306 killed, 49 missing in ethnic violence since May 2023: Manipur Home Minister tells Assembly
The Manipur Home Minister informed the state Assembly that 306 people have been killed and 49 remain missing in ethnic violence since May 2023, with figures updated up to August 31, 2026
Of the 306 deaths, 11 were security personnel
The response was given during the ongoing Assembly session in reply to a question from a member
The violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities began on May 3, 2023, following a "Tribal Solidarity March" organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status
Scheduled Tribe Status — Constitutional Mechanism for Inclusion (Article 342)
Article 342 of the Constitution empowers the President to specify, by public notification, the tribes or tribal communities to be treated as Scheduled Tribes in a State or Union Territory, after consultation with the Governor concerned. Article 342(2) further empowers Parliament — by law — to include or exclude communities from this list; no other authority can amend it. This constitutional design is what made the Meitei community's demand for ST status, and the resulting hill-valley tension, a matter of formal administrative and legal process rather than a simple executive decision.
Key Details
- Inclusion process: State/UT government recommendation → examination by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs → concurrence of the Registrar General of India (RGI) → views of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) → Union Cabinet approval → Parliamentary legislation amending the ST list
- The Supreme Court has held that High Courts do not have the power to directly order inclusion or exclusion of a community in the ST list — this is a legislative function reserved to Parliament under Article 342(2)
- The Meitei ST-status demand and the resulting Tribal Solidarity March (May 3, 2023) organised by hill-based tribal bodies opposing the demand is the proximate trigger event that led to the current conflict
The Home Minister's Assembly statement traces the violence directly back to the ST-status agitation, making the constitutional inclusion mechanism the static concept underlying the current affairs event.
Article 371C — Special Provision for Manipur's Hill Areas
Article 371C, inserted by the Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 1971 (on Manipur's elevation from Union Territory to full statehood in 1972), provides special safeguards for the Hill Areas of Manipur. It allows the President to require a Hill Areas Committee of the state Legislative Assembly, modify Assembly procedure and Rules of Business, and assign the Governor special responsibility for the administration of Hill Areas, with an annual report to the President.
The demographic and institutional divide the violence has exposed — Meitei-majority valley versus tribal-majority hills — is precisely the divide Article 371C's Hill Areas Committee was designed to manage administratively.
AFSPA and Internal Security Response Framework
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958, grants special powers to the armed forces in areas declared "disturbed" under Section 3, including powers to arrest without warrant and use force. It has historically applied to parts of Manipur and remains a recurring internal-security policy question amid the ongoing violence, alongside deployment of central armed police forces and, at one stage, President's Rule.
Key Details
- AFSPA Section 3 — declaration of a "disturbed area" by the State Governor or Central Government, after which the Act's special powers apply
- Manipur has seen partial AFSPA withdrawal from valley areas in past years, while it continued to apply in hill districts
- President's Rule was imposed in Manipur under Article 356(1) in February 2025, later confirmed by a Parliamentary statutory resolution, reflecting the breakdown of the state's constitutional machinery amid the conflict
- Distinction for exams: AFSPA (special forces powers in a "disturbed area") is separate from Article 355 (Union's duty to protect states against internal disturbance) and Article 356 (President's Rule for failure of constitutional machinery) — the three often appear together in Manipur-related coverage but serve different constitutional functions
The scale of the toll disclosed in the Assembly — 306 dead, 49 missing over more than three years — is the backdrop against which decisions on AFSPA's continuation, central force deployment, and Union-State relations in Manipur continue to be evaluated.
- Deaths in Manipur ethnic violence since May 2023 (as of August 31, 2026): 306, including 11 security personnel
- Persons still missing: 49
- Violence began: May 3, 2023, following a Tribal Solidarity March in the hill districts
- Communities involved: Meitei (valley-based, sought ST status) and Kuki-Zo (hill-based tribal communities, opposed the demand)
- Constitutional provision governing ST list amendments: Article 342 (President notifies; Parliament alone can amend via law)
- Special constitutional provision for Manipur's Hill Areas: Article 371C (inserted by 27th Amendment Act, 1971)
- President's Rule imposed in Manipur: February 2025, under Article 356(1)