IMPHAL (Manipur, India): The Manipur government has formally proposed deleting the category “Any Kuki Tribes” (AKT) from the state’s official Scheduled Tribes (ST) list, a move under review by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs of the Indian government amid concerns over local law and order.
State authorities argue that the broad classification of “Any Kuki Tribes” has been misused to facilitate illegal immigration from neighboring countries and dilute the benefits intended for clearly defined indigenous tribal groups. The government says all recognized Kuki and Naga sub-tribes are already individually listed in the ST order, making the umbrella category unnecessary.
The proposal, first sent to the central ministry in February 2023 and followed by detailed submissions in July 2024 after ministry queries, stems from a 2018 cabinet decision to remove the AKT category. Manipur officials maintain its inclusion has distorted constitutional criteria for ST status and exacerbated ethnic tensions in the state.
The state’s Scheduled Tribes list, subject to parliamentary amendment, originally included AKT after being reinserted in 2003 at the request of a previous Manipur government. Prior to that, it had been removed in 1956. Critics of AKT say its ambiguous nature has led to inconsistencies in ST certificates and potential exploitation of reservation benefits.
The issue is intertwined with broader ethnic conflicts in Manipur between the hill-dwelling tribal communities, including various Kuki groups, and other ethnic populations over identity, land rights and access to state resources. These tensions have previously erupted into violence, drawing national attention to the complexities of tribal classification and constitutional protections in the region.
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