Civil groups, rights bodies make people's manifesto

Times of India: Imphal: Saturday, March 08, 2014.

Hordes of social and human rights bodies on Thursday framed a draft manifesto for the people of strife-torn Manipur to ensure that the issues they highlight are taken into account for implementation by the political parties in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Ranging from removal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to safeguarding Manipur's territorial integrity, the 'Manipur People's Manifesto' was prepared here during a consultation organized by Human Rights Alert (HRA) and Delhi-based NGO 'Wada Na Todo Abhiyan' in collaboration with twelve different civil bodies of the state.

"Since the political parties have failed to address the people's concerns in all spheres over the years, we have taken up our campaign to ensure the parties take note of the people's manifesto," said HRA executive director Babloo Loitingbam.

"Ours is a national campaign and the same has already been done in some parts of the country. Many political parties, including BJP, have appreciated our move," he said.

The people's manifesto campaign would be held in Guwahati on March 15 and in the national capital on March 27, Babloo said. He added that "we will also press the political parties to include our manifesto to theirs."

Other points incorporated in the manifesto include setting up of a statutory peace-building commission and to provide appropriate legal and administrative safeguards for protecting the rights of indigenous people within the framework of the UN declaration of rights of indigenous peoples.

Considering that many deserving indigenous communities, as per the criteria evolved, are not given the constitutional status of Scheduled Tribes (STs), the manifesto demanded that the list of STs should be reviewed to include the willing and deserving communities of Manipur.

It urged to establish a Manipur woman and child welfare fund to promptly provide interim relief to the victims of violence.

Stating that a central legislation should be enacted to ensure that universal access is made a legally enforceable right for the people living with HIV, the manifesto said the Hepatitis-C epidemic should be declared as a public health emergency and necessary remedial measures should be taken up on a war footing.

While seeking to frame a state drug policy through an inclusive process, it said every public office and institution of the state should be made 'barrier-free' for people with disability. As children constitute 40 per cent of the total population, the budgetary allocation of children in the Union budget should be increased to at least 10 per cent.

It said all flagship programmes should be widely publicized through the active movement of civil society, installing disclosure boards in all villages and by setting up legally enforceable accountability structures.

It also sought to ensure that the local area development fund of MLAs and MPs should be made transparent and accountable to the public through regular social audits and RTI Act.