social movements

One can trace back the history of today’s Miera Paibis to the days of the Nupi Lan or women’s war in 1904 and 1939. Beginning as a protest against price rise, the demand extended over to administrative reforms against the oppressive economic and administrative policies ruled by the Manipur Maharaja and the Political Agent—Mr Gimson—of the British Government. Women’s role in public sphere is not new to Manipur. Meitei women have enjoyed a significant space outside household spheres. Traces of this can be found from the existence of certain institutions or systems that have pushed the women to take part in family economy and one such institution was Lallup-Kaba. This is some kind of forced labour which prevailed in Manipur in the 1800s. This institution has a very ancient origin in Manipur. The general system of Lallup was based on the assumption that every male between the age of 17 and 60 must place his services at the disposal of the state, without remuneration, for a certain number of days. The male of the family remained out of the house for a long period and women were compelled to get into buying and selling for maintenance of the family. Consequently, a section of the trade came under the hands of women in the form of Women’s Market today known as Ima Keithel or Ima Market.
The British administered the state of Manipur directly from 1891 till 1907 after they defeated Manipur in 1891 (Lokendra 1998). The Maharaja signed the Merger Agreement with India on September 21, 1949. Even today the circumstances under which the former princely state merged into India are contentious. (S. S. Hanjabam, 2007) Since the merger of Manipur, there have been numerous democratic movements in Manipur wherein the Meitei women have been a significant part. Historically speaking, the Meira Paibis were preceded by the Nisha Bandis who came into force in the 1970s. During that time, Manipur was flooded with drugs, narcotics, alcohol as a result of which young boys and men succumbed