Tujang Waichong or T. Waichong is a Kuki village in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur, India, and the headquarters of the Tujang Waichong Subdivision.First R-Day of T Waichong Sub Division, The Sangai Express, 28 January 2018, via e-pao.net. It is on the bank of the Irang River, along the Imphal–Tamenglong Road. It is a historic village for the Kuki community of Manipur, and became a subdivision headquarters in 2018.
Geography
The Tujang Waichong village is at the foothills of a hill range called Sintong Bung, on the right bank of the Irang River. On the opposite bank lies the Koubru hill with a long sloping western face, which houses numerous streams and dozens of hill villages.
The Irang river originates to the northeast of Tujang Waichong in the saddle points mediating between the Sintong Bung range and the Koubru range. It flows due southwest till the Makui cluster of villages, where it is met by the Langka River and turns northwest into the Tamenglong district.
History The 1947 Hill People's Regulation listed Tujang Waichong as "Kuki village" with 42 households. It was then put in Tamenglong Circle No. 2. By 1956, it was moved to the Sadar Hills Subdivision (present-day Kangpokpi district), along with other villages on the right bank of Irang River. For decades, survey maps showed the border between Tamenglong district and Sadar Hills along the Irang River, but the villages on the right bank of the river were still shown as being part of Sadar Hills. However, recent maps prepared by the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre (MARSAC) show the district border to the west of the river, including all the right bank villages.Tuijang Waichong Subdivision, Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre, retrieved 8 November 2024.
In 1949, the Kuki church leaders of the "north-western" region of Manipur broke with the Naga churches due to differences, and met at the Tujangwaichong Baptist Church to form their own association. This eventually culminated in the formation of the Kuki Baptist Association (KBA). In 1958, the Kuki Baptist Associations of the northwestern and northeastern Manipur met at the same church to form the Kuki Baptist Convention.
In the 1961 census, Tujang Waichong had a population of 424 people living in 68 households. By this time, Sadar Hills had been combined with the Mao region to form a "Mao and Sadar Hills" subdivision, which later became the Senapati district.
In 2016, after decades of agitation, Sadar Hills was separated out from the Senapati district and made into Kangpokpi district. Subsequently, the district was divided into nine subdivisions, with Tujang Waichong Subdivision being one of them. The subdivision essentially includes the basin of the Irang River with the village of Khommunom at the northern end and the Langka villages at the southern end.
Demographics As per the 2011 census, T. Waichong has a population of 1003 people living in 195 households, of which 508 are males and 495 are females. The sex ratio of T. Waichong 974, which is lower than the state average of 985. The literacy rate is 95% compared to state average of 77%.T.Waichong Population - Senapati, Manipur, census2011.co.in, retrieved 20 September 2026.
67 percent of the population of T. Waichong is made up of Scheduled Tribes (mostly Kuki people). The remainder are expected to be settlers from other parts of India, mainly Nepali people.
Recent developments
In May 2023, an ethnic conflict erupted in Manipur mainly between the Meitei and Kuki people. This did not directly affect the villages on the Imphal–Tamenglong Road. However, in 2026, the conflict turned into one between Kuki and Naga tribals. A key development was the killing of three Kuki-Zo pastors between Churachandpur to Kangpokpi in the mountain heights above the Ireng Naga village, and the subsequent hostage crisis, in which six Naga civilians from Konsa Khul were found killed. Soon afterwards, the Naga community led by the United Naga Council imposed an economic blockade on the Kangpokpi district.Nikita Jain, Manipur’s Naga-Kuki conflict deepens as economic blockade chokes Kangpokpi, Maktoob Media, 29 June 2026.
See also List of populated places in Kangpokpi district
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links Tuijang Waichong Subdivision, Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre, retrieved 8 November 2024. Welcome to Tujang Waichong Kukiland (video), Kangpokpi district, via Facebook, 19 April 2025.