IMPHAL, Jul 9: With the completion of drafting a new Bill for protection of all indi-genous people of Manipur, a meeting of all political parties was held today at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
The meeting was presided by Chief Minister O Ibobi and the participants discussed the acts of omissions and commissions and lapses, if there are any in the draft Bill.
Some political leaders who attended the meeting said that most of the participants were appreciative of the draft Bill and they felt there were little provisions/clauses which could be added.
Notably, the meeting was attended by representatives of Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress, BJP, LJP, CPI-M, CPI and JD-U.
However, NPP and NPF stayed away from the meeting.
Taking due note of the fact that the Manipur Peoples Bill 2015 was withheld by the Government of India, the meeting discussed about naming the new Bill with jargon different from the earlier one.
Some of the participants proposed replacement of the term ‘inner line permit system’ with ‘indigenous people protection’.
In a remarkable deviation from the PMP Bill 2015, the new draft Bill proposed January 21, 1972 as the base year for identification of indigenous people of Manipur.
Notably, the PMP Bill 2015 adopted 1951 as the base year for identification of indigenous people of Manipur.
Most of the political parties which attended the meeting expressed their appreciation on adopting January 21, 1972 as the base year as Manipur has its census records in 1972, con- veyed the political leaders.
Nonetheless, all the political parties agreed on referring the draft Bill to constitutional and legal experts so as to plug in all loopholes and lapses, if there is any.
The draft Bill would be studied in another meeting of all political parties after it has been referred to constitutional and legal experts.
This would be followed by another meeting with all stake holders belonging to all communities including JCILPS to elicit their opinions on the draft Bill, added the political leaders.
