Author:

Haokholal Kipgen
PhD Scholar
Department of History,
University of Hyderabad
Telangana, India

Email: amosboilal@gmail.com

Abstract: This article examines the protracted crisis of tribal self-governance in Manipur, focusing on the suspension of Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections and its implications for the hill tribes. Unlike other states in Northeast India governed under the Sixth Schedule, Manipur’s ADCs operate under the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act of 1971, a framework that provides significantly less legislative and judicial authority. The enduring inadequacies of the ADCs in meeting tribal aspirations have, since the 1970s, generated sustained demands for the extension of the Sixth Schedule to Manipur’s hill districts; this, combined with the recent and ongoing suspensions of ADC elections, has resulted in a condition of a state of suspended autonomy. This paper argues that the state government’s consistent bypassing of the Hill Areas Committee and the failure to hold timely elections have eroded the constitutional safeguards provided under Article 371C, resulting in a governance vacuum that deepens the hills-valley divide.

Key Words: Article,Autonomous, Asymmetric Federalism, Democratic, Self-Governance etc.