Special Correspondent
Ukhrul, November 25:
Eno. K. Timothy Zimik, retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and former Lok Sabha candidate from Outer Manipur (ST), has submitted a detailed representation to President Droupadi Murmu, demanding that a separate and independent budget be created for the Hill Areas of Manipur. He argues that decades of constitutional neglect, administrative bias and political suppression have left the tribal population marginalized and denied their rightful share of development.
Introducing himself as a Naga from Manipur with more than three decades of service in the Ministry of Finance, K. Timothy Zimik said the challenges faced by hill people have reached a stage where only a separate budget can rectify “structural injustice inflicted since statehood.” His submission grounds the demand in Article 371C of the Constitution, which empowers the President to ensure proper administration of the Hill Areas through the Hill Areas Committee and places special responsibility on the Governor.
The representation points out that while the President’s Order in 1972 directed the creation and functioning of the Hill Areas Committee, there has been no Presidential intervention for over fifty years. He submits that constitutional mechanisms designed to protect tribal interests have been made ineffective and that the gulf between the Valley and the Hills has grown wider.
K. Timothy Zimik argues that the President, the Governor and the Union Government have not ensured periodic review or corrective action under Article 371C. He submits that the Hill Areas Committee has become a non-entity because of systematic undermining by successive governments dominated by the Meitei-majority Valley. The petition also claims that Governors have failed to discharge the special responsibility cast upon them by Paragraph 9 of the 1972 Order, which has resulted in administrative and developmental paralysis in the tribal regions.
He attributes it to political dominance of 40 Valley MLAs in the Assembly, delay of delimitation, which would give more representation to the Hills, and diversion of financial resources meant for the Hills. The petition said that though as per the parameters fixed by the 15th Finance Commission, more than half of Manipur’s share of central revenue tallies with the Hill Areas, only a small fraction actually reaches them, thus increasing economic disparity and forcing many of the poorer villagers into poppy cultivation.
Terming the present Autonomous District Councils ineffective and at the mercy of the state, K. Timothy Zimik reiterates the long-pending demand for genuine self-governance. He has called upon the President to invoke constitutional powers to ensure equitable distribution of revenues, revive the Hill Areas Committee and introduce a separate budget as the only feasible route to peace and justice. A copy of the representation has also been submitted to the Governor and Chief Secretary of Manipur.