Protesting tribal students lock Manipur varsity gate

Imphal, May 3: The tribal students’ union of Manipur University on Tuesday locked the main gate of the campus as part of its agitation against the reduction of reservation to 7.5 percent. The gate was later opened by security personnel at the university. There were no arrests, though police were on stand-by.

The Manipur University Tribal Students’ Union (MUTSU) has been agitating on campus for quite some time against reduction of the admission reservation for tribal students from 31 percent to 7.5 per cent.

Terming it “highly objectioble”, MUTSU president M. Joute said the university should cancel the new policy and maintain the earlier reservation pattern. On Tuesday morning, the tribal students took out a rally on the campus, and after a while locked the main gate.

A union spokesperson told IANS that the agitation would continue till the quota policy is reviewed. The union said the university authorities would be responsible for any untoward incident during the protest.

On April 4, the Deans Committee of the university took a decision to slash the admission reservation of tribal students.

The MUTSU had earlier launched agitations on April 30 and May 1, demanding a review of the admission reservation policy. The union spokesperson said that as there was no positive response from the university authorities, the union decided to intensify the agitation from Tuesday. The main gate will be locked and academic activities disrupted on Wednesday too, the spokesperson said. (IANS)