SC raps Centre over bias against NE people

The Supreme Court criticised the Central government on Wednesday for “taking things lightly” regarding the continuing discrimination faced by people from the North East region living across India.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran questioned the government for not convening meetings of a court-mandated monitoring committee every three months to address these issues.
The bench stated, “We are not going to close this. Despite us keeping this matter pending, you (Centre) were taking things very lightly…. There is no doubt about it. After 15 December, you didn’t hold a meeting till we asked you to hold one. You Union were supposed to hold it every three months.”
It observed that following its February 17 order, a meeting of the committee took place on March 15; however, the minutes of that meeting did not specify the date for the next meeting.
The matter was adjourned, with the bench directing the committee to advance the issues discussed on March 15 and scheduling the next hearing for July 15.
The bench also called for increased sensitivity regarding discrimination against people from the North East. Justice Kumar remarked, “A video is currently doing the rounds on WhatsApp. I was in Manipur and have many friends there… The song in the video says, call us Nepali, call us ‘chinkis’, but we are still Indians.”
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea concerning the welfare of North East Indians residing throughout the country. Earlier, it instructed the monitoring committee to address instances of racial discrimination and to meet every three months.