Materialism – has it taken over humanity?

My heart goes out to the people of Manipur where the saga of socio-political battle continues with brutal tortures, burning properties and mass killings as two tribes keep fighting with each other … but for what? My source of information is as good as yours … news, articles and social media. 

An India Today article by Afrida Hussain reported on May 4th 2023 that a decade-long faultline reopened in Manipur as violent protests broke out against a high court direction to the state government on the inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribes category. Meiteis are about 53 per cent of the entire population of the state but occupy about 10% of the land area of Manipur. If included in the ST list, Meiteis will be able to purchase land in hill areas, inhabited by Kukis. 

Dr Pushpita Das a Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi wrote that the anger against the Meitei-dominated state government was simmering amongst the Kuki community for quite some time. Crackdown on drug cultivation and eviction drives against illegal migrants attracted large-scale protests in the Kuki-dominated districts. The demand for a separate Kukiland has also been long-standing.

We understand from various news articles published recently that….  the hill tribe’s traditional migratory patterns and engagement in shifting agriculture have played out in conflicts within Manipur’s complex hill-valley divide. In 1870, Captain T.H. Lewin, the Deputy Commissioner of the Chittagong Hill Tracts at the time, described the Kukis as a “powerful and independent” people who “touch the borders” of the Hill Tracts. “They extended in numberless hordes North and Northeast until they reached Cachar (Assam) on one hand and the frontiers of Burma on the other,” the official wrote of the Kukis in his account. Other accounts of Kuki origins also describe the Kukis as groups inhabiting “both sides of the mountains dividing Assam and Bengal from Burma”. The records point to the traditional Kuki patterns of moving through large tracts of land as land ownership was passed on only to the eldest son of the village chief, leading to expansion, dispersion, and formation of new pastures by other men in the family. The Kuki people practise Christianity as their main religion today, with some sizable minorities adhering to animism or other religions like Judaism or Islam. The Kukis, living mainly in the hills, Churachandpur is their main stronghold, they also have a sizable population in Chandel, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, and Senapati districts of Manipur. It is believed that Kuki people are native to the Mizo Hills (formerly Lushai), a mountainous region in the south-eastern part of Mizoram in India. Additionally, it is claimed that the Kuki tribes of north-east India comprise more than 20 sub-tribes, most of which are included in the Scheduled Tribe category. 

From similar sources we also get to know that the Meiteis also known as Meetei are the dominant ethnic group of the North Indian state of Manipur. Meiteis mainly live in the Imphal Valley region of today’s Manipur, though a sizable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. The Meitei ethnic group makes up around 53 per cent of the population of Manipur (Census of India, 2011). The Meitei people speak the Meitei language which is also known as the Manipuri language, and comes under the sub-family of the Tibeto-Burman language. Meitei was added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India in 1992 carrying the official list of languages recognised in India. According to the 2011 census, Meiteis follow only two religions, with an overwhelming majority of Meiteis practising Hinduism. Around 16 per cent of Meiteis traditionally believe in Sanamahi religion named after god Sanamahi. Around 8% of Meiteis follow Islam.

What is behind this atrocity?  Religious difference?  Socio-cultural difference?  Language difference?  Or is it the gradual rise of the Meiteis and their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category which challenges the domination of the Kukis, threatening their territorial supremacy and thereby their economic and social security?  Have we become so materialistic?  Haven’t we come a long way from when people would attack one another to gain supremacy over land?  

I thought we did….what am I missing?