Changing population dynamics Reality check

Fact number 1 : The incursion from across the border is a reality which no one can deny, least of all the people who are indigenous to the land. Fact number 2 : The group of people to be affected first and the most due to the unchecked intrusion from across the border has been the Nagas. Again a reality which none can deny. Fact number 3 : The Free Movement Regime has not been abolished in totality. The reality is that some measures have been introduced to regulate the cross border movement. It was not so long back that The Sangai Express had carried more than one contribution from a young Naga researcher who took the trouble of working out how the number of Naga MLAs in the State Assembly has come down while the number of Kuki-Chin-Zo MLAs has seen a gradual increase down the years. In the first Electoral College (1952 to 1957), out of 30 MLAs in Manipur, there were 7 Naga MLAs, 1 Kuki MLA and 1 Paite MLA. In the Manipur Territorial Council of 1957 to 1962, out of 10 tribal MLAs, there were 8 Naga MLAs, 1 Paite MLA and 1 Thadou Kuki MLA while in the first Manipur Legislative Assembly of 1972-73 out of 60 MLAs, 13 were Naga MLAs, while only 6 represented the Kuki-Chin community. In the second Manipur Legislative Assembly, the Naga representation declined while the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs increased to 7 and one Kom MLA and in the 1980 to 1985 Assembly, the number of Naga MLAs decreased to 10 while the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs shot up to 9, wrote the young Naga researcher. The gradual spike in the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs down the years is a reflection of the increasing number of the Kuki-Chin population and in yet another article the same young Naga researcher had pointed out how the number of Kuki-Chin villages in Kang-pokpi has seen a sharp increase down the years. Increase in the number of villages can mean only one or two things and that is the spike in the number of population and the chieftainship culture of the Kuki-Chin community wherein the anointed son of a village chief can go ahead and establish a new village. The incursion into Reserved and Protected Forests down the decades is a pointer to this culture of founding new villages, with each village having just a few number of households. A fact which was ostensibly clear during a trek through the jungles of south east Manipur, which a group of journalists undertook in 2005 to meet an important rebel leader. This is apart from the poppy fields that had sprung up on the hills back then. The trek through the jungles was later brought out in the form of a book by one of the journalists later.
It is against this reality that the decision of the Government of India to fence the Indo-Myanmar border should be seen, understood and appreciated. True, the Nagas as a community are not known to migrate and establish new settlements. Their contact with each other, across the present day international border, goes back thousands of years and they do share filial ties with each other. This much is clear, but border fencing does not exactly prohibit contacts, as the FMR is still there though it now comes with its list of rules and regulations. All done with an objective to regulate cross border movement and ultimately such a move will work to the benefits of either side. Regulating cross border movement is a measure that will help preserve the sanctity of the indigenous people of the land and this is a point which should be acknowledged by those spearheading the opposition to the border fencing and the move to regulate the FMR. It is with a reason why there is widespread support to the call to enforce the National Register of Citizens. The need to identify illegal immigrants and the need to regulate the inflow of people from across the border is something which is felt by all the indigenous groups of people and this is where it becomes important to appreciate the overwhelming need to fence the border and regulate the movement of people from across the border via the new regulations put into the Free Movement Regime. A point which should not be overlooked.