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NPF stays away from consultation on Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland

GUWAHATI: Opposition party of Nagaland, Naga People’s Front (NPF) has stayed away from consultation on Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) in Kohima on Wednesday.

NPF is miffed and alleged that ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government did not take opposition party in confidence before issuing notification for the exercise.



NPF spokesperson Imkong L. Imchen said, “As NPF is the main opposition party it should have been consulted before issuing a notification on RIIN exercise."

RIIN is a move to check illegal immigrants. Under this excercise extensive list of inhabitants of the state will be made and will be revised every five year.

The state government has earlier set Committee on Inner Line Permit (ILP) which has recommended coming up with a master list which will be known as RIIN.

This will be a list of indigenous inhabitants of the state. Extensive survey involving each ward and villages has to undertake for preparation on the RIIN. The published list will be scanned by the people of the respective wards and villages.

Presently apart from Dimapur all citizens not domicile of Nagaland state are required Inner Line Permit to visit Nagaland.

However several organisations have expressed apprehension on the RIIN exercise. Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) demanded that government notification on RIIN be withdrawn.

NMA stated that it had supported the stand of many other public organisations for extension of ILP to Dimapur to check illegal immigrants/migrants into the state. NMA expressed surprise that while successive committees set up the state government recommended the extension of the ILP to Dimapur and foothill areas, the state government has not implemented those recommendations till date and instead issued a notification “for almost a census like exercise in the form of RIIN.”

It stated that backlash of Assam’s NRC needed to be taken into perspective so a larger awareness and public discourse and sensitization were done before RIIN was undertaken. It also stressed the need to hold a larger discussion within the State Legislature as well as with various stakeholders before an immediate implementation of such massive exercise.

NMA maintained that pressures from the Central Government for early implementation, be it in the form of NRC or RIIN, should not override the age old democratic process of consultations, both at the state and grassroots levels for such policies, in the interest of Indigenous People of the state.

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