NTC objects to Nepal/Gorkha census notification issued by DC Kohima

Mokokchung, 27 August (MTNews): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has raised objections to a notification issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Kohima on 22 August 2023. The objection pertains to the publication of a draft updated list of Non-Naga Local Indigenous Nepal/Gorkha residents under Kohima District. The qualifying date for inclusion in this list is up to June 11, 2016, the DC Kohima had earlier informed.

According to the NTC, the notification is “disturbing” due to its departure from a constitutionally delegated government notification. The NTC references Notification No. AR-8/8/76 dated 28 April 1978, which designates the cut-off year for recognizing indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland as 1-12-1963. However, the recent notification substitutes this established date with an arbitrary qualifying month and year, June 11, 2016.

The NTC also called out the attempt to “arbitrarily enforce” certain criteria from Part-D of the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) report in advance, even though the report has not yet been enacted as law. “The Commission Report on RIIN has not even become a law. However, an individual as an authority in the government, without mentioning RIIN, wants to arbitrarily enforce in advance the Part-D of RIIN report under “Recommendations” at P/58, E. Proof of permanency of residence: ‘(1) Electoral Roll from 1963 to 2019 with a personal declaration of not having been enrolled in any other State,” the NTC stated.

The NTC criticized this move, describing it as “irregular” and stating it has severely hurt the sentiments of native people. It also questioned the Deputy Commissioner regarding which State’s policy, Act, and law of the land authorized him to direct the exercise on “Nepal/Gorkha Census with qualifying for inclusion in the list up to June 11, 2016” authoritatively.

The NTC expressed that it encouraged the Conduct of Census of Nepal/Gorkhas who settled in Nagaland on or before 1 December 1963, and “maintaining digital records, updated the offspring and descendants but not otherwise.”

The NTC also claimed that non-Naga Nepal/Gorkhas settled in Nagaland before 1 December 1963 had often expressed a desire for the aforementioned cut-off year to be maintained in Nagaland.

However, the council firmly asserted that “Nagaland is not a dumping territory where everyone could become Indigenous on entry” and labeled this belief as “wrong and unacceptable.”

Therefore, the NTC urged the government to direct the Deputy Commissioner of Kohima to withdraw the notification pertaining to the Nepal/Gorkha Census with the qualifying date of 11 June 2016. Additionally, it called for the incorporation of the original constitutional notification from 1978, upholding the cut-off year of 1 December 1963 for recognizing Indigenous Inhabitants of the state.

The NTC insisted that any recommendations not aligned with the 1 December 1963 cut-off should be promptly deleted to ensure peace and tranquility in the state of Nagaland.