Manipur govt mulls to re-examine ST status of Kuki, Chin tribes amid ethnic violence

livemint.com:

Manipur and that's what to led widespread violence in the state starting from 3 May. The violence in which more than 200 people were killed began when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to recommend ST status for Meiteis to the Centre. The verdict led to agitations by the various tribal groups in the state and resulted in widespread violence.

“They were included in the list, but how it was included has to be re-examined. So before giving any comment, we have to form a committee consisting of all tribes, then only will we be able to send a complete proposal for deletion or inclusion… Anything might be… but after the committee is formed," Newsclick quoted CM N Biren Singh as saying during the event. The remarks by the Chief Minister come as the Ministry of Tribal Affairs directed the Chief Secretary of Manipur to examine the ST status of “Nomadic Chin-Kuki" tribes and see if there is any merit in the claims made by Maheshwar Thounaojam, National Secretary of the Republican Party of India (Athawale), who is requesting deletion of these tribes from the list.

Maheshwar Thounaojam has quoted the Supreme Court's 2011 verdict which suggested that “all Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) shall be original inhabitants of India." The Republican Party of India (Athawale) then submitted that the “Nomadic Chin-Kuki" must not be included in the ST list as they are not the original inhabitants of Manipur. However, the SC verdict nowhere explicitly says that being original inhabitants is a prerequisite for the ST status. The observation came while deciding on a case of atrocity against tribal women in Maharashtra.