How did Kukis in Imphal Amass Thousands of Crores?

If the recent claims circulating in social media sources are indeed accurate—that Kuki-owned properties in the Imphal alone were valued at an astonishing Rs. 4335 crore before the unfortunate Manipur violence—it paints an inspiring picture of extraordinary growth achieved by minority Kuki groups, who are listed in the Schedule Tribe categories of Manipur. 

With an estimated pre-conflict population of around 10,000 individuals forming about 2,000 families, this translates to an average of over Rs. 2 crore per family—a level of wealth that places many Kuki households firmly in crorepati territory.

From modest beginnings, these urban Kukis have evidently built empires of real estate, thriving businesses, and substantial assets, turning small enclaves like New and Old Lambulane, New Checkon, Khongsai Veng, Sangaiporou, Langol, Game Village, and Zomi Villa, etc into hubs of prosperity. 

One cannot help but feel genuine joy and admiration at this phenomenal success of ST community. In a state where economic opportunities are often limited and competition fierce, the Kukis in Imphal have clearly outshone expectations, leveraging education, professional networks, trade, and investments to create generational wealth that rivals or even surpasses that of many well-established Meitei families who have lived in the valley for centuries. 

If these thousands of crores in assets are truly reflective of their holdings, it is cause for celebration: a minority Scheduled Tribe community has scripted an economic miracle right in the heart of Imphal, proving that barriers can be shattered and prosperity embraced on a grand scale.

Today, a broader assertions by the Outer Manipur Kuki IDPs Welfare Association pegged total Kuki property losses in Imphal alone at a staggering Rs. 4335.51 crore.

Few days ago, social media was flooded with viral claims from Kuki sources, advocating Kuki-Zo interests—highlight massive property destruction in Imphal's Kuki enclaves. Specific reports detail devastation in areas like New Lambulane and New Checkon, where homes, businesses, and lifetimes of effort were allegedly reduced to ashes by mobs, with estimated losses exceeding Rs. 734 crore (Rs. 734,68,72,058). 

Another claim focuses on Khongsai Veng in Imphal East, once a peaceful locality, now in ruins with reported damages of over Rs. 418 crore (Rs. 418,62,68,869). These figures, even though lack documents, represent not just material setbacks, but generational heritage for families who lost everything overnight.

This urban affluence stands in stark contrast to the realities faced by hill-dwelling Kukis in districts like Churachandpur's outskirts and Pherzawl, where poverty mirrors that of ST in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Odisha—multidimensional poverty rates often above 40-50%, with annual per capita incomes around Rs. 60,000-100,000. Subsistence farming, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to education and healthcare define life there. 

This intra-community chasm begs explanation: How did some Kukis in Imphal build such wealth while others languish?Key factors include geographic proximity to Imphal's economic opportunities and benefits like the income tax exemption under Section 10(26) of the Income Tax Act, applicable to ST members in northeastern states. This allows tax-free retention of salaries, business income, and investments within the state, aiding those in higher-earning urban roles—government jobs, trade, entrepreneurship—to reinvest aggressively. 

The exemption, intended for tribal upliftment, disproportionately favors urban dwellers with access to valley markets. Historical migration for education and employment, plus professional networks, further widened the gap. This disparity becomes even more striking when contrasted with the widespread poverty among their own hill-based kin and the economic realities faced by the majority Meitei community.

Allegations of fund diversion add fuel: Tribal development allocations for hills—under schemes like the Tribal Sub-Plan—have historically faced implementation delays, corruption, and uneven distribution, with critics claiming urban elites or connected individuals siphon benefits.

The hills in Manipur has endure chronic underdevelopment despite claims of higher per-capita spending in some sectors. Remote villages lack basics, while complaints of valley-centric projects persist. This urban-rural divide isn't confined to Kukis. Naga residents in Imphal valley often mirror this affluence—government positions, businesses, real estate—bolstered by the same exemptions, while Naga dominated districts in Kamjong, Chandel, Ukhrul or Tamenglong face similar deprivations: poor roads, low incomes, and poverty rates akin to national ST averages.

Many Meitei households rely on agriculture, small trades, or salaried jobs, with incomes around state averages but below urban national levels. The Manipur violence devastated them too, with homes, businesses, and villages torched in hill districts like Churachandpur and Moreh.Documented cases highlight the scale of Meitei economic losses in these areas.

In Churachandpur, a licensed gun house owned by Meitei businessman N. Ibomcha Singh was looted by Kuki mobs on May 3, 2023, with cash and ammunition worth Rs. 6 crore stolen, as detailed in the FIR filed with authorities. In Moreh, a key border trade hub where Meitei entrepreneurs historically played pivotal roles in daily transactions worth crores through cross-border commerce, businesses suffered immense setbacks. One reported FIR involves the owner of Santosh Electronics complaining of looting and burning, with losses estimated at Rs. 1.50 crore. 

These are mere snapshots from individual families; broader patterns reveal hotel owners, electronics dealers, and traders in Moreh—handling high-volume imports and exports—facing total ruin as shops were ransacked, inventories destroyed, and trade halted amid the exodus.

But for Meiteis, the losses transcend monetary value. What price can be assigned to a civilization's sacred anchors? Ancestral lands protected by forefathers for over 2,000 years have been rendered inaccessible, severing ties to the cradle of Meitei heritage. Sites like Mount Koubru—the mythological epicenter of human creation in Meitei civilization—and Thangjing Peak, home to deity Ibudhou Thangjing, face restrictions, encroachments, or desecration claims, including erected symbols clashing with traditional reverence. 

Over 393 Meitei temples and heritage sites reportedly damaged or inaccessible represent an incalculable cultural hemorrhage—far more profound than any crore-valued claim, akin to losing sacred sites as revered as Jerusalem's holy places. These are not assets bought with money but eternal pillars of identity, rituals, and cosmology.

Expanding on this, the destruction of historical monuments and stones in Manipur's border areas allegedly by Kuki militants far surpasses the material claims made by Kuki groups regarding their properties in State capital. These acts go beyond property damage; they constitute an attempt to rewrite history, undermining the foundational stories of Meitei civilization that predate modern conflicts by centuries. 

While Kuki claims focus on quantifiable economic losses—homes and businesses valued in crores—the Meitei losses involve the intangible yet priceless destruction of cultural memory, akin to the obliteration of archaeological sites that define a people's existence. 

In a state where heritage is intertwined with identity, such cultural vandalism inflicts wounds deeper than any financial reckoning, perpetuating cycles of resentment and division. Beyond monetary figures, Meiteis lament the loss of historical ownership in towns like Moreh and Churachandpur—once multicultural hubs where their ancestors were the owners and businesses thrived amid border trade—now transformed, with their presence erased alongside irreplaceable ties to land and legacy.

Meanwhile, these exorbitant property claims by Kuki associations demand rigorous scrutiny from national agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). If verified, assets averaging over Rs. 2 crore per family in a community officially classified as Scheduled Tribe—meant for the socio-economically backward—raise alarming red flags about disproportionate wealth accumulation wildly incommensurate with declared incomes or legitimate sources. 

In a region plagued by allegations of narco-terrorism, rampant poppy cultivation in Kuki-dominated hills funding armed groups and illicit trade, and porous borders facilitating smuggling, how did a minority urban enclave amass such fortunes? The tax exemptions enjoyed by ST members, while beneficial, cannot alone explain this scale—especially when hill Kukis live in abject poverty. 

National agencies must probe not just the sources of this disproportionate wealth but the fate of every rupee allocated for hill development, exposing any exploitation that has widened this unforgivable chasm. It's high time the ED launches probes into money laundering angles and the CBI investigates potential links to drug cartels or black money, tracing funding trails that may reveal uncomfortable truths behind this sudden "wealth." 

The most damning indictment of this tragedy lies in the grotesque intra-community inequality it has exposed: While a select group of Kukis in Imphal lived as virtual crorepatis—owning lavish properties, running thriving businesses, and accumulating wealth that averaged crores per household—their own blood brothers and sisters in hometowns like Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Pherzawl scrape by as virtual beggars, trapped in grinding poverty with crumbling roads, no electricity, inadequate schools, and livelihoods barely above subsistence. 

How can the same community, bound by ethnicity and shared tribal identity, exhibit such a heart-wrenching divide—one segment basking in urban opulence in the valley, the other forsaken in the hills they claim as ancestral?

This is no mere accident of geography; it points to a deeper malaise. Substantial development funds poured by the Centre and state for tribal upliftment in the hills—billions under Tribal Sub-Plans, special packages, and infrastructure schemes—seem to vanish into thin air, rarely translating into tangible progress for the grassroots. 

Instead, persistent allegations suggest that influential urban Kuki elites, with their proximity to power centers in Imphal, have cornered contracts, siphoned resources, and diverted monies meant for remote villages, leaving their poorer kin abandoned. 

When crorepatis emerge in the valley while hill people remain destitute, the question screams itself: Are these Imphal-based Kukis exploiting the very funds intended to lift their struggling brethren out of poverty? 

This betrayal within the community not only mocks the spirit of Scheduled Tribe protections but deepens resentment, turning ethnic solidarity into class warfare.In the shadow of such stark betrayal and the exaggerated claims that often accompany it, true reconciliation demands unflinching scrutiny.

The claimed of Rs. 4335 crore in Kuki properties within Imphal alone stands as a figure that strains credulity in a state as economically modest as ours. With Manipur's latest per capita income hovering around Rs. 1.29 lakh annually, this astronomical sum—equivalent to the wealth of tens of thousands of average households concentrated in the hands of just 2,000 families—simply isn't digestible. 

It strains belief in a resource-strapped state like Manipur, where most citizens struggle with basic livelihoods and the per capita income lingers around Rs. 1.29 lakh annually. The notion that a small urban Kuki population of roughly 2,000 families held assets worth Rs. 4335 crore defies economic reality, prompting urgent demands for independent audits and thorough investigations to unpack these claims. 

The big question remains: Are the Kukis in Imphal truly that extraordinarily wealthy, or is something else at play?