Manipur, which has been ruled by the Congress for the last 15 years, is often accused of excluding the hills from the development agenda. People from the hill areas claim that despite hill districts of Manipur comprising 89% of the geographical area, there were only 20 MLAs from these areas in the Manipur Assembly.
The valley, which comprises just 11% area, had 40 seats and around 80% of the funds meant for the development in the state were consumed by the valley.
The condition in hills worsened following demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) on two highways since November 1 last year. The constitutional provision of the Sixth Schedule is not implemented in the hills of Manipur while most of the North-eastern…