The Tribal Affairs & Hills Department, Manipur works on two levels, i.e. the Administrative Department located at the Secretariat and the Directorate. The Department works on three dimensional approach viz. i) Protection of Scheduled Tribe people from atrocities through the provisions made under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Castes & scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, ii) Promotion of socio- economic condition of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) people through implementation of various developmental programmes and iii) Preservation of rich cultural heritage of the ST people through systematic collection, documentation and preservation through the Tribal Research Institute.