From Article 14
Using satellite imagery and right-to-information records, our investigation contradicts ruling party claims that poppy cultivation drove deforestation and Manipur’s ethnic conflict, resulting in 300 deaths. Overlaying poppy maps with historical forest data shows cultivation spreading into already degraded land, not virgin forests. State records and evidence of politically connected timber networks suggest tribal farmers were scapegoated to hide regulatory complicity and justify deforestation amid the violence.
Kangpokpi, Imphal, Ukhrul, Tengnoupal, and Mao (Manipur): Lunhokam Ngailut recalled the days when timber flowed from the forested hills of Manipur to the Imphal Valley, brokered by well-connected men.
One of those, according to Ngailut, in his nineties, a lean, smiling man with thinning hair, was Gaurav Singh, the father of Manipur’s former chief minister N Biren Singh. Gaurav Singh was a major timber trader, sourcing wood from tribal lands, bypassing the permit requirements imposed on local Kuki and Naga communities, according to 10 tribal chiefs and timber traders who spoke to Article 14 for this story.
“We must have cleared five or six acres of forest then,” said Ngailut, a former chief of a Thadou Kuki village called Changoubung in Kangpokpi district, recalling the 1950s. “No permits were needed because he was well-connected with the state departments and the police.”
Ngailut said the land was classified as a reserve forest, where forest-dwelling communities such as the Kuki Zo and Naga tribes are legally required to obtain permits to extract resources.
Makepeace Sitlhou is an independent journalist and producer based in New Delhi. Greeshma Kuthar is an independent journalist and lawyer based in Chennai.
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