After Kanglatongbi-Kangpokpi Forest reserve, opposition has again risen in Khoupum-Churachandpur Forest reserve. The land survey was earlier blocked and thwarted by irate villagers on two occasions. However, Manipur government on Friday decided to move ahead with the survey work after Chief Minister N Biren Singh held a crucial meeting with Churachandpur MLA LM Khaute and village chiefs.
It may be mentioned that the villagers of Valpakot and Sielmat blocked all the entrance and exit points of the village to show their resentment and repudiation against surveys being carried out in their village on April 11 and 13. The survey team led by Tuibong SDO Jangminlen Lupho and Churachandpur ADM S Thienlaljoy Gangte could not go ahead with the survey as the villagers, along with various civil society organizations, strongly opposed the survey.
The student organisations objected to the survey as it was allegedly being done without the consent from the village chief and the concerned village authorities. On the other hand, the Saikot MLA Paolienlal Haokip, has asked the state government to stop the survey. Strange indeed.
One remembers, tribal chieftains backed by SoO groups had gathered forces to oppose the state’s policy on land resources and forests. The stated objective is to protect land and forests from ‘external’ forces. The external forces they are talking about is the state government and forest laws of the country. They seek to challenge the state government’s intent to rationalise the overlapping boundaries of districts in terms of both revenue and police jurisdiction besides the laws of the nation governing forest land, including reserve forests and protected forests. It is as if they do not recognise the state and its laws. We will have to see how the state deals with this latest assertion.
We understand that some leaders among the Kuki-Chin groups are against the strict implementation of forest laws and campaign against poppy cultivation in the hills areas. We sometimes doubt whether they have a love of the land on which they are claiming their rights. However, they slash and burn the hill-sides and plant poppies spoil the fertility of the land with chemical fertilizers. In short, they waste the land and its fertility for short-term gains.
We earnestly feel that the communities living in the state should be alive to the geo-political reality of ‘Ching-Pat-Turel’ and affinity with hills, lakes and rivers which is very inherent in a shared historical experience through the ages. As we said before, there simply should not be such a thing as ‘ancestral land’ in a composite state like ours and anybody who flags such terms always have an ulterior agenda. They should rather be questioning themselves on what they have done so far for conservation and upkeep of the land or mountains or rivers they are claiming to own. Land and territory is a dear thing for individuals and groups, even in the animal kingdom.
Everyone tries to zealously guard their land and territory. But, any claim has to be backed by proper land records and verifiable documents. Just as the valley people respect the land rights of the people in the hills, the hill people also need to respect the land rights of the valley people, also. It would be considered unwise if the hill dwellers go on claiming every mound and molehill as their ancestral land.
The issue of land reforms in the hills had been made very complicated over the years by some powerful lobbies by spicing it with wrong notions of indigenous land rights, an imagined threat perception of the valley people coming to settle in the hills, and of course flavours of sentiment while all the time side-lining the rights of common people in the hills with regard to individual land ownership.
- EDITORIAL
