Newly appointed president of Kom Union Manipur (KUM), Serto Chungjahao Kom has assured to give special priority to revive the identity of ‘Kom tribe’, one of the indigenous tribes of Manipur.
He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the felicitation-cum-installation programme of president and staff of Kom Union Manipur at Maibung Kom village, Kangpokpi district on Tuesday.
Chungjahao said the Kom tribe has been one of the indigenous tribes and has been contributing to Manipur since ‘Moirang Kangleirol’ when Manipur was once a kingdom. In the present scenario, with some certain factors, the community is lagging behind as compared to other indigenous communities of Manipur.
To bring development for the community, the newly appointed 13 members of KUM will give special priority to revive the community, the president of KUM said. He said the newly appointed member will also give emphasis for improvement in the education sector with the coming of the New Education Policy. The members will also try to bring a developmental change in the economic development programme.
Among the community, many sports persons such as Mary Kom are also contributing towards Manipur; however, KUM will also start giving more emphasis on the culture of the community.
Coordinator of Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), L Ratan, who is also president of Ethno Heritage Council (HERICON), as guest of honour of the function, said a bicameral system of legislature needs to be introduced in Manipur.
Some of the ethnic communities failed to place their issues on the floor of Manipur Legislative Assembly due to the lack of their representatives in the House, he said.
COCOMI has demanded the state government to bring two Houses including State Legislative Council so that minor communities including Tarao, Monsang, Moyon and others can send their representatives to the state legislative council as it will become easy to place their issues.
COCOMI had been appealing to the leaders of various ethnic communities to press the same demand to the government instead of the demand pressed by the Meetei community which is a major community, he added.
Most of the Kom people are settling at foothills and automatically there might be issues in the education sector.
With the development in the education sector, development can be brought, he said and appealed to the KUM to give priority to bring development in the education sector. He said if the educated youths start giving education up to primary level, then for KUM certificate can be discussed with the government.
Ratan said people are already aware that Kom tribe is one of indigenous tribes of Manipur however, the present youths are neglecting the history of Manipur. Most of the youths are not aware of indigenous tribes of Manipur.
Despite information that is included in the national curriculum framework, information of local context needs to be included with reference to authentic history books in the educational syllabus, he noted.
