14 CSOs gear up to take census issue to Court
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By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 13: As many as 14 organisations have decided to file a petition at the High Court of Manipur regarding the public demand for deferring census operations.
Speaking to media persons at the office of Inter- national Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) at Keishamthong, Shanta Nahakpam, convenor of the 14 organisations, said that the mass movement against the scheduled census operations was suspended follo- wing the Tronglaobi incident.
“We must fight for justice with regard to the Tronglaobi incident. At the same time, we must also carry on the protest movement against the scheduled census exercise”, he said.
Shanta Nahakpam asserted that the indigenous people of Manipur will face huge challenges on all fronts including even survival if the Government manages to carry out the census operations forcibly.
Decrying that the State Government has been overlooking the will and concerns of the people on several key issues, the convenor appealed to the State Government to understand the people’s concerns and work with a vision.
The 14 organisations submitted a representation to the Registrar General of India sometime back asking for first updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before going ahead with census operations in Manipur but there has been no response till date.
The representation also highlighted that carrying out census operations without first updating NRC will create demographic imbalance, affect fair representation (Article 70), six fundamental freedoms (Article 19), Right to Life and Personal Liberty of citizens (Article 21) etc, he said.
The 14 organisations asked the RGI to give a reply to their representation within three weeks.
The period of three weeks is expiring soon. If there is no response from the RGI before the expiry of these three weeks, a petition will be filed at the High Court of Manipur, the convenor said.
Following the May 3, 2023 violence, a large number of IDPs are still living in relief camps away from their homes and their houses have been burnt down or destroyed, Shanta said.
He questioned how house listing will be carried out for those thousands of IDPs whose houses have been destroyed.
The representation submitted to the RGI also mentioned the deferment of census operations in Assam in 1981 and Jammu & Kashmir in 1991 on account of public unrest.
According to the circular number of the Census of India 2021, a list of recognised villages should be obtained from the State Revenue Department for comparison with the list of villages of 2011 census, Shanta said.
Moreover, district maps should be compared with census maps, he said.
He said that the recent Government order for starting house listing work at Saikot, Henglep and other places of Churachandpur will be challenged in Court.
The recent visit of Chief Minister Y Khemchand to Senapati cannot be seen as a peace initiative. If it was a peace initiative, Kuki people would have welcomed him at Kangpokpi. Violence has not stopped at Litan. There is no peace in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, he said.
IMPHAL, Apr 13: As many as 14 organisations have decided to file a petition at the High Court of Manipur regarding the public demand for deferring census operations.
Speaking to media persons at the office of Inter- national Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) at Keishamthong, Shanta Nahakpam, convenor of the 14 organisations, said that the mass movement against the scheduled census operations was suspended follo- wing the Tronglaobi incident.
“We must fight for justice with regard to the Tronglaobi incident. At the same time, we must also carry on the protest movement against the scheduled census exercise”, he said.
Shanta Nahakpam asserted that the indigenous people of Manipur will face huge challenges on all fronts including even survival if the Government manages to carry out the census operations forcibly.
Decrying that the State Government has been overlooking the will and concerns of the people on several key issues, the convenor appealed to the State Government to understand the people’s concerns and work with a vision.
The 14 organisations submitted a representation to the Registrar General of India sometime back asking for first updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before going ahead with census operations in Manipur but there has been no response till date.
The representation also highlighted that carrying out census operations without first updating NRC will create demographic imbalance, affect fair representation (Article 70), six fundamental freedoms (Article 19), Right to Life and Personal Liberty of citizens (Article 21) etc, he said.
The 14 organisations asked the RGI to give a reply to their representation within three weeks.
The period of three weeks is expiring soon. If there is no response from the RGI before the expiry of these three weeks, a petition will be filed at the High Court of Manipur, the convenor said.
Following the May 3, 2023 violence, a large number of IDPs are still living in relief camps away from their homes and their houses have been burnt down or destroyed, Shanta said.
He questioned how house listing will be carried out for those thousands of IDPs whose houses have been destroyed.
The representation submitted to the RGI also mentioned the deferment of census operations in Assam in 1981 and Jammu & Kashmir in 1991 on account of public unrest.
According to the circular number of the Census of India 2021, a list of recognised villages should be obtained from the State Revenue Department for comparison with the list of villages of 2011 census, Shanta said.
Moreover, district maps should be compared with census maps, he said.
He said that the recent Government order for starting house listing work at Saikot, Henglep and other places of Churachandpur will be challenged in Court.
The recent visit of Chief Minister Y Khemchand to Senapati cannot be seen as a peace initiative. If it was a peace initiative, Kuki people would have welcomed him at Kangpokpi. Violence has not stopped at Litan. There is no peace in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, he said.