GUWAHATI:The Nagaland Gorkha Association (NGA) has requested the Nagaland government not to verify the permanent resident status of a family or person based only on electoral rolls of 1963 as it would completely omit them from the list of permanent residents of the state.
This was conveyed by the NGA to the commission on Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) during an interactive meeting in Kohima on Tuesday. The commission had sought views/suggestions from the association in regard to RIIN.
“There are many Gorkha families who have settled in the erstwhile Naga Hills Tuensang Area – Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire and Longleng – prior to 1963. However, the first election in these districts along with rest of the state was held only in 1974. As such, verification of permanent resident status based only on the electoral rolls of 1963 would completely omit them from the list of permanent residents. It would be grave injustice to them,” the NGA had written in the letter submitted to the commission.
The government of Nagaland had constituted a three-member commission on RIIN in July, 2019 with an objective to study, examine, recommend and advising in regard to all aspects of the register.
The NGA further requested the government to consider documents other than the gazette notification and electoral rolls of 1963, which can prove that the Gorkha families had settled prior to December 1963 and thus enable them to be considered permanent residents of Nagaland.
The documents may be those issued by village authority, headman’s letters and recommendations, house tax receipts, land tax receipts, grazing tax receipts, etc.
As per the government of Nagaland gazette notification, dated October 22, 1974, around 182 Gorkha families and their descendants who have settled in Nagaland (erstwhile Naga Hills) prior to December 31, 1940 in the three districts of Kohima, Mokokchung and Wokha have been declared “Non Naga Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland and accorded certain rights and privileges.
“The NGA would request the government through the commission on RIIN to maintain status quo,” it wrote in the letter to the commission.
NGA president, Nobin Pradhan told The Shillong Times on Wednesday that there are currently about 80,000 Gorkha people residing as permanent residents in Nagaland.
“Apart from the various indigenous groups, the commission is taking all non-Naga communities living in Nagaland on board for suggestions before preparation of the RIIN,” Pradhan said.
On the cut-off dates (Dec 31 1940 and Dec 1, 1963), the NGA said it would abide by the government if it decides to extend the cut-off year beyond 1963.