Now Reading: Manipur awaits Delhi nod on Census as groups demand NRC first
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Manipur awaits Delhi nod on Census as groups demand NRC first
Manipur is waiting for a decision from New Delhi on the upcoming Census exercise, which has stalled amid demands from several Meitei and Naga civil society groups for a National Register of…
Manipur is waiting for a decision from New Delhi on the upcoming Census exercise, which has stalled amid demands from several Meitei and Naga civil society groups for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be compiled first. The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has yet to announce the next steps, though a government source said a review is expected in the coming days.
On Monday, the Manipur High Court constituted a Special Division Bench to hear a PIL filed by the Kangleipak Students Association on the matter, with the hearing set for August 25. The first phase of the 2027 Census, House Listing and Housing Census, is scheduled from September 1 to September 30, but training of enumerators has been halted and the self-enumeration portal is not yet operational.
At least 14 civil society groups, including those representing Meiteis and displaced people from the ethnic violence that began in May 2023, are in Delhi to meet Union government officials. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said people want the NRC first, while the Kuki-Zo Council has called for the Census to go ahead to establish facts about demographic claims.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The impasse in Manipur reflects a deeper political calculation: the last Census was in 2011, and a new count would trigger delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, which has been frozen since 1976 under the 42nd Amendment. The Union government is caught between competing community demands, with Meitei and Naga groups fearing that a Census without an NRC would legitimise what they call illegal immigration, while the Kuki-Zo Council sees it as a chance to correct disputed population figures. The High Court hearing on August 25 could force a timeline from the Home Ministry.
A careful reader will note that the Census itself does not determine citizenship, but the next delimitation exercise, which redraws constituency boundaries, would use the new data. This is what fuels the demand for an NRC first: communities want to shrink the population base counted before seats are reallocated.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
