Centre asks to study delisting Kukis, Zomis from ST list 

The Manipur government has been asked by the Centre to examine a representation seeking deletion of the “Nomadic Chin-Kuki” from the list of Scheduled Tribes in Manipur

The Manipur government has been asked by the Centre to examine a representation seeking deletion of the “Nomadic Chin-Kuki” from the list of Scheduled Tribes in Manipur. The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry said that a representation seeking delisting was made by Maheshwar Thounaojam, National Secretary of the Republican Party of India (Athawale), who is based in Imphal.

Throughout 2023 several Meitei groups in Manipur made representations seeking inclusion in the ST list. There was one appeal from an association of Meitei Pangals (Meitei Muslims). This is the first time a case is being made that Meiteis get ST status by excluding Kuki and Zomi tribes from the list. The reasoning is that they are not indigenous to the land.

In a letter dated December 26, 2023, the Union government said the process of inclusion or exclusion from ST list requires the proposal to originate from the concerned State government and hence it was sending the representation to the State government for its recommendation.

The State of Manipur is witnessing an ethnic conflict between the dominant valley-based Meitei people and the Scheduled Tribe hills-based Kuki-Zo people since May 3, 2023. Nearly 200 people have been killed in the conflict, leaving hundreds injured and tens of thousands internally displaced. 

The immediate trigger for the conflict was reportedly a March 19 order by the Manipur High Court, which directed the State government to send a recommendation on ST status for Meiteis to the Centre, upsetting existing STs in the State. This order has since gone into review in the High Court and has also been appealed by tribal bodies. 

In the representation marked to Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda on December 11, 2023, Mr. Thounaojam cites a Supreme Court judgement from January, 2011 to suggest that “all Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) shall be original inhabitants of India”. He then goes on to argue that in light of this judgement “the Kukis including Zomis of Manipur do not qualify as Scheduled Tribes of Manipur on the ground that they are not original inhabitants of Manipur”.

However, a perusal of the cited judgement showed that the case had nothing to do with deciding the definition of a tribe. It was a criminal appeal in a case of an atrocity against a tribal Bhil woman in Maharashtra. The SC had upheld the conviction and in the process remarked that ancestors of present-day STs in India were most likely the original inhabitants of the land.