Discuss the constitutional and administrative frameworks governing the hill areas of Manipur. Why have they failed to prevent ethnic polarisation?

Manipur's hills are home to the Naga and Kuki-Zo tribes. The Sixth Schedule does not cover them [1]. They are governed instead by a separate arrangement under Article 371C [2]. This arrangement was meant to protect tribal autonomy. In practice it has hardened a hill–valley divide, and that divide turned violent in May 2023.

Constitutional and administrative frameworks

• Article 371C was added by the 27th Amendment, 1971. A Presidential Order creates a Hill Areas Committee of the MLAs elected from the hills. The Governor has a special responsibility for the hills and reports on them to the President. The Union may also give the state directions [2].
• Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) were set up under the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 1971. There are six, including Sadar Hills (Kangpokpi). They handle local matters such as schools, markets and water supply [3].
• Village Authorities in Hill Areas Act, 1956 gives legal recognition to traditional village-level governance [4].
• Union security layer: AFSPA has been partly withdrawn from parts of Manipur [5]. A Suspension of Operations (SoO) ceasefire with the Kuki groups KNO and UPF was renewed on revised ground rules in September 2025 [6].
• Article 356: President's Rule was approved by Parliament [7] and extended for six months from 13 August 2025 [8].

Why they failed to prevent polarisation

• Weak, statutory autonomy: the ADCs exist only under a state law. They lack the legislative and judicial powers that Sixth Schedule councils have [1][3]. This leaves the hills dependent on a valley-majority Assembly.
• Fiscal grievance: the state government itself set up a committee to examine how funds flow to the hill areas [9]. This reflects long-standing complaints that allocation favours the valley.
• Rival identity anxieties: separate land and administrative rules for hills and valley feed tribal fears of losing land. They also feed the Meitei demand for ST status.
• One-sided security framework: the SoO binds only the Kuki groups that signed it [6]. This leaves cycles of reprisal unchecked, such as the Kangpokpi shutdown over two abducted Kuki youth in October 2026 [10].
• Civil bodies as parallel authorities: whether NH-2 stays open has depended on decisions by the Kuki-Zo Council [6]. Under President's Rule, the Assembly cannot sit, so the Hill Areas Committee cannot meet either [7].

The hills were given separate institutions, but these never got real powers, fair funding or trust from the valley. Separation without empowerment widened the divide. The way forward is to give the ADCs real powers (closer to the Sixth Schedule model) and fund them through a transparent formula. It also needs dialogue that includes all communities and a quick return to elected government. Together these would serve the Preamble's ideal of fraternity and the goals of SDG 16.