Presently, Manipur has 60 constituencies, out of which 40 are in the Manipur Valley, dominated by Meiteis. It is reported that there has been significant growth of population in the hill districts.

4%. Thus, in the process of delimitation of Assembly seats in the State, hill areas are likely to have more seats compared to the valley districts, which will not be favourable to the Meiteis.

Meitei leaders have been alleging that a large number of people (Kuki-Zo community) from Myanmar have migrated to Manipur in the recent past. In fact, this issue was made the single most important issue by Biren Singh, the former Chief Minister.

Singh had singled out the Kukis for all the ills facing the State, alleging their involvement in drug trade, occupation of forest land, smuggling of arms, etc. It is worthwhile to mention that the major ethnic riots between Kukis and Meiteis broke out in May 2023 during Biren Singh’s tenure.

Census and NRC serve different purposes. A census does not certify citizenship.

However, Meiteis are apprehensive that once names are included in the census, getting citizenship will become easy. Meiteis demand that the NRC in Manipur should be conducted on the lines of the NRC in Assam, taking 1951 as the base year.

However, it is important to note that the Assam exercise of conducting the NRC was an update of the NRC, not a new NRC. The NRC in Assam was a special case, which was a fallout of the Assam Accord to detect, delete and deport foreigners (Bangladeshis).

Though it was expected that a large number of people whose names did not figure in the NRC would be Bangladeshi Muslims, the outcome was rather disappointing for the majority of the Assamese community as well as for some Hindu organisations and political parties. Even the reasons for their names not being included in the NRC have not been communicated to the people.

More over, to date, no process has commenced to deport them. It is also pertinent to note that India does not have a deportation agreement with Bangladesh.

On 7 September, the Manipur Home Minister informed the State Assembly that 24,475 illegal migrants had been detected, out of which 14,997 were pushed back to Myanmar. In the neighbouring State of Mizoram, which shoulders the responsibility of accommodating many Myanmar nationals, biometric details of 27,574 out of 28,335 Myanmar nationals have been completed.

The demand for conducting the NRC before the census reflects a complex interplay of illegal migration, demographic changes, ethnic conflict and political representation. The political parties are concerned about the impact of census figures on delimitation of Assembly constituencies.

The issue of whether the census should precede the NRC has further divided the ethnic communities in the State. Those demanding the NRC first feel that if the census is conducted first, before verifying citizenship, it would permanently codify an abnormal demographic spike in Manipur.

The State has suffered substantially in the last few decades due to insurgency, ethnic strife, narcotics trade, infiltration from neighbouring countries, etc. It is high time that an amicable solution was found for all the ills facing the sensitive border State.

Image source, Getty ImagesByChris VallanceSenior technology reporterChinese AI developer Moonshot is conducting an internal review after researchers were able t...