Is the NRC of 1951 available ? Critical base year
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 27 2018 -
The critical question is this-Does the State Government have the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of 1951 ?
If yes then there should be no problem, but if no then how does the State Government intend to go about with the just passed Manipur People Bill with 1951 as the base year ?
This question is important in the face of the fact that when the previous Congress Government too stuck by 1951 as the base year, an official response to an RTI had clearly laid down that the NRC of 1951 is not available with the State Government and the Directorate of Census Operations.
In absence of the NRC of 1951 then how does the State Government intend to identify who is a Manipuri in 1951 ?
Or are there some other basis on which the Government hopes to identify who is a Manipuri in 1951 ?
Remember Assam too had to roll back the 1951 as the base year for preparing its current NRC and bring it forward to 1971, as it does not have the NRC of 1951.
Difficult to believe that Manipur would be better placed than Assam to have the NRC of 1951.
Or if there is such a record then it better be spelt out to the people.
Already sections of people in Jiribam have raised their objection to the decision to keep 1951 as the base year, but the more important point is whether any agency of the State Government really have the NRC of 1951.
If yes then there should be no problem in going ahead with the Bill (remember there has been no vocal protest against the Bill from any other section of the people so far, save from the JAC of Jiribam) and hope that the President gives his assent to the same and is enacted for remember the demand of the people is to regulate the inflow of non-local people into the State.
At the same time it is also important to seriously question why Manipur continues to attract others.
A question which has been raised many times and will be raised as long as there is the demand that the inflow of non-local people into the State should be regulated and hence checked.
The answer is again obvious and repeated many times earlier in this column.
Along with the mechanism put in place to check the inflow of non-locals into the State, it should also fall on the people not to continue creating the vacuum that others automatically flow in to fill up.
Take up the manual works, learn to be more courteous to customers and yes remember that the customer is king.
All these can go a long way in filling up the vacuum which outsiders willingly come and fill up and which lead to the burgeoning population of non-locals in Manipur.
Having said this, one should also remember what happened way back in 2015 and the days when the remains of the protesters in Churachandpur were kept at rest without funeral.
In many ways what happened back in 2015 was a reflection of the deep rooted suspicion amongst the locals of Manipur and an issue which should have united the people only succeeded in driving them apart.
No wonder the three Bills passed by the State Assembly back in 2015 were dubbed as ‘anti-tribal Bills’.
It is another matter that no explicit points were stated on what made the Bills anti-tribals, other than the fact that the Hill Areas Committee was not consulted before the Bills were passed.
For starters, the Government should let the people know whether it has the record of 1951.
Leiramgani will not be acceptable.
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