District Councils in Manipur : Formation and Functioning

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Historical background. 3. The sixth schedule. 4. District councils in Manipur hills. 5. The working of the district councils: an assessment. 6. Conclusion. Appendices: 1. List of autonomous district councils, chairmen and CEOs. 2. Sixth schedule. 3. The Manipur (hill areas) District Councils Act, 1971. Bibliography. Index.

"One of the basic policies of the Government of India is to give a special priority to promote and protect the distinctive identity of the tribal people. The idea of autonomy and self-government are the main themes under this policy. With this basic objective the Government of India, through the constitution of the country, provides district level autonomy for tribal people. This is known as the VI Schedule of the Constitution. However, most of the common people, particularly, of Manipur are not able to have a detailed information about the nature of the working of the district council in the tribal area. So, sometime a sense of confusion was developed in their attempt to understand the working system. This monograph is the first of its kind of study on the functioning of district council. In this work author analysed very critically about the nature of the functioning of the system of the autonomy in the district council of tribal inhabited area. Indeed, it is a good exercise to bring awareness among the common people in general of the character of autonomy at district level. The publication of this monograph itself is also a big contribution to those research scholars who are intending to do further research work in this area." (jacket)