Thirty-nine-year-old Tingkim says she is down to her last Rs 200. What worries her most is the embarrassment of being unable to contribute to buying Christmas gifts for the children in her relief camp in Manipur. 

Speaking to Newslaundry over the phone from a camp in Churachandpur, Tingkim – a tailor who once earned enough to live on her own in Kangpokpi district’s S Kanan village – broke down as she described her life for more than 750 days. 

Her meals, she says, have been limited to dal and rice, twice a day, every day. She shares a single bathroom with nearly 100 people, sleeps in cramped spaces with no privacy, and says she often struggles to even buy basics such as sanitary pads, toothpaste or soap. With no income and no clarity about her future, anxiety has given way to depression, she says. 

While the Centre maintains that life in Manipur is returning to normal, many of the 50,000 people who were internally displaced by violence remain in camps. The state had set December as the deadline to close all camps and rehabilitate residents, but of the over 300 relief camps that emerged since May 2023, many still remain. A petition before the Manipur High Court in October alleged the reality on the ground was so devastating it had forced at least 10 to die by suicide so far.

In July, months after President’s Rule was imposed, then state chief secretary P K Singh had told journalists that a three-phase resettlement plan was worked out in consultation with the Centre, primarily the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to Singh, some relief camp inmates would go back during the second phase by October, followed by the third phase by December. “We feel that even after December, there will be around 8,000 to 10,000 people who will not be able to go back. They may be from Moreh, Kangpokpi or Churachandpur. They will be allowed to stay in some 1,000 pre-fabricated houses we are building. We have plans to shut the relief camps by December,” he had said.

There are many like Tingkim, who cannot return to their villages because of fear, and have no option but to endure allegedly degrading conditions in camps.

The relief camps are overseen by the district administration offices.

‘I feel ashamed and small’

Speaking to........

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