Sugnu

Demographics

Sugnu Lamhang village which falls under the Chakpikarong sub-division of Chandel district in Manipur. It is located about 12 km from the Subdivisional Headquarters and it is about 30 km from the district headquarters. It is 72 km from the Capital city Imphal and is 26 km from Churachandpur town. It is in the tri-junctions of the Thoubal, Chandel and Churachandpur District on the banks of Imphal river. It consists of hilly portions and plain areas drained by the Manipur river in the west and the Chakpi river in the south.

THE PEOPLE: The catchment areas i.e. Chakpikarong sub-division is inhabited by the Anal, Thadou, Kom, Chothe, Lamkang, Chiru, Baite, Aimol, Gangte, Purum, Zo tribes and Meitei Loi castes. Besides these tribes bulk of the population is constituted by the Nepali community.

POPULATION:LITERACY AND CENSUS:According to the Census Report 2001;the total population of the Chandel District is 122,714, out of this total population of 46,998 inhabit the Chakpikarong sub-division; the catchment areas all in the hilly (rural) areas. The total child population in age-group of 0-6 is 5,801 out which 2,953 are male and 2,953 are female. The overall literacy rate is 58.99% in this sub-division out which male literacy rate is 71.01% and female literacy rate is 46.96% as per 2001 census.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: The hill forests are covered with varieties of commercial products and bamboos which remain unexploited for want of enterprises. The people of the areas depend primarily on agriculture. Few people depend for their livelihood on cottage industry like handlooms, handicrafts (arts and crafts), cane works carpentry etc. Poultry, pig rearing, cattle rearing are also done in a very small scale by some tribes. Most of them are living from hand to mouth existence. For parents, to send their children to good school is far-fetched dreams. Majority of them are poor and needy. Most of their daily needs are obtained from the plain areas of Sugnu bazar. There is no daily newspaper in these areas which can educate them in the world events. Not a single public library exists even today after a gap of fifty years of freedom.

HEALTH AND MEDICAL FACILITIES:Due to the poor sanitation, lack of medical facilities and poor transport amenities in these areas the overall health of the tribal population is in very bad conditions. Water-borne diseases, malaria,deficiency illness, maternity complications during child birth, miscarriages, etc. are quite common in the hills. Often, people lose their lives for want of proper life saving drugs, medical facilities and care. Also, for want of proper transport facilities people are left to die for failing to reach the better medical facilities in the Capital city; Imphal which is 72 km from Sugnu.

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES:There are few schools in the surrounding areas but there is no school which can impart quality education therefore,there is an urgent need to open quality school in the hilly areas for the betterment of the quality of their lives. There are about 3 private schools (one up to Cl.X and the others up to Cl.VII), one L.P. school in the Hill portion in Chandel District and one Government High School in Sugnu plain area of Thoubal District. Being remote rural areas, there is shortage of good teachers, and so the quality of teachings in these schools also suffer thereby resulting with very low percentages of passing students in Class X. There is no Secondary school in the areas. Because of poverty most of the students can not afford to study properly even in these few schools. There is high rate of dropouts in the areas. There is urgency of setting up a School, Library and Computer Training Centre for the rural tribals free of cost in their areas in order to prepare them for gainful employments/self-employments in future so as to bring them on par with the mainstream people.

Another part of Sugnu lies in Thoubal district As of 2001 India census, Sugnu had a population of 4507. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Sugnu has an average literacy rate of 61%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 72%, and female literacy is 50%. In Sugnu, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Politics

Sugnoo is part of Outer Manipur (Lok Sabha constituency).