How an old report can pave way for central forces to stabilise Manipur

Source- The post is based on the article “How an old report can pave way for central forces to stabilise Manipur” published in the “Business Standard” on 17th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Security

Relevance- Issues related to security of northeastern states

News– In Manipur, security situation has deteriorated due to ongoing conflict among Meitei and tribal; people

What Are the recommendations of Punchhi Commission that are relevant in context of Manipur violence?

It studies the feasibility of supporting legislation under Article 355 for the purpose of suo motu deployment of Central forces in the States. An important recommendation made by the Commission was on Article 355 and 356.

There was general reluctance among political parties to allow the Centre to take over their elected administration even if law and order broke down temporarily. The states considered such measures as political punishment.

Hence, the Commission recommended to adopt “Localised Emergency provisions” under Article 355. It can bring a district or even part of a district under the Central rule. Such take over should not be for more than three months.

Another recommendation was to amend the Communal Violence Bill. It proposed that state consent should not become a hurdle in the deployment of central forces in a serious communal riot.

However, such deployment should only be for a week and post-facto consent should be taken from the state. This was to prevent a Babri Masjid-type of situation.

Had these recommendations been adopted, the Centre could have taken over the administration of only the Kuki dominant areas in Manipur.

What are the historical examples of such a type of action by the central government to tackle the law-and-order problems in a state?

Something like this was done in 1950 by the then Union Home Minister C Rajagopalachari to tackle the second phase of the Telangana insurgency.

The entire administration including law and order of a portion of a state was given to the Central Intelligence Bureau with a mandate to get rid of insurgents “within six months”.

Their area of operations was confined only to Communist strongholds and not the entire Hyderabad state.