About Department
The Tribal Affairs & Hills Department, Manipur works on two levels, i.e. the Administrative Department located at the Secretariat and the Directorate. The Department works on three dimensional approach viz. i) Protection of Scheduled Tribe people from atrocities through the provisions made under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Castes & scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, ii) Promotion of socio- economic condition of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) people through implementation of various developmental programmes and iii) Preservation of rich cultural heritage of the ST people through systematic collection, documentation and preservation through the Tribal Research Institute.
2. At the Secretariat level the Department is headed by the Additional Chief Secretary who is assisted by 1 (one) Special Secretary, 3 (three) Joint Secretaries, 2(two) Deputy Secretaries at the. The Secretariat level is bifurcated into two sections – Tribal Affairs and Hills. The Hills Section takes care mainly of the issues related to Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).
3. At the Directorate level, the Director is assisted by 1 (one) Additional Director, 1 (one) Chief Finance officer, 1 (one) Deputy Director, 1(one) Assistant Director AND 1 (ONE) Legal Officer. In the field of Engineering/ technical works, the Director is assisted by 2 (two) Executive Engineers and 3 (three) Assistant Engineers.
3. The Department also has other institutes under it such as a) Tribal Research Institute (TRI), b) Manipur State Commission for Scheduled Tribesand c) Ashram Schools.
4. Autonomous District Council (ADCs): Under the Department, there are6(six) Autonomous District councils, namely – Chandel, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul. Each of the Autonomous district councils are headed by Chairman, elected from amongst the elected district council members. There are 24 elected members & 2 nominated member for each ADCs. There is also one Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for each ADCs.
5. The Department also takes care of Manipur Tribal Development Corporation Limited (MTDC), which is an autonomous body under a Chairman and Managing Director.
6. There are6 (six) sections in the Directorate of Tribal Affairs & Hills, Manipur namely i) Planning Section, ii) Establishment Section, iii) Accounts Section, iv) Medical Section, v) Engineering Section & vi) Scholarship Section. The activities of these sections in brief are as follows:
i) Planning Section:
Preparation of proposals under State Fund, Pradhan MantriAadiAdarsh Gram Yojana (PMAAGY) and Grants under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution for placing respectively in the Work Advisory Board of the Department and Project Appraisal Committee in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India for consideration and approval.
ii) Establishment Section;
All matters relating to appointment, promotion etc. are dealt with by this section.
iii) Accounts Section:
All matters relating to accounts and preparation of Budget Estimates/ Revised Estimates is dealt with by this section.
iv) Medical Section:
All matters relating to Medical & Public Health Schemes/ programmes are dealt with by this section.
v) Engineering Section:
All matters relating to Infrastructure development schemes/ programmes are dealt with by this section.
vi) Scholarship Section:
All matters relating to Pre-Matric and Post Matric Scholarship schemes are dealt with by this section.
v) Pension Cell:
All matters relating to ADC Pensions are dealt by this Cell
7. The sources of funding for taking up development & welfare activities of the Department are i) Normal State Fund, ii) Pradhan MantriAadiAdarsh Gram Yojanaa (PMAAGY) iii) Centrally Sponsored Schemes on 90:10 funding of the Central and State Government, iv) Grants under Article 275(i) of the Constitution and v) North Eastern Council (NEC).
8. In view of strengthening the Autonomous District Councils, the Department has devolved certain functions and powers to the Councils, and to streamline the activities of the ADCs, the Department has been re-structured by adding the Hills Administration as one of the functions of Department.
9. As part of devolution of functions, 50% of fund under certain developmental schemes/programmes are devolved to the ADCs for implementation at the District Council level. Implementation of the remaining 50% of the fund is implemented by the Department on the recommendation of the State level Screening Committees. Necessary guidelines have been issued and it is expected that the above reforms would ensure more inclusive development of the poor Scheduled Tribes people of the State.
10. At present, the TRI is engaged in Publication of monographs, booklets, documentation of tribal culture, organizing of Training/ seminars & workshops on various matters related to the tribal people apart from maintaining a Museum and a Library. The Tribal Research Institute also organizes State Level Tribal festival annually wherein all the Tribal communities of the state both from the Hill and Valley Districts participate.
11. Under the Grant of Article 275 (I) of the Constitution, the Department has constructed 3(three) nos. of Eklavya Model Residential School one each at i) Tamenglong District Head Quarter, ii) Moreh Ward no. 1, Tengnoupal District and iii) GamnomSapermaina, Sadar Hills, Kangpokpi District. As per guidelines of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India, the Department has constituted Society of Schools namely Manipur Society for Tribal Educational Institute (MSTEI) for proper functioning of these three residential schools at the State Level. All these 3 schools started functioning from the academic session 2014-15.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India has further released funds for establishment of another 3(three) more EMRS in the State, one each at Churachandpur, Kamjong (erstwhile Ukhrul district) and Chandel district of Manipur. EMRS Loktak under Henglep Block, Churachandpur district and EMRS Riha, under Phungyar block, Kamjong district are under process for operationalization of the school. EMRS under Chandel District is under construction and is in good progress.