Negotiating with Local Self-Governance in the Northeast: Experiences of Churachandpur District

The experiences of local self-government and governance in the tribal areas of Manipur, underscore a differentiated institutional response — often conflictual and yet engaging with centralising and totalising1 tendencies of State and ethnic politics. The Councils of the hill areas in Manipur were suspended from 1989 to 2010 because of people’s demand to bring the hill areas under the Sixth Schedule. However, with renewed attempts by the Government of India to establish local government bodies through the 73rd Amendment, 1992, the Government of Manipur revived the District Councils for a renewed political negotiation. Learning from the experiences of other tribal communities in the region, the article reiterates the importance for a more assertive political presence of people through local self-government and governance.