Meitei ST demand in Manipur gets HC boost

A recent Manipur High Court order directing the state government to recommend the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list has again brought to the fore long-standing fault lines between the plains-dwelling community and the state’s Hill tribes.

The current flashpoint was triggered by a petition that the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union filed in the High Court seeking directions to the Manipur government to submit a recommendation to the Union Ministry for Tribal Affairs for the inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the ST list of the Constitution as a “tribe among tribes in Manipur”.