A tangled web

Over the last five decades since it attained statehood in 1972, the Government has remained the sole driver and regulator of Manipur's economy. In 2000-01, government expenditure accounted for 78 per cent of the state income, or the Gross State Domestic Product; in 2021-22, it was still 79 per cent of GSDP. Corruption is the order of the day and accountability remains a far cry, a fact testified by reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India year after year, on which no remedial action is ever taken

- GOVIND BHATTACHARJEE

Ever since Manipur erupted in violence on May 3, it has been continuing to burn and the violence shows no sign of abating. Prospect of peace seems to recede with every passing day and differences between the ethnic groups seem ever more irreconcilable. Neither the State nor the central government seem to have any clue about controlling the spiralling violence and restoring normalcy. In the process, many alternative and mostly unworkable suggestions have emerged and are being debated: these include separate territorial administrations or even separate states for the warring ethnic groups of Meiteis and Kukis and giving more autonomy and powers to the existing autonomous district councils, as if autonomy alone could solve all problems. The reality, however, is that Manipur's problems are too complex and multi-layered to be addressed by such simplistic solutions, and in the short term. It remains a deeply divided society and the divisions run deep due to a combination of demographic, geographic and historical factors.

To understand the root of the problem, we first need to look at the demography of Manipur. The state has two major physiographic regions, the Manipur River valley and a large surrounding tract of mountainous territory referred to as the Hills.

As per the 2011 census, of its population of 28.55 lakh, 70 per cent live in the rural areas. About 57 per cent of the population are the Meitei, who live in the valley and are largely Hindus. But the valley is a hillgirdled island of just 10 per cent of the State area which hosts 57 per cent of the population, while the Hills have 90 per cent of the area that hosts 43 per cent of the population including indigenous hill tribes like the Naga in the north and the Kuki in the south, who are mostly Christians and members of Scheduled Tribes (STs).