Any Kuki Tribes
Any Kuki Tribes is a category of Scheduled Tribes in India, recognised in several Northeastern states: Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. In all states except Manipur, the category encompasses all Kuki people.
In Manipur, Kuki and Naga people have been recognised under individual tribe names since 1956. So 'Any Kuki Tribes' and 'Any Naga Tribes' were removed from the list of Scheduled Tribes in that year. In 2003, 'Any Kuki Tribes' was added again, in order to cover people that do not fall under the listed tribes. In particular, Thadou language-speaking Kukis who do not regard themselves as "Thadous" have been using the 'Any Kuki Tribes' category.
History
In the Constitution Order, 1950, the Government of India, listed the categories "Any Kuki Tribes", "Any Mizo Tribes", and "Any Naga Tribes", among others, as Scheduled Tribes in the state of Assam.These categories covered Kuki people, Mizo people and Naga people respectively. The very same categories were also listed for what were then 'Part C' states of Manipur and Tripura. These original categories continue in Assam, and they have also been inherited by the new states formed out of Assam, such as Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. In Manipur, however, special circumstances arose.
Manipur
When the Backward Classes Commission reviewed the social classes in Manipur in 1953, there were concerted attempts by the Kuki groups to list language or dialect-based identities as separate tribal categories. Their demands were accepted by the commission, and in the 1956 modification order, the 'Any Kuki Tribes' and 'Any Naga Tribes' categories were replaced by 28 tribes in Manipur.A problem arose in Manipur's classification with regard to 'Thadou', which was listed as one of the 29 "tribes". According to scholars, Thadou is really a clan rather than a tribe. Clans are named after their founders, and the tribal custom dictates that the founder of a clan cannot usurp the legacy of his ancestors or elders. So, the Thadou identity is rejected by clans senior to Thadou. The 1956 order compelled them to identify as "Thadous" in order to obtain a Scheduled Tribe certificate, which they found objectionable.
After several representations, in 2003, 'Any Kuki Tribes' was reinserted into the ST list of Manipur in order to enable such Thadou language-speaking clans from availing the ST status without having to identify as "Thadou". Scholar H. Kham Khan Suan opined that it would have been far better to merge 'Thadou' and 'Kuki' under one common label, 'Thadou-Kuki'. Even though people from any tribe under the traditional Kuki umbrella could theoretically identify as 'Any Kuki Tribes', in practice, it is only the Thadou-speaking Kukis that did so. According to the Kuki Tribes Council, clans such as Doungel, Khongsai, Haokip, Touthang, Baite, Chonghang, Hangmi and Lhungdim adopted the 'Any Kuki Tribes' identity. In the 2011 census, roughly 28,000 people identified under 'Any Kuki Tribes' compared to 216,000 people that identified as 'Thadou'.
Distribution
People of 'Any Kuki Tribes' are present in all the states of Northeast India except Arunachal Pradesh. As per 2011 census, their distribution is as follows:| State | Population |
| Assam | 33,399 |
| Meghalaya | 14,275 |
| Nagaland | 18,768 |
| Mizoram | 45,774 |
| Tripura | 10,965 |
| Manipur | 28,342 |
In the case of Manipur, this number is in addition to other Kuki tribes that are individually categorised as ST. All the Kuki tribes together, also called "Kuki-Zo tribes", total 419,855 people in Manipur.
Disputes
The recognition of 'Any Kuki Tribes' as a Scheduled Tribe category in Manipur caused increased competition between the 'Thadou' and 'Kuki' identities. Both the groups have apex organisations called "Thadou Inpi" and "Kuki Inpi" respectively, as well as separate student bodies, called "Thadou Students Association" and "Kuki Students' Organisation". In 2015, Thadou Inpi alleged that the Kuki Inpi was propagating a "unitary concept" of 'Any Kuki Tribes', which it labelled as detrimental to the unity of the Kuki community. It criticised the addition of 'Any Kuki Tribes' to the ST list. Subsequently in 2021, it called for its deletion from the ST list, on the grounds that Kuki is not a "tribe" but rather a generic term for a number of tribes. It also claimed that the addition of 'Any Kuki Tribes' in the ST list violates Article 342 of the Constitution, which allegedly requires "distinct culture, dialect and economic pursuit" for tribe recognition. By 2023, it appeared to moderate its stance, labelling Kuki Inpi Manipur as the apex body responsible for 'Any Kuki Tribes'. However, a rival organisation called "Thadou Inpi Manipur" was created in November 2024, which took to campaigning against 'Any Kuki Tribes' much more vociferously.Meanwhile, the Manipur state cabinet under the leadership of chief minister N. Biren Singh, is said to have taken a decision in October 2018 to recommend the deletion of 'Any Kuki Tribes' from the ST list of Manipur. This only came to light three years later, with the Kuki Students' Organisation objecting to the move.
KSO also conducted a bandh on 26–27 March 2021 to protest this decision.
There is no information about any action taken on the 2018 decision, but the next cabinet of Biren Singh made the same decision again in 2023 and wrote to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry asking for deletion of 'Any Kuki Tribes'. The Tribal Affairs Ministry responded with some queries and a request for a full proposal along with an ethnographic study. The 2023 Manipur violence erupted a few months later, pitting the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities against each other. In the course of the violence, the Biren Singh government as well as the Meitei community at large accused the Kuki-Zo people of harbouring "illegal immigrants" from Myanmar, among other allegations. The issue of 'Any Kuki Tribes' was also mixed into these allegations.
In July 2024, the state government responded to the queries from the Tribal Affairs Ministry:
- In response to the query as to what would happen to those currently under 'Any Kuki Tribes' if the proposal goes through, the state government said that they would be recognized under the remaining existing list of subtribes.
- In response to the query as to which communities were currently covered under 'Any Kuki Tribes', the state government said that it did not collect such information and asked for an exemption, invoking the fact that a similar exemption was granted for the 1956 tribe modification order. It claimed that no sub-tribe was left out when the 1956 order was enacted.
The Union Tribal Affairs University appears to have kept the matter "on hold" due to the "sensitive nature of the prevailing situation" in the state, referring to the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.