ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Tribal Land, Customary Law, and the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act

Tribal peoples in Manipur have been maintaining their commons under customary law. Interacting with outsiders has always led to the contestation of their customs, traditions, and beliefs. Tribal societies continue to administer their villages under customary law on the tenet of equity. Their law has even resisted the policies of Manipuri kings and the British administration. In the present day, tribal customary law stands challenged by the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960.

Patterns of Ethnic Conflict in the North-East

Manipur in India's north-east has long been riven by conflicts among ethnic groups on issues of exclusivity, dominance and integration. Identities that shape conflict are not necessarily primordial but are a creation of political necessity and administrative convenience. In recent decades, as the Naga-Kuki conflicts and later between the Kukis and Paites demonstrate identity conflicts have been waged not merely on questions of land, immigration and settlement but also on the overweening fear of loss of identity itself.

Ethnicity and Socio-Political Assertion

Assertion of ethnic identity and the accompanying political unrest is rooted often in fears among minority groups of losing their historical and culturally acquired identities. But such assertions may have several dimensions as seen in Manipur where for long several groups have agitated against the centre and state government's perceived neglect of their needs.

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