Systemic Injustice and Discrimination in Manipur: Kuki-Zo Community Continues to Face Discrimination in Government Recruitment, Education, and Employment

It is often mistakenly thought that there is problem in Manipur or that there are violations of human rights only when there are attacks or gun firing. But every day is another day gone by where victims are by default made to live with injustice, discrimination and deprivation from their legal and human rights due to hesitancy from the central government and commissions to recognise the reality as it is. Their hesitancy is aggravating the plight and the injustice of the Kuki-Zo. If Biren’s communal politics makes thousands the direct victims of 3rd May, the lack of recognitions of the status-quo of Manipur by the central government is continually leading to violations of human rights, fundamental rights and legal rights of every Kuki-Zo household.

The recent results of Assistant Professor recruitment for Churachandpur Medical college is the latest testament of systematic alienation and discrimination of qualified candidates from the Kuki-Zo community in government jobs. The plight of medical students who had to be displaced from Imphal due to the failure of their medical institutes and the state government and its machinery – a reality they have to necessarily consider – was thrown out of the window. The recruitment process is thus a blatant attempt to curtail the growth of aspiring medical students to their potential and the denial of qualified Kuki-Zo candidates into the den they have for decades been holding a monopoly over. Where is the equality of opportunity for these students and the candidates? The reality today is that none of the selected Meitei candidates will have the courage to reach the college itself, forget about educating the students.

It was not experience and expertise in the medical field the criteria unlike it always has been, but the community you belong to that decided the selection process. Else there is no explanation for the rejection of many candidates like Dr. Kholi Sania Monica, Dr. Shan Damrolien or Dr. Vumkhoneh among others. Had a quack doctor not from Kuki-Zo community applied for in the department of Dermatology, it won’t be wrong to assume going by their selection process that he/she will get selected in place of Dr. Thanjamang Haokip, the lone candidate who got selected only because he had no competition that the selectors could select over him by dint of their discriminatory attitude towards the Kuki-Zo. Can we expect a fair and realistic result from an interview dominated by doctors belonging to Meitei community?

Let’s for a second set aside the monopoly they want to retain in the Health Care sectors of the state. Even if they have the intention to recruit the candidates in a fair and impartial manner, it is highly unlikely that they will have the courage to execute it practically, as going by the trends operating in the valley, they will be keeping their lives and their family life and houses at stake. It is also highly unlikely that a state government under Biren Singh will allow for it. A fair and impartial recruitment process freed from the government, CSO’s and VBIG’s threat is thus the need.

The decision of Biren Singh’s government and its actions to proactively recruit jobs in others departments amidst the conflict to appease the Meitei community and alienate the Kuki-Zo community is a well accepted fact on the grounds. With unemployment crisis, this amounts to the psychological, emotional and economic warfare the state government is orchestrating against the Kuki-Zo.

The buck doesn’t stop there. The state Government inflicted aspiring students’ dreams in central government jobs as well. Despite the availability of infrastructure and resources, the state government intervention compelled students from Churachandpur to travel 14 strenuous and troubling hours on a long journey through a mountainous and hilly terrain just to give an exam in Aizawl, or a relatively shorter but equally tiring and strenuous journey from Kangpokpi to Nagaland. Poor students have to incur extra expenses from their own pockets as what was a one-day process examination for other aspirants took a minimum of 3 days for Kuki-Zo aspirants. Many students have to give up their dreams due to financial difficulties or health issues related with long hours travelling. But the central government remains apathetic for these students as well.

The common solutions given to curb the problems in any conflict torn area is to educate the youth and empower them, to show them they can have dreams beyond their problems in the form of employment opportunity and to make them aware that there is equality for all, free from the discrimination and injustice that are wrongly propagated to by non-state actors. However here students and educated youths took the initiative on their own but the state government acted as a stumbling block to their paths and the central government’s hesitancy aided it. Recognising the problem and status-quo will solve half of the human rights and fundamental rights violations problem that exist today in Manipur, although only political solution will guarantee long-lasting peace, justice and everlasting solution to the conflict.

There should be no place for discrimination and impartiality for any qualified candidates and students who dreams a better future for themselves and to serve the society as the constitution forbids the discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth for opportunity in government jobs and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that everyone gets treated equally. The recent recruitment process is against the principle of equality and is not sensitive of the existing status-quo in the state. Thus it should be thrown into its rightful place – the garbage can. And only the central government’s empathy on their plight can ensure this.