IMPHAL, Nov 4: The United Naga Council (UNC) has written to
Arjun Munda, who is Union minister of tribal affairs, on October
31, 2023, requesting him to ignore the project proposals
submitted to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs vide D.O.No.11/vc
KVIB/04/2023, Imphal, May 12, 2023, D.O.No 2/6/2023-CM
Imphal, October 23, 2023.
In the letter, which was made available to Newmai News
Network tonight, the UNC said, “As cited in the subject, the
undersigned on behalf of the tribal populace beg to bring the
following few facts for favour of your kind consideration and
sympathetic action that the tribals living in the state of Manipur
have come to learn that the vice chairman of the Manipur
Khadi & Village Industries Board, Lamphel, Imphal had recently
submitted 6 project proposals to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,
Government of India for consideration of the same exclusively
for the valley -based NGOs based in Imphal East and Imphal
West in the guise that valley based NGOs are relentlessly
working for the tribals in the far flung areas of Manipur”.
The UNC letter to the Union minister also said the office of the
Manipur Khadi and Village Industries Board has its own ministry
and hence submitting proposals to Tribal Affairs Ministry
without mentioning the targeted beneficiaries and
locations/areas for implementation is “ultra vires and a ploy to
siphon off the fund allocated for the tribals of Manipur”.
The letter further said the Tribal Affairs & Hills Manipur being
the nodal department and in-charge of tribal programmes and
activities, plan formulation and documentation, work proposals
etc. for that matter ought to be within the purview of the Tribal
Affairs and Hills department and not any other agency.
The Naga body also said the Ministry of tribal affairs,
government of India, has identified priority districts for the
state of Manipur viz, Tamenglong with 95.72% of ST population,
Ukhrul with 94.35%, Churachandpur with 92.94%, Chandel with
88,97% and Senapati with 87.49% and therefore, allocation of
funds under proviso to article 275(1) of the constitution of India
is solely for the purpose of promoting the welfare of Scheduled
Tribes in the state or raising the level of administration of
scheduled areas therein to that of the administration of the
areas of the state with limited allocation of fund. “As such,
breaking up/splitting the allocated funds meant for the tribals
to valley based NGOs will certainly destabilize the Tribal Affairs
in its execution of work programmes and yield negative impact
while addressing the need of plugging critical gaps,” the UNC
letter added.
“In the light of the above reasons, your good self is requested
kindly to ignore the project proposals in the larger interest of
the tribals of Manipur,” the UNC further added. (NNN)
