At the time of Manipur Statehood in 1972, Kangpokpi recorded 193 villages. Ukhrul recorded 93. By 2023, Kangpokpi had 713 villages. That is an explosion of 520 new villages.
In the same 51 years, Ukhrul moved from 93 to only 112. An addition of just 19.
Recurring pattern
The pattern repeats with brutal clarity in the south. Churachandpur stood at 339 villages in 1972. By 2023 it stood at 874. An addition of 535 villages. Senapati went from 129 to 166. An addition of only 37.
Even after adjusting for 27 unverified settlements in Churachandpur and 43 in Senapati, the gap does not close. It widens. It is undeniable. It stares back at us.
Skewed growth
The question is no longer academic. It is urgent, political, and generational: What policy, what failure of governance, and what deliberate design produced this unprecedented proliferation of settlements in Kangpokpi and Churachandpur, while Ukhrul and Senapati remained nearly static for half a century?
Let us be direct. This is about the future map of Manipur. This is about land, resources, representation, and the rights of generations yet unborn.
Call for truth
This is not an attack on any community. This is a demand for truth. These figures are official. They are satellite-verified. They are documented facts.
This is not about blame. This is about truth. Official data. Satellite records. Documented facts.
To ignore this is to betray the next generation.
Onus on State
Manipur’s future map, land, and identity are at stake. Silence is complicity. Evasion is surrender.
To ignore them is complicity. To dismiss them is denial. To evade them is to betray the next generation. To discuss them honestly is patriotism.
Manipur cannot survive on silence. The nation cannot be secured by evasion. Manipur’s future map, land, and identity are at stake.
We owe it to history, and to our children, to examine these demographic shifts with courage, with data, and with the seriousness they demand.
The numbers have spoken. Now the State must answer.
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Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)