A Brief History of Churachandpur
– T. Dongzakai Gangte, Chief of Hill Town.

Neighbours
North – Tamenglong & Senapati
South – Mizoram & Chin State (Myanmar)
East – Bishenpur & Chandel
West – Assam & Mizoram

Before the coming of the British, Churachandpur district was inhabited by the Haokip/Thadou, Zou, Paite, Simte, Hmar, Gangte, Vaiphei and Kom tribes who were collectively known as Kuki; and who all were nominally under the rule of the Maharaja of Manipur. After the annexation of Manipur to the British Empire in 1891, the British and the Maharaja of Manipur reached an understanding for the governance of the state of Manipur. Subsequently the Manipur Darbar was established in the year 1919, under the agreement the Maharaja Darbar was made responsible for the administration of the Manipur valley areas, and the President of the Maharaja Darbar was given the charge and the responsibility of administering all the hill areas of Manipur. The Hill areas of Manipur was then divided in three sub-divisions namely 1) Suongpi 2) Tamenglong 3) Ukhrul.

In earlier part of 1921, the then Sub Divisional Officer of Suongpi B.C.Gasper hosted a grand feast in honor and to welcome back home the natives volunteers who had joined the Allied British Forces as Labour corps and were deployed in France during the first World War.  The Maharaja of Manipur, Sir Churachand Singh also graced the feast as Guest of Honor; to venerate the visit of the Maharaja, the sub-division of Suongpi was renamed as Churachandpur. In the year 1930, the three sub-divisions of the Hill Areas – Suongpi ( Churachandpur), Tamenglong & Ukhrul were altogether abolished and the entire hill area of the Manipur Province was placed under the President of Manipur State Darbar, divided mainly into two administrative sub-divisions – North & South. The administrative headquarters for the sub-division of Churachandpur was shifted to Imphal; the then Maharaja of Manipur, Sir Churachand Singh having given away a vacant place and building to the General Secretary of the North East India General Mission ( NEIGM) Mr. H.H. Colemanand his friend Dr. Crozier as an expression of his gratitude for curing his daughter who was suffering from a serious ailment.

In 1933, a new administrative arrangement was again made by the Manipur Darbar, the hill areas of Manipur were once more divided into three sub-divisions namely 1) Sardar 2) Ukhrul 3) Tamenglong. The Churachandpur sub-division was further divided into two circles Churachandpur and Thanlon under Sadar.  At the end of the II World War in 1945, the two circle offices were placed under one sub-divisional unit known as Churachandpur sub-division. In view of the fact that the former Sub-Division headquarters was already occupied by the Missionaries, a new administrative office was established at the present headquarters known as “New Churachandpur”. After India attained her Independence in 1947, the entire Manipur was divided into two administrative units such as the Valley and the Hills under the Indian Union Territory of Manipur. Shri. P.B. Singh was nominated as the Chief Minister and Mr. T.C. Tiankham & Mr. Teba Kilong were nominated as Minister Hill affairs in the interim council.

The interim council was subsequently dissolved and a fresh election to the Hill Council was held in 1947. The members elected to the Hill Council for the period of 1947 – 1949 were :

Member Elected          Constituency
T.C.Tiankham             Hanship
T.Tualchin                 Senvon
Dr. L.Kampu               Maite
Demzakhai                 Churachandpur
Nominated Member     Teba Kilong

In the year 1950 (‘49)*, the state of Manipur was included in the part ‘C’ state under the Constitution of India; the Hill Council was dissolved and the system of Electoral College was introduced. The elected members to the Electoral College for the period of 1950 – 53 were:

Churachandpur Constituency – Sumkhohen
Thanlon Constituency – Jem Khuma

The electoral College was abolished again, and Manipur was placed under the Indian Union Territory; two members were nominated respectively from the Hill Areas – Dr. L. Kampu and A.Daiho as Advisors to the Chief Commissioner, Manipur. It was during this period in the year 1954 the Central Government recognized the sub-tribes of Churachandpur District namely Hmar, Paite, Gangte, Simte, Zou, Vaiphei as Schedule tribe under the constitution of India. With the introduction of the Territorial Council Act of 1956, the post of the Chief Commissioner was done away with and elections to the Territorial Council were held; the elected members were:

For the term of 1957 – 1963
Members Elected     Constituency
Paulien Haokip      Churachandpur
S.Pauneikhai        Thanlon

For the term of 1967 – 1972
Member Elected      Constituency
S.Vumkhom         Churachandpur
T.Goukhenpao     Thanlon

The territorial Council was again replaced by the Legislative Assembly in the year 1963, members were elected to the legislative assembly for two terms – 1963 – 1967 & 1967 -1972. In 1969, Manipur was divided into 6(six) Districts, the Churachandpur sub-division was upgraded with five Development blocks -  Churachandpur, Thanlon, Henglep, Tipaimukh and Singngat.
 
Manipur was conferred a full-fledged status of a State under the Indian Union on 21st January 1972.  In the year 1973, three more legislative assembly constituencies were carved out in the district of Churachandpur – namely Henglep, Tipaimukh & Singngat.  Today the Churachandpur District has 6 assembly constituencies and hence six Members of Legislative Assemblies.

In the year 1973 elections to the District Council was held in 18 constituencies of Churachandpur District.  The Council had total of 20 members – 18 elected and 2 nominated, the members were popularly known as MDC ( Members of District Council). The elections to the fourth District Council ( intended to be held in 1983) could not be held as it was boycotted by social organizations demanding application of 6th schedule provisions of the Indian Constitution to the district of Churachandpur; hence the fourth District Council elections stands indefinitely postponed till today.

The Churachandpur Town was already notified as a Small Town Committee way back in the year 1961 and it was upgraded to a Municipality in 1978, the Municipality status was abolished ten years later in 1988 as they could not have the privilege of Rural Development Funds. The asses and liabilities were handed to the Distric Council. Between the year 1970 – 1980 the Tipaimukh and Guite stretched of roads was constructed by Border Road Task Force ( BRTF) upto the boundaries of Mizoram; and all the Sub-Divisional headquarters were motor-able from the district headquarters. But of late with the coming of several insurgency groups and the unfortunate ethnic clash of 1997/’98, Government offices in Hill areas could not function as good as before.

Churachandpur District is inhabited by several ethnic groups such as Mizo, Kuki, Meitei, Zomi, Naga, Hmar, Muslim and Businessmen from outside Manipur. The local administration of villages is under the Chieftainship from time immemorial.

Source: A magazine published by District Administration, Churachandpur in 2008 - Editor Mr. Ngurjang Anty Haokip, DRDA CCpur

This article was first published on Zogam.com in Wednesday, 22 July 2009.