Newmai News Network Imphal | November 7 A tribal rights body from Manipur is all set to present issues confronting the hill districts of Manipur at a national level conclave to be held in Jharkhand in the middle of this month. According to the All Tribal Rights’ Protection Forum Manipur (ATRPFM), it will place the challenging issues faced by the tribal people of Manipur in that national level conclave which will be held at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand from November 14 to 19. The ATRPFM said that the former is being invited to participate at “Samvaad-Tribal Conclave”. As part of the preparatory measures, a one-day consultative meeting was organized today by the ATRPFM at Tribal Research Institute (TRI) in Imphal where tribal intellectuals participated. The consultative meeting dwelt on “Amendment of the Manipur (Village Authorities in Areas) Act, 1956”, “Powers”, “Functions of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs)” and “Separate budget for hills”. Daniel, advocate of High Court of Manipur, B.D. Behring, ex-MP/MLA and Romeo Bungdon, General Secretary of All Manipur Tribal Union (AMTU) were the resource persons in the meeting. “Some members Autonomous District Councils were also participated in the programme,” the ATRPFM said. The participants have detailed discussion on several issues faced by the tribal people and suggested some points to be presented at the Jamshedpur tribal conclave. One of the points discussed in today’s consultative meeting and resolved to be taken up said they will “strive for full implementation of the Village Authorities Act in the hill areas of Manipur so as to translate the Act into a reality and secure the local governance in the true spirit”. Another point discussed ad resolved to be taken up has been that, they will “work for full functioning of ADC under Hill Areas Committee (HAC) as mandated by Article 371C of the Constitution of India and the order made there under, i.e. the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order 1972 with their own budget as they work in grassroot level”. The third point adopted has been that, they will “pressurize for separate budget for the hill people under Tribal Sub-Plan/Tribal Sub-Scheme so as to lift up the economical status of the hill people to the level of the rest as mandated under Article 371C of the Constitution of India and the order made there under, i.e. the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order 1972”. Fourthly, the participants also discussed and adopted a resolution that they will “strive for unity of tribal people residing in the State of Manipur for achieving their common interest”. They also resolved to “continue to fight for conduct of election of chairman in respect of ADC, Churachandpur, at the earliest as non-conduct of election for such a long period is a constitutional breakdown”. Finally, the participants of today’s consultative meeting resolved to “secure the implementation of pension scheme for the employees of ADCs which is pending”.
