The situation in Manipur has been tense for the past few weeks, with violent incidents taking place every now and then.

The situation in Manipur has been tense for the past several weeks, with violent incidents taking place in which 75-80 people have lost their lives so far. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also planned to visit the state to make efforts to restore peace. But it is important to understand what happened suddenly in this state of Northeast India, which set the atmosphere on fire.

When and why did the violence begin?
The All Tribal Students Union (Manipur) had organised a rally on 3 May against the Manipur High Court's April verdict ordering the state government to consider granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Maitei community.

Why oppose the court's decision?
The state of Manipur in northeast India is divided into hilly and valley areas. The nagas, Kukis and Mizos have a high population in the hilly areas, and the Maitei community has a sizeable population in the valley. Manipur is considered a hilly state, but the hilly areas have a much smaller population than the valley.

Maitei have always been demanding that they should be included in the Scheduled Tribes, but the Naga and Kuki communities feel that if this happens, their rights will be taken away, as more than 50 percent of the state's population belongs to the Maitei community.

In fact, the Maitei community is politically and economically more powerful in the state, and 60 of the 40-seat Manipur Assembly come from the Valley, where Maitei is in abundance, and the remaining 20 are in the hilly areas. The Nagas, Kuki communities, believe that if the Maitei community gets scheduled tribe status, the struggle for land rights in the state will increase and the majority Maitei community will benefit from it. At present, people living in the valley cannot buy land in hilly areas, but after getting Scheduled Tribe status, Maitei will be able to do so.

The
state government believes that people crossing the border illegally from Myanmar are illegally settling in the forests of Manipur, and due to this, government land, safe forests are also being occupied. To prevent this, government lands and forests were vacated, and the Kuki community is opposing the government's decision. The Kuki community considers the state government's move an attack on them, as Myanmar refugees and the Kuki lineage share a history.

Apart from this, the state government has also taken several decisions to rein in the drug mafia, but some local communities also call it an attack on employment. In fact, the government has been arresting people to ban opium cultivation in the hilly areas, and orders were also issued to destroy the opium crop. The state government's decision was opposed as local communities linked it to their employment. Later, the state government also did not fulfil the promise of compensation for the destroyed cultivation, and this led to protests, during which the atmosphere turned violent in April.

How is peace possible...?
Clearly, if peace is to be restored in Manipur, a middle path has to be found. In the Maitei-dominated state, the government will have to assure that it stands with the Nagas, Kukis and Mizos in every decision. The government will also have to instill confidence in the local tribal communities so that they do not get swayed by extremist organizations. The state government will also have to emphasize on increasing new industries and employment opportunities, so that daily conflict over land can be reduced.