Kohima: The Nagaland government’s decision to draw up a register of indigenous inhabitants has evoked mixed response from civil societies, political parties and tribal bodies in the state, with some of them welcoming the move and others seeking a clarity on the modus operandi.
According to a notification issued by Home Commissioner R Ramakrishnan on Saturday, the exercise to prepare the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) will commence on July 10 and is scheduled to be completed in 60 days.
The list will be put together after an extensive survey of village-wise and ward-wise list of indigenous inhabitants, based on official records, under the supervision of district administration, he said.
Merentoshi R Jamir, the spokesperson of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Peoples’ Party (NDPP), said his party “fully supports” the government’s move.
“This is what we have been pushing for… The exercise will ensure proper identification of indigenous inhabitants of the state,” Jamir said.
Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF), however, did not approve of the manner in which the notification was issued by the Neiphiu Rio-led government and sought clarity on the status of eligible inhabitants.
“The RIIN notification has failed to define who all are the indigenous inhabitants of the state. It also did not set any cutoff date (for eligibility),” NPF spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said.
He claimed that the survey, if carried out on the basis of official records, would give room for misuse of information as one can produce several documents for identification, such as the Aadhaar card, job cards and photo identity cards.
“No accuracy can be expected without any explicit or implied reference records,” Kikon added.
Echoing similar sentiments, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) president K Therie said the government seems to be in haste to complete the process.
Among the civil societies, the Joint Committee on Prevention of Illegal Immigrants (JCPI), formed under the aegis of Nagaland Tribes Council, has extended its support to the government’s move, maintaining that the RIIN must include “names of only those who were Nagas by blood”.
The notification issued by the government has stated that teams would be visiting each house in the state and make a list of the indigenous inhabitants residing there.
In case someone is left out of RIIN, he/she will need to file an application before the home commissioner, who will get the matter verified and take necessary action for updating the RIIN, if needed, the notification added. (PTI)
