More than three years after ethnic violence erupted in India's northeastern border state of Manipur, thousands of people remain displaced from their homes. The numbers have fallen from the peak of the crisis, but the humanitarian problem has not disappeared. The question now is whether Manipur is moving towards genuine rehabilitation or simply managing a crisis that has become part of everyday life.

According to a State Home Department report cited by The Sangai Express, as of September 3, 2026, Manipur had 28,899 internally displaced people living in relief camps and temporary locations. Of these, 24,530 were staying in relief camps and another 4,369 at temporary locations. The same report said 31,823 displaced people had returned to their own houses, while 7,034 houses had been constructed and 4,159 repaired. There were still 105 relief camps operating across the state.

The figures show both progress and the scale of what remains unfinished.The number of displaced people has fallen from nearly 60,000 at the height of the violence, according to The Indian Express. But a reduction in the camp population should not automatically be interpreted as a return to normality. People leaving camps may still face insecurity, damaged homes, disrupted livelihoods or uncertain access to basic services.

This distinction matters because displacement is not simply a housing problem. It is an education problem when children spend years away from their schools. It is a livelihood problem when farmers, traders and workers lose access to their economic base. It is a healthcare problem when people cannot safely travel to hospitals. And it is a justice problem when victims struggle to follow criminal proceedings concerning crimes committed against them.

Grave Humanitarian Situation

The Supreme Court's recent intervention has made the humanitarian situation even harder to ignore.

According to The Indian Express, the Supreme Court expressed shock after a report referred to 25 unnatural deaths among internally displaced people living in relief camps, including one case in which a person was reported to have died following sexual assault. The Court was also told that a nodal officer had reported 640 deaths in relief camps across eight districts, of which 34 were classified as unnatural. Post-mortems had been conducted in only 20 of those 34 cases, while criminal cases had been registered in 25 and prosecution had begun in four.

The Court also questioned why families of some displaced people who died unnatural deaths had reportedly received only Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 in compensation.

These figures demand more than administrative explanations. They demand accountability.

A relief camp exists because people have already lost the security of home. It should therefore represent protection, not another source of vulnerability. Every death requires appropriate investigation, and every allegation of criminal conduct requires due process.

The state cannot measure humanitarian success simply by counting how many people have left the camps. The more important question is where they went.

Did they return to their original homes? Were those homes rebuilt? Are their villages secure? Can their children attend school? Can families earn a living? Can they access hospitals? Do they believe that returning home is safe?

Those questions are more important than the number of camps that have closed.

What Has Relief Money Achieved

The financial scale of rehabilitation is also significant. According to a report based on the State Home Department, the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved Rs 1,347.78 crore for rehabilitation of internally displaced people since the violence began in May 2023, of which Rs 949.63 crore had reportedly been released and utilised by September 2026.

That is a substantial public expenditure. It makes transparency and measurable outcomes essential.

Citizens have a right to know not merely how much money has been sanctioned, but what that money has achieved.

How many families have received permanent housing? How many have returned? How many remain displaced because returning is unsafe? How many have recovered livelihoods? How many children have resumed uninterrupted education?

Public money should produce public accountability.

Whither Justice?

The justice process presents another challenge.

In its February 26, 2026 order, the Supreme Court recorded that 31 cases had been entrusted to the CBI and that charge sheets had been filed in 20 of them. The Court also noted that victims and families were sometimes unaware that charge sheets had been filed because proceedings had been transferred to Guwahati while many victims remained in Manipur. The Court consequently directed the Manipur and Assam legal-services authorities to provide legal-aid counsel to victims and their families.

That is an important reminder that justice is not simply about filing charge sheets.

Victims must be able to understand what is happening in their cases and participate in the legal process.

Displacement makes that more difficult. A family living in a relief camp, struggling financially and separated from its original community cannot be expected to navigate a distant judicial process without institutional assistance.

Need for Political Settlement

Security remains another unresolved issue. According to official notifications reported by The Indian Express, the Centre has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act for another six months from October 1, 2026, across most of Manipur, excluding areas under 13 police stations in five districts.

Whatever one's position on AFSPA, its continued application across much of the state demonstrates that the security situation remains serious.

But security cannot be measured only through the deployment of forces.

For displaced families, security means being able to return home without fear. It means travelling to work or school without worrying about armed attacks. It means knowing that the police and administration will respond when citizens are threatened.

And the security challenge is no longer confined to the conflict's original fault line.

Recent violence involving Naga and Kuki communities has added another layer to Manipur's already complicated conflict. The Indian Express reported on September 29 that more than 50 people had been killed in Naga-Kuki clashes since the new state government took office in February 2026.

The development makes a durable political settlement even more urgent.

Needed Genuine Rehabilitation Strategy

Manipur cannot afford an endless cycle in which violence produces displacement, displacement produces segregation, segregation deepens mistrust and mistrust produces further violence.

The answer cannot be permanent camp life. Nor can rehabilitation be reduced to moving people from camps into houses while the security environment remains unstable.

A genuine rehabilitation strategy has to combine housing, healthcare, education, livelihoods, justice and security. It also needs the participation of displaced communities themselves.

The people living through this crisis should not be treated merely as beneficiaries of government schemes. They are citizens whose lives have been disrupted and whose rights must be restored.

The passage of time makes this more urgent, not less. A child who was displaced in 2023 is now several years older. A family that lost its livelihood has spent years outside its economic environment. An elderly person who left home in 2023 has lost precious time that cannot be recovered.

These are costs that do not appear in government spreadsheets. Manipur therefore needs to move beyond the language of relief and towards the language of restoration. The ultimate measure of recovery will not be how many camps have closed. It will be how many families can safely return, rebuild their livelihoods, educate their children, access justice and live without fear.

Nearly 29,000 people are still waiting. For them, the crisis is not history. It is home that remains unfinished.

(The writer is an author and human rights activist whose work focuses on governance, democracy, conflict, and social justice. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at jerome221983@gmail.com.)