MAPI Council echoes call for NRC
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 05 2026: Reminding the August 6 deadline served by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation, MAPI Council has urged the Government to postpone house-listing exercise, scheduled to begin from August 17 .

Speaking to reporters at the CADA office at Pureiromba Konung Mamang today, MAPI Council president KC Romio said the CJFD has the support of 24 civil bodies including the MAPI Council in its demand for updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before Census 2027 exercise.

Romio said the time period given to the Government by the CJFD to take up steps to update the NRC in Manipur will end tomorrow.

If the Government does not take up any steps by August 6 to update the NRC, the MAPI Council and its partner organisations are ready to endorse all future courses of actions by the CJFD, he said.

Past censuses including the Census 2011 were controversial, and they had recorded abnormal population growth in many hill districts raising suspicion about the presence of large numbers of illegal immigrants, Romio said.

Further, thousands of internally displaced persons are yet to return to their homes, and hundreds of houses have been either burnt or destroyed in the present conflict.

Conducting house-listing exercises in such a situation is impractical, he added.

Apart from the tension between Meitei and Kuki, there currently is tension between Naga and Kuki communities, he said.

The Census Act, 1948 notably has provisions for the Government to postpone or defer census exercises in case of "natural calamities or war like situation." The situation in Manipur at present is war-like and not conducive for census exercise, he said .

If the Government remains adamant and goes ahead with its plan to start house-listing exercise from August 17, it must bear full responsibility for the consequences that may follow, Romio added.

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