Manipur has been politically a hot spot for the last many decades due to various forms of demands for political autonomy. Sustained political problem in the State is because of political improprieties in governance that hampers development. Ethnicity and identity are involved as antecedents of the problems as well as contemporary issues which itself is the result of existing system of political dispensation. The question of majority against minority takes a different nature because of polarization of social, economic and political issues of the state on ethnic and geographical lines. The idea of balkanising the state for three separate political entities has been the vexed issue involving three major national groups of Manipur. Protecting the territorial integrity of the state as well as the valley-base underground movements for sovereignty have been the mixed responses of the Meiteis against the demand for Kuki State by the Kukis and the Nagas’ Alternative Arrangement or Greater Nagaland. The article discusses the political realities that lead to marginalisation and underdevelopment of the tribals which in turn caused the present social and political predicaments in the State. It brings forth possible solutions viable in the context of Indian democracy and modernisation.
Politics, Development, Governance, Hill-valley
