Tribal Land Rights: There are no Khas land in the hills of Manipur

In the dehumanising colonial doctrine of ‘terra nullius‘, the ruling dispensation seems to have found a new sadistic pleasure for aggressive ‘territorial imagination’ by asserting that the ‘Hill Areas’ of Manipur are a ‘No man’s land’.

‘Land’, however, is sacred to the tribals. In the traditional belief system of their forefathers, ‘Land is older than man’ and “it is a forbidden thing for the Nagas not to defend their ancestral land and forest from the intrusion of the enemies (emphasis added)”.

‘Land’, opines the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Samatha vs. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors., “is their most important natural and valuable asset and imperishable endowment from which the tribals derive their sustenance, social status, economic and social equality, permanent place of abode and work and living. It is a security and source for economic empowerment. Therefore, the tribes too, have a great emotional attachment to their lands. The land on which they live and till, assures them equality of status and dignity of person and means to economic and social justice and potent weapon of economic empowerment in social democracy (emphasis added).”