Tipaimukh Sub-Division is located in south-western hilly region of
Manipur
Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
bordering the Indian state of
Mizoram
Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...
. It is one of the six tribal development blocks of
Churachandpur district
Churachandpur District (Meitei language, Meitei pronunciation: ''/tʃʊraːˌtʃaːnɗpʊr/''), is one of the 16 List of districts of Manipur, districts of the Indian state of Manipur populated mainly by Kuki-Zo people. The name honours former M ...
in Manipur state.
Parbung is the sub-divisional block headquarters. The total geographic area of the sub-division block is 789.48 km², having 55
villages
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...
with the total population of 23,995 approx. The total number of voters is 18,848. The total distance from the Parbung to the district headquarters town of Churachandpur is 247 km through the
Tipaimukh Road, also known as
NH 150.
Meaning of name
The indigenous name of Tipaimukh is Ruonglevaisuo. "Tipaimukh" is a combination of "Tipai", a corrupted version of the name of the
Tuivai River, and ''mukh'', which means "mouth" in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. "Ruonglevaisuo" (ruong-le-vai-suo) is a combination of "Ruong" (from "Ruongnau", ''le'', meaning "and"; ''Vai'', taken from the name of the Tuivai River; and ''suo'', meaning "
mouth
A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...
". Hence, both "Tipaimukh" and "Ruonglevaisuo" refer to the Mouth of the Tuivai and Ruongnau rivers at this location.
People
The majority of the people inhabiting Tipaimukh are the indigenous
Hmar people who are spread in large numbers in neighbouring Indian states of Mizoram,
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
,
Tripura
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
and
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...
. The Hmars are one of the recognised
Scheduled Tribes of India since the 1950s. The Hmars were the first to settle in this region since the 18th century. Other tribals inhabiting this region, but who are found in small numbers, are the kindred tribes viz.,
Zou,
Gangte,
Paite,
Vaiphei, etc.
Situation
Tipaimukh was one of the most neglected regions in the state of Manipur due to its remote location. A few years back due to insurgency problems there was near complete absence of
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
establishment, no proper educational facilities, no hospitals, doctors or public
health centres (PHC), no proper
Public Distribution System
The Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food security system that was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor at subsid ...
(PDS), no electrification and no proper communication system such as
roadways
A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) is a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of traffic lane ...
,
mobile or
telephone
A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
connectivity. The people’s only reliable means of communication with those outside their region was through
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
. The region had been deprived of any development works for more than a decade or so.
However, with the improvement in the law and order situation, a gradual increase in development has been initiated by the state government such as employment generation via MGNREGs, and infrastructural development through various other schemes such as MsDP, BRGF, IAY, IWMP etc., implemented and monitored by the Sub-Divisional Officer and Block Development Officer but these is less effective mainly due to the ever skyrocking corruption. The Sub-Division, has a motorable road connectivity on par with most roads within the district however the fare or charge for passenger is one of the highest in the world. Nevertheless, there are still much to be done, especially in the energy sector viz. Electricity which has yet to reach 90% of the population.
Politics
Tipaimukh A/C is part of
Outer Manipur (Lok Sabha constituency).
References
{{reflist
Sinlung The indigenous Hmar peopleThe Tipaimukh DamBarak RiverManipur River
Pherzawl district