The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) is an organisation formed by Meetei/Meitei people, one of the indigenous communities of Manipur. It is an apolitical and non-religious people's organisation, which operates independently and spearheaded by a group of senior citizens. Since the later part of 2012, the STDCM has been working diligently to advocate for the inclusion of the indigenous Meetei/Meitei community from Manipur in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list as specified in Article 342(1) of the Constitution of India.

To bring about a cohesive and harmonious society in Manipur, guided by the principles of ethnic and social equality, the vision of STDCM includes the following key objectives:

1. Securing Constitutional safeguards for the Meetei/Meitei ethnic identity, recognized as the Yelhoumee (aboriginal/indigenous people) of Manipur. This effort is essential to prevent the Meetei/Meitei Community from becoming a minority & facing extinction in Manipur.
2. Bridging the Constitutional divisions that currently contribute to social fragmentation as Scheduled Tribes and Non-scheduled Tribes amongst indigenous communities of Manipur.
3. Extending Constitutional safeguards available to the hill districts of Manipur to also encompass the valley districts of Manipur.
4. Creating a composite Scheduled Tribe dominant State of Manipur with equal respect for all indigenous communities.

1. Meeteis/Meiteis also known as Manipuris, inhabit the centrally located valley area of Manipur, which is less than 10% of the total area of 22,327 sq. km.
2. Although Meeteis/Meiteis self-identify themselves as Yelhoumee (aboriginal inhabitants /indigenous people), they currently lack any Constitutional protections as such.
3. The Indian Constitution does not state who indigenous people are. As per a judgement of the Supreme Court of India on January 5, 2011, Adivasi/Scheduled Tribe are referred as the descendants of the original /aborigines (Yelhoumee) of India.
4. Although tribal by birth, Meeteis/Meiteis are not included in the Constitutional categorisation of Scheduled Tribe and have been constitutionally and administratively categorised as Other Backward Class (OBC) and Scheduled Castes (SC).
5. Population of Meetei/Meitei Tribe is approximately 14 lakh which amounts to 0.1% (point one percent) of India’s total population of 140 crore. The community expresses concerns and is fearful about the potential of being swamped by this massive population if adequate Constitutional safeguards aren't established to protect their presence in their traditional ancestral homeland.

1. Census of India 1891 A General Report, page 194 records Manipuri as Forest Tribe of Manipur.
2. Census of India 1901 Volume 1: Report, page 121 documents Manipuri under the Province of Assam as the Main Tribe of Manipur.
3. Census of India 1931 Volume 1, page 430, Para 181 clarifies Manipuri as wholly Hindu Tribe but retaining their distinctive language and culture.
4. Imperial Gazetteer of India Provincial Series – Eastern Bengal and Assam; and Gazetteer of Bengal and North East India 1909, records Manipuri (Meetei/Meitei) as one of the Principal Tribes of the North East India.
5. Ethnography (Castes and Tribes), 1912 report by Sir Athelstaine Baines, Appendix B, Caste Index classifies Meithei (Meetei/Meitei) in group 43(f) as “Hill Tribe” in the locality of Manipur.
6. As per census record of 1951, Meetei/Meitei population was 59% of the total population of Manipur. As per census record of 2011 the percentage has reduced to 44%.

1. Manipur before merging with the Union of India in 1949 had more or less a simple homogenous society. On joining the Union of India, Indian social hierarchical structure as per the Indian Constitution was formally imposed, sub-dividing hitherto homogenous society into various castes as General, OBC, SC and ST. In other words, the Indian Constitution formally draws a dividing line between Meetei/Meitei and their hill brethren creating social division as Scheduled Tribe hill people and un-Scheduled Tribe valley people.
2. While Scheduled Tribes in the hill areas of Manipur benefit from safeguards under Article 371C of the Indian Constitution and the Manipur Land Revenue and Reforms Act, 1960, which include land protection measures, the Meetei/Meitei tribe in the valley lacks any Constitutional safeguards to ensure the preservation of their ancestral land and ethnic identity.
3. The rapid and continuous demographic change taking place in the valley, if not checked now, will result in the Meetei/Meitei tribe people to become minority in their own ancestral homeland and in due course of time will be on the brink of extinction.
4. Once Meetei/Meitei tribe is included in Scheduled Tribe list, Manipur valley which is predominantly inhabited by Meetei/Meitei tribe will have Constitutional safeguard in line with their hill brethren. This will make Manipur more or less a composite Scheduled Tribe dominant State and provide Constitutional safeguard to Meetei's/Meitei’s ethnic identity as Yelhoumee (Indigenous people) since their ancestral land would be protected and also remove the Constitutional divide prevailing between the Hill tribes and Valley tribes, thereby creating more or less a homogenous society. The fear of becoming minority would also be non-existent.

The State government can regulate reservation quota mechanism within the State in accordance with Constitution Article 16(4). In Nagaland, Scheduled Tribe is divided into Advanced Tribe and Backward Tribe with different reservation quotas. In Assam there are Plains Tribes and Hill Tribes with their reservation quotas being 10% and 5% respectively. Likewise the present Scheduled Tribe quota of 31% being enjoyed by hill tribes to be safeguarded as it is and the new valley Scheduled Tribe tribes may be given a composite reservation quota since there would no more be OBC and Scheduled Caste.

On April 5, 2022, the Government of India de-enlisted Bhogta community of Jharkhand State from Scheduled Caste list and enlisted it into Scheduled Tribe list. The Bhogta community contended that they were incorrectly classified as Scheduled Caste in 1950, when they should have rightfully been included in the Scheduled Tribe list. Subsequently, the Government of India rectified this administrative error. Likewise, the Scheduled Caste community in Manipur, having been wrongly classified as SC instead of ST in 1950 should be de-enlisted from the SC list and enlisted into ST list in the same manner as that of Bhogta community of Jharkhand State.

1. As per existing rules and regulations, the criteria laid down for consideration of a community as Scheduled Tribe are :-

(a) Indication of primitive traits
(b) Distinctive culture
(c) Shyness of contact with the community at large
(d) Geographical isolation
(e) Backwardness

2. Meetei/Meitei tribe fulfils the requisite criteria. Nonetheless when the State Government sends its recommendation to Registrar General of India (RGI), Ministry of Home, ethnography report and socio-economic survey report are to be sent to substantiate the fact that Meetei/Meitei tribes fulfils the given criteria. However, it may be noted that not all of the criteria need to be met.

The term Scheduled Tribe is derived from the Indian Constitution in accordance with Article 342(1), which in essence says that the President may specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts thereof which shall for the purposes of the Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled tribe. This is a Constitutional and Administrative Categorisation, which is far from the meaning of tribe as is ordinarily understood or taught in the Anthropology discipline.

1. The terms “indigenous people” and “tribal people” are used as synonyms in the UN system and Meetei/Meiteis self-identify themselves as Yelhoumee or indigenous people of Manipur. United Nations ILO Convention No. 169 was adopted in 1989 based on a general attitude of respect for the cultures and ways of life of indigenous and tribal people, and the fundamental assumption that indigenous and tribal people constitute permanent societies.
2. Thus this notion of tribal people being considered as permanent society contradicts the idea of tribe as understood in the Anthropology discipline. Accordingly, Meeteis/Meiteis even after 75 years of being administratively categorised as OBC, SC, General etc., still continue to be unscheduled tribe.

1. The Report of the Advisory Committee on the revision of the list of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, Govt. of India, 1965 also known as Lokur Committee Report essentially states that Census Report of 1931 was the basis for inclusion of tribes in ST list of 1950 as this Census Report primarily brought out the list of depressed castes and tribes.
2. From 1891 to 1949, for a period of 6 decades Meetei/Meitei was officially recorded as tribes]. The 1931 Census Report classifies Meiteis as wholly Hindu Tribe but retaining their distinctive language and culture. Therefore, it should logically have been included in the ST list then in 1950. However, it was indiscriminately left out by Govt. of India for reasons best known to them.
3. The Govt. of India committed an error then. The demand therefore is to rectify that error now and include Meetei/Meitei Tribe in ST list so as to provide Constitutional safeguard to this ethnic community, which constitute barely 0.1% (point one percent) of the national population, to protect it from being swamped by mainstream population in their traditional ancestral habitat in Manipur.