Renaming places in Manipur without govt nod punishable offence

A five-day session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly came to an end Tuesday, in which some key resolutions and Bills were passed in the absence of the 10 MLAs representing the state’s Kuki-Zomi community.

Among the key Bills passed was the Manipur Names of Places Bill, 2024, that makes using names of places not authorised by the government a punishable offence.

Through the course of the conflict, as either Kukis or Meiteis fled areas where they were in minority, the names of places were also contested. The most prominent example is over the name of the Kuki-Zomi-dominated district Churachandpur and its district headquarter town with the same name – which draws from the name of a Meitei king – and part of the rejection of the authority of the state government in this district has been asserting the use of name Lamka instead. The Bill instead provides for a “places name committee” that “will give recommendations regarding the names of places subject to the approval of the government”.