Imphal, Apr 23 : The feeling of alienation of the hill people for nearly two decades in the absence of grassroots governance will be finally over with the Cabinet decision of promulgation of an ordinance on Autonomous District Councils to replace the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971.
Imphal, Apr 23 : The objective of the state government is otherwise only to prevent violation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, an act of the Centre which is also extended in the state for implementation of the National Rural Employment Scheme.
Under the NREGs guidelines it is required to include non-official members representing Panchayati Raj Institutions or its equivalent grassroots governance in the various stages of implementation of the scheme.
But even though in Manipur the scheme was implemented in Tamenglong district after inclusion of the same district among the most backward districts of the state, it has been implemented without the elected representatives of the people as there was no election of the ADC, the local self government in the hill areas.
If the state government was not compelled to do so, the question of promulgation of the ordinance may not arise as the amendment of the ADC Act remains pending.
The long delay in holding elections in the district councils in the hill districts was due to the demand for the extension of Sixth Schedule status to the hill areas and it has made the people of the hill areas feel a sense of alienation even as district councils effectively reverted to direct administration under the deputy commissioners.
The feeling of alienation has been further heightened with the departments which hitherto worked through their district offices increasingly becoming centralized with almost all development schemes being formulated and implemented from Imphal, the capital of Manipur. Though the panchayati raj system is apparently present in the valley districts, it has limited resources and manpower at its command.
But the long hold up in elections in the district council has resulted in discontinuation and breakdown of the traditional system and the absence of participative grassroots democracy in the hill areas.
To recall, the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the hills area were introduced in the state in 1973 under the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971 with an objective of participation of the people belonging to the tribal and backward classes in the hill areas in development. Six ADCs were set up, one each in Tamenglong, Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel, Churachandpur and Sadar Hill (Kangpokpi).
Even as in normal circumstances the election of members to the ADCs are to be held before or after the expiry of their term, election in five ADCs of Sadar Hills, Tamenglong, Churachandpur, Chandel and Ukhrul could not be held in time due to the revision of electoral rolls all over the state following the amendments in the voting age of electors.
The terms for the said five ADCs expired on February 28, 1989. In 1990 the Hill Areas Committee of the Manipur legislative Assembly adopted a resolution not to hold election to the ADCs until the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution is extended to the present district councils.
The Hills Areas Committee reviewed the 1990 resolution and adopted a resolution urging the state government to take initiative for the election of the ADCs observing that the present Act and rules relating to the district councils needed to be reviewed and amended before the elections were held.
At the same time, the committee retained its previous recommendation for extension of the Sixth Schedule to the hill districts. Afterwards, the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act, 2000.
The act gives the ADCs legislation, executive and judicial powers on the lines of what is contained in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Under the same act, the ADCs will also have the power to set up village and town committees, which addressed the point made by the Chief Minister`s Social policy Advisory Committee that the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971 did not provide for structural or functional linkages between the district councils and village-level bodies.
However, a challenge in the court on a provision in the act which stated that only persons who have been schedule tribe residents of a district for at least five years can qualify to be chosen as members of the district council came up from the Nepali residents of Sadar Hills under Senapati district.
The rules under the provisions of the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Councils Act 2000 have been framed and are being vetted by the law department.On the other hand, the demand of the tribal people for the extension of the Sixth Schedule to the hill areas could not be subdued by the enactment of the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act, 2000.
The Sixth Schedule Demand Committee, Manipur has been pressurizing for the implementation of the state Cabinet decision on the recommendation to the Centre on the extension of the Sixth Schedule.
While the proposal came up from the state government the Union government has been seeking clarification of the term “with certain local adjustments and amendments” included in the Cabinet decision.
To examine the matter, a Cabinet sub-committee was constituted and the state government is still waiting for the recommendation of the sub-committee. In the light of this, devolution of powers to the district council has been held in abeyance.
It is also pertinent to mention that the traditional village councils still exist in Manipur, though they have been legally replaced by the Manipur (Village Authorities in Hill Areas) Act, 1956.
The act merely imposes a modern structure on the traditional system.
Under this act the village authority is responsible for maintaining law and order and two village members function as village court. Every village with 20 or more tax paying houses must have a village authority, with the number of members depending on the number of tax paying houses, with a three-year term. By and large, village authorities are elected bodies.
However, these bodies are not truly representative of the people, though there is a semblance of democracy.
Since the SPF government came to power in 2002 for the first time under the leadership of chief minister O Ibobi, at many instances, the amendment to the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act was discussed but no conscious agreement came till the final introduction of the amendment bill in the recently concluded Assembly session.
Despite hectic efforts of the state government to pass the amendment bill, it could not be passed and hence the bill was withdrawn from the House.
AFP
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