Manipur waits on Delhi for Census amid Meitei, Naga demands
Manipur is waiting on New Delhi to decide whether to proceed with the upcoming Census exercise, as civil society groups demand a National Register of Citizens be completed first. The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has not yet clarified the next steps, though officials say a review is likely in the coming days. With the first phase of the Population Census 2027 scheduled for September, training for enumerators has already been halted due to widespread opposition.
Court Steps In As Census Faces Delays
The High Court of Manipur intervened on Monday, constituting a Special Division Bench to hear a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Kangleipak Students Association. The bench, led by Chief Justice M. Sundar and Justice A. Guneshwar Sharma, is scheduled to hear the case on August 25. This legal action follows the suspension of the self-enumeration portal, which was supposed to go live on August 17 but remains non-operational.
Enumerators, who are mostly government school teachers, have been instructed to stop training. They are required to visit households and record details in a specific app on their personal phones. “A decision from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is awaited,” a State government official stated. The official noted that the RGI office will assess the situation to provide clarity soon.
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In 2011, the Census could not be carried out in 103 villages in Chhattisgarh and 260 villages in West Bengal due to violence linked to Left Wing Extremism.
Delimitation Anxiety and Political Demands
While the Census counts individuals irrespective of nationality, anxiety remains high among some groups regarding the subsequent delimitation exercise. Delimitation redraws electoral constituency boundaries, and Manipur has three major communities: the Meiteis, the Nagas, and the Kuki-Zo people. Civil society leaders argue that without an updated register, the next delimitation could disadvantage the Meitei community and small tribal groups.
At least 14 civil society groups representing Meiteis, Pangals, and the Kom and Rongmei tribes, along with representatives from those displaced by the ethnic violence that began on May 3, 2023, are in Delhi. The group met with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju, and BJP president Nitin Nabin. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who met Home Minister Amit Shah last week, echoed these concerns. He said people are apprehensive that the presence of illegal immigrants has affected demographic imbalance and that while they are not against the Census, they want the NRC first.
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The Congress party, meanwhile, sought the postponement of the Census in Manipur on August 20, citing the ongoing violence and the displacement of thousands of residents.
Kuki-Zo Council Calls for Census
The Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), on the other hand, said that to rebut the “falsehoods and propaganda surrounding our population and demographic status during the Manipur conflict, an impartial Census is essential to establish facts and dispel unfounded claims”. The KZC also welcomed delimitation to ensure fair representation based on verified demographic data. Regarding the NRC, the KZC said it was a national exercise and that there was no provision f
