UNC slams Manipur's land use policy

IMPHAL: The Manipur government's New Land Use Policy (NLUP), 2014, aimed at improving productivity and minimizing pressure on land resources, has been strongly opposed by United Naga Council (UNC). The organization claims that the policy will deprive the state's tribals of their land rights.

According to UNC, the tribal population in Mizoram is 100% and so the legal implications of the policy are universal. "In Manipur, tribals constitute 41% of the population, but own 90% of the land. Hence, the policy will dilute their land rights," said UNC.

A conglomeration of several Naga civil bodies of Manipur, UNC is pro-Alternative Arrangement (AA) for the state's Nagas. "The NLUP is roping in the village development committees. These are abolishing the village republic system of the Nagas and the tribals," it said, adding that no new policy, law or notification on land and resources would be welcomed by Nagas till the AA is in place. The seventh round of tripartite talks on AA, involving UNC, Centre and the state government, was held in Senapati district headquarters on February 6 this year.

To protest against what it termed "the unabated communal actions and policies of the state government to usurp tribal land and destroy their traditional institutions", UNC had called a 48-hour bandh in the Naga areas of Manipur last month.