06/20/2024
We stand with Jiribam District!
The Kuki-Zomi-Hmar-Mizo community inhabiting the state of Manipur pays the Hills House Tax to legally validate and vindicate their rightful ownership of the land they have occupied since time immemorial. However, in the year 2017, the government of Manipur abruptly absolved the tribals of Jiribam district from paying the Manipur Hill Areas Hill House Tax. The government of Manipur's decision to exempt the tribals of Jiribam district from paying the Hills House Tax has left the people in utter confusion.
THE MANIPUR HILL AREAS (HOUSE TAX) ACT, 1966 is an act that certifies any tribals inhabiting the Jiribam district as the rightful owner of their land. By paying the Manipur Hills House Tax, the tribals claim absolute authority over the land they occupy. The payment of the Hills House Tax signifies that they have a lawful ownership of the land they inhabit. It also solidifies that they are the true owners of the land. In other words, it is another way of considering that the lands which included forest land were inhibited from their forefathers. So, it is their inhabited property.
In light of this, the politics involved in the government of Manipur’s decision to exempt the tribals from paying the Hills House Tax in the year 2017 is undeniable. The government of Manipur was approached by Joint Civil Society Organizations to explain why the Jiribam Hills House tax was exempted for the tribals several times. The Civil Society Organizations also consulted the minister from the revenue department on this issue, but no proper and accurate explanation was given to them. With time, it has become apparent that the core intention behind the decision to exempt the payment of Hill House Tax for the tribals inhabiting the Jiribam district by the government of Manipur is to oust and evict the tribals from this area.
The tribals from Jiribam beleives that the government of Manipur has shrewly ceased the tribals from paying the Hills House Tax to brand the tribals as illegal immigrants and deny their rightful ownership. Therefore, now is the right time for us to assert that we are the rightful owners of the land that we occupied in the Jiribam district. It is the right time and opportunity for us to convey the message that we have the necessary documents to support and buttress our assertion in claiming ownership of the land that we have inhabited since our forefathers.
The ongoing conflict is the God-given time for us to demonstrate and manifest that the land that we inhabit in Jiribam pockets is OURS. WE ARE THE RIGHTFUL OWNER. No one can take it away from us. The government of Manipur's intention to grab this land from the tribals is a form of coercion against the tribals and an illegitimate means of driving them out of their ancestral land. It needs to be stopped and challenged! We need to stir the narrative in such a way that the government of Manipur is fully responsible for uprooting the non-Naga Tribals from the land they have inhabited from their forefather and for all the mayhem that occurred in the last few days in Jiribam district.
