inalienable rights to the tribals guaranteed by the constitution of India, added the ATSUM president.
He said that the Governor has assured to take appropriate actions on these matters after discussing with the State government, adding that the Governor will meet Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on July 5.
The students’ body have a brief discussion after submitting the memorandum to the Governor. They will meet the Governor after two weeks to fully deliberate on their demands.
