Consultative meet on NRC "Issue is not identification but what should be done thereafter"
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 24 2024: Advocate Santanu Borthakur of Gauhati High Court has drawn the attention of all civil society organisations (CSOs) concerned to prepare a me-chanism in advance to ensure effective update and imple-mentation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the context of Manipur.

He made the suggestion during a consultative meeting organised by Taragi Cheisu on "Understanding the NRC-What it means for Manipur" at Imphal Hotel, North AOC, today.

Notably, Advocate San-tanu played a major role in updating the NRC in Assam.

The meeting was moderated by co-chairman of Taragi Cheisu Dr RK Nimai (retd IAS) while Advocate Santanu, senior journalist Pradip Phanjoubam, senior journalist and author from Assam Rajeev Bhatta-charyya and retired Pro- fessor of Department of Biostatic of RIMS Dr RK Narendra Singh were the speakers.

Consultative meet on NRC "Issue is not identification but what should be done thereafter"

Delivering his speech, Advocate Santanu said that about 90 lakh people were not included in the final draft of NRC in Assam but the same hasn't been approved by the Central Government, Government of Assam and the Supreme Court as of yet.

Saying that there won't be any point in carrying out the NRC exercise by spending a large chunk of money if the Central Government doesn't create a database for the excluded people and begin the deportation process, he added that the Centre hasn't taken up any mechanism to begin the deportation process nor created a database for those who are out of NRC in Assam.

About the inconvenience being faced in updating NRC, Advocate Santanu said that there is a directive of the Supreme Court to not keep those who are excluded from NRC in detention camps for more than three years as India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol.

He went on to state that those who are out of NRC cannot be kept as doubtful people for long as per international law.

It's easy to identify the illegal immigrants through the NRC.

The issue is on what can be done to these illegal immigrants, Advocate Santanu said.

He continued that illegal immigrants cannot be deported as long as the other country doesn't accept them as their citizens.

There is also the issue of obtaining fake documents by illegal immigrants and things to be done based on the opinions of the Foreigner's Tribunal, he said and added that the doubtful people also cannot be kept for a long time without issuing them Aadhaar cards.

He added that a mechanism must be prepared to update NRC in the context of Manipur in a very holistic way.

Forewarning that the impact of illegal immigrants on the indigenous people will become very problematic in future though it is not as severe as seen in Assam for now, Advocate Santanu maintained that the only way to avert the problem is through NRC and deportation of illegal immigrants.

He further said that there must be a constant effort to make the mechanism of NRC exercise better and deliver its benefit to the people.

There is widespread support to update NRC in Assam as it is a question of life and death for the indigenous people, he added.

Retired Professor RK Narendra, on the other hand, brought out some data and showed the demographic imbalance in Manipur.

He contended that the crisis besieging Manipur is a fallout of demographic imbalance and there may even be a civil war if no corrective measure is taken up.

Pointing out the need to update NRC in the context of Manipur and formulate a proper Population Policy, RK Narendra added that a strategy needs to be chalked out to foster an era of communal harmony and sustainable and equitable development.

Senior journalist Pradip Phanjoubam spoke about major factors of migration throughout the world and growth of villages of a particular community in protected and reserved forest areas, among others.