For ST status demand, Meitei students body hold a mass rally

Imphal: In Manipur’s South Kakching district, hundreds of students participated in a rally demanding Schedule Tribe (ST) status for the Meitei/Meitei community.
Organized by the World Meitei Council (WMC), students from several schools marched for 3-4 km on the highway carrying banners and chanting slogans.
A participant stated that ST status was considered essential for the future of the Meitei community.
Banners showed the state’s chief minister with pleas for recognition, while student placards echoed the sentiment.
This student action reflects a wider movement of WMC, organizations and the Meitei community itself.
In 2013, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs wrote to the state government to send “updated socio-economic survey and ethnographic report with specific recommendations” to consider inclusion of the Meiti/Meitei community in the ST list of India.
However, the state government has not yet sent its recommendations. Importantly, the Meiteis living in the valley districts of Manipur are not included in the ST list of India.
However, during the British rule in India, the Meiteis were classified as an ancient hill tribe of the province of Assam. When Manipur merged with the Union of India in 1949, they had tribal status under British rule.Manipur was under British rule from 1891 to 1947.