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IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs- 4th September, 2015

NATIONAL

Manipur in ILPS turmoil

• Manipur,literally translated,"Land of Jewels" is a former Asiatic Kingdom with 3000 old recorded history, which became a part of India in 1949.
• Nested in the NE region of India, having international boundary with Myanmar, is the home of 2.8 million myriad ethnic groups and communities.
• The Crisis in Manipur stems from the long standing demand of the people to introduce Inner Line Permit (ILP) System because of the vulnerability from outsiders to their ethnicity and livelihood.
• The mass movements that happened in past two months had its origin in 1980s where the movement for protection of Manipur people had first started.
• The Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (7th Amendment) Bill, 2015, and the Manipur Shops and Establishments (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2015, were passed unanimously but People have started protest against all the legislations citing them anti-Manipur and Pro-outsiders.
• Manipur is also regarded as place of "Nine Hills and one valley".
• The valley constitutes 10% of the state's geographical area and Meities constitutes 10% of the population there.

   Understanding ILPS : An overlook at the past and the present

• ILPS (Innerline Permit System) is an Official travel document (Obligatory) issued by the Government of India to allow travel permit to Indian Citizen from outside states into a protected area for a limited period of time.
• The Provision for ILPS was made by British under an act called "Bengal Frontier Provision Act, 1873".
• It is still prevalent in North Eastern States of India- Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The sole objective of this regulation is to protect indigenous ethnicity and livelihood of the local tribals.
• Manipur is also demanding for the immediate implementation of ILPS.
• There is no ILPS in Manipur because Manipur was never under British rule. In 1949, the King of Manipur signed a document merging the region with the Indian Union. Before 1949, Manipur was a sovereign state with an elected government.

Implications of ILPS :

• Outsiders can't have permanent residence as they are not given land purchasing right.
• ILPS can only be used for travel purpose.
• ILPS is not applicable to central government employees or security personnel.

Factors that push the people for ILPS :

Implementation of IRPS has certain favourable social, economic, political, cultural, educational and mental implications in Manipur.

Economic

• Protection of land and immovable properties- Once ILP is enforced, outsiders won’t be allowed to purchase, acquire any land in the entire state. It will also make certain that the native people would be the sole owner of land. Moreover, as a result of it, it will ensure the territorial integrity of the state.
• Manual work- It’s clear that in the state most of the manual work is done by outsiders. If the outsiders in the state are bound by the ILP regulation then, the native people will not be deprived of manual works.
• Unemployment- If ILP comes into effect, the ever increasing issue of unemployment in the state would be lessen as outsiders in the state will not be able to get a domicile certificate
• Source of income- Domestic tourist and outsiders who want to enter the state will have to take ILP and a minimal fee has to be paid by the person. This would be their source of income.
• Business and economy- If the ILP comes into effect, instead of some business class people who are seemingly controlling the market of Manipur only the indigenous Manipur is will become proprietors of shops and other business establishments.

Demographic

• Ilegal immigration and Stopping demographic change- Expert have the opinion that if we did not check the illegal influx in and around the bordering areas of the state, such as Jiribam bordering Bangladesh, More bordering Myanmar, it would be a sentimental issue resulting in the demographic change in the state.

Cultural

• Cultural identity- The cultural identity would be jeopardized if ILPS doesn't come into effect. Their indigenous ethnicity and culture is another reason of their fear and insecurity.
• Son of the Soil : NE states like Manipur has strong ethnic nationalism and therefore they claim to be " son of the soil". Being conservative and isolated they generally feel vulnerable whenever there occurs influx of migrated people.
• ILP as a prestige of the state- ILP is not to prevent outsiders entering into Manipur, but it’s sole purpose is to check the flow of undocumented immigrants in the state. It will enable to build an unique Manipuri identity, and gain respect from other societies.

Security

Preventing criminals from taking refuge- ILP is an effective tool to preventing criminals and anti-socials from entering the state and taking refuge here. The martial law AFSPA has also some elements of pushing factor that fuels the agitation

Unfavourable Implications lies ahead

• Some experts argues that the implementation of ILPS will bring social as well as economic anarchy to Manipur if it is implemented.
• No conformity with Indian democratic Values: ILPS has no conformity with the ideas of liberal democracy. Constitutional rights like Right to free movement across the country(Article 19 (1)(d),right to equality(Art 14), right to reside or settke peacefuly within any part of the country (unity and integrity of the nation would be violated if ILPS is implemented.
• Migration isn't always harmful, just needed well equipped law and order:

Migration helps underdeveloped NE states to avail services like medical, educational facilities etc from outside states. Therefore People should demand a well equipped Legislation to regulate the migration.

• ILPS will turn Manipur into more isolated and insulated. Thus it will lead to More insecurity and vulnerability and integrity of the state.

Way forward:

• The demand for ILPS in Manipur is valid and reasonable. Illegal Migration has more threats in terms of security of the state. Recent Bodo Muslim Clash,Bodo Adivashi in Assam was due to the fear of being marginalised and land alienated.
• It is also not reasonable argument on the part of Central government that ILPS can be provoked only in colonized state. Government should not bring political agenda behind their rejection to ILPS in Manipur.
• Though migration is inevitable, so as competition among people. Therefore government has to initiate development activities like establishing schools, colleges, opening jobs, medicals etc.
• Along with inter migration, there also occurs influx of Corporate sector into the State. Therefore the central as well as state government should co operatively develop schemes like Skill India etc in effective way.
• Financial Inclusion and Land Security should uncompromisingly be provided to the people of the State.
• Overall it can be discerned that the implementation of ILPS will not bring only economic isolation but also social backwardness, educational difference, Cultural gap, Political in activism , touch effect of globalization process which in turn will develop Generation Gap.

Connecting dots:

• Critically discuss the pros and come of Inner line Permit System in India.
• Critically discuss the factors that give rise to the demand for ILPS in Manipur. Is this demand legitimate?

Caste based census and related myths:

The census 2011 claims the rise in Muslim population by 0.8 percent and fall in growth rate of Hindus by 2.1 percent. These growth and fall figures are misleading, let us understand how.

Fact sheet of census 2011:

• The growth rate of population has declined from 21.5 to 17.7 percent.
• Muslim population has increased from 13.4 percent of population to 14.2, but rate of growth is considerably lower than in previous decades.
• The decadal growth of Muslim has declined steeply as compared to that of Hindus.
• Fertility rate of Muslim women is declining and this reflects the choice based falling Muslim fertility.
• Muslims have better sex ratio as compared that to Hindus sex ratio.

Pros of studying the Census based on religion line:

• This can help in understanding the indicators of development like educational standard, health etc. and can help in devising effective policy.
• Special emphasis to the areas where they lack and make a move forward to address the religion and region specific matters.

Cons ofstudying the Census based on religion line

• Religion based census classifies only 6 religions as Hinduism, Muslim, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It has no provision for SC and ST, a SC has to choose Hinduism as a religion whereas a ST can choose any religion. This makes the census misleading.
• Also, there is no category called as ‘Atheist’, counting of atheist also bloats the census figures.
• This can indirectly threaten the unity of the country. Also, it can challenge the harmony among the different religion in different regions.
• Probably, in long term scenario, this may inculcate the seed of the communalism and deter the peace and communal harmony.

Background:

• After census 2001, Union Government appointed Sachar Committee to investigate into the ‘socio, economic and educational’ status of Muslims. Sachar report dispelled the misunderstanding of Muslim population growth. Now, after a decade it is important to analyze what 2011 census shed light on.

Way forward:

• To present census of India in form of religion census or caste based census indicating the social, economic and educational status
• Census data should also highlight the worker’s participation rate, occupational status, distribution in public employment at national and state level, literacy rate etc.
• Census can pave a way forward for the understanding of the present prevailing condition and challenges thereon associated with the religion/ caste. Further, this can help in better policy making and effective and informed decisions made for each of them.

Connecting the Dots:

• Critically analyze, how religion based census help us to understand the economic indicators and their reflection on India as a whole
• Critically comment on the religion based census and its utility in light of India being a secular nation.