Ministry tells House panel only 38 civilians died in northeast in 2023, skips mention of Manipur

Union Home Ministry reports significant decrease in civilian deaths and insurgency incidents in northeast from 2014 to 2023.

There has been an 82% reduction in civilian deaths in the northeast in comparison to 2014 to 2023, the Union Home Ministry claimed in a presentation made to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday (November 12, 2024), as per informed sources. More than 240 people have been killed in ethnic violence that erupted in the State on May 3, 2023. Around 160 people were killed from May 3-December 31, 2023, as per government answers to the Parliament. 

The presentation was made by Home Secretary Govind Mohan who was accompanied by 46 other officials from the Ministry. As per the presentation, in 2014 there were 212 civilian deaths and in 2023, the Ministry only listed 38 civilian deaths. The presentation also spoke of 71% reduction in insurgency incidents between 2014 and 2023 from 824 incidents in 2014, down to 243 in 2023. The Home Ministry said there had been a 60% reduction in security forces casualties from 20 deaths in 2014 to eight deaths in 2023. 

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During the meeting, Opposition members pointed out that the Ministry, in its presentation, has deliberately not made any reference to Manipur. “It is a brazen omission. How can the Home Ministry talk about the northeast, without speaking about Manipur which continues to burn,” an opposition MP and member of the committee said. The MPs also raised Manipur again, when the Ministry’s initiatives for women’s safety came up for discussion. A TMC MP, according to sources, read out the details of the incident of two women who were murdered between November 9-10 in the State.  

A 31-year-old schoolteacher and mother of three children belonging to the Hmar community was allegedly targeted by a group of Meitei armed men at Zairawn village in Jiribam district as her husband and the children managed to flee. Her charred body was recovered from the burnt houses hours later. Hmars are ethnically linked to the Kukis. Hours later, a 27-year-old Meitei woman farmer, Ongbi Sofia Devi, was killed by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was harvesting paddy in her field in the Saiton area in Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district on Saturday morning.

“How can you pat your back on women’s safety, without taking into account what is happening to women in Manipur,” the TMC MP said. 

The Opposition also expressed concern about the fleeting mention of “Centre-State” relations in the Home Secretary’s presentation. A member pointed out that out of 69 pages, only a page was dedicated for the subject. TDP MP Krishna Prasad Tenneti also joined in the chorus with the Opposition on the lack of emphasis on “Centre-State” relations which comes under the Home Ministry’s domain.