NRC essential to tackle influx in HE: Prof Gohain
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, December 30 2024:
Update of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and implementation of the same in other North Eastern states will help in tackling the problem of large scale influx of illegal immigrants in the region, stated former advocate general of Assam professor Romesh Chandra Borpatra Gohain.
Professor Gohain shared his observation while delivering 13th Ojha Sanajaoba Memorial Lecture-2024 organised by Ojha Sanajaoba Memorial Trust as part of 79th birth anniversary of professor Naorem Sanajaoba at the conference hall of the department of commerce, Manipur University on Monday.
Delivering a lecture on the topic 'National Register of Citizens (NRC): Prospects & Challenges in the North Eastern States' at the event, professor Romesh Gohain, a close associate of late professor N Sanajaoba, highlighted complexities surrounding illegal immigration and challenges in implementation of NRC in the NE region.
According to professor Gohain, flooding of illegal immigrants from other countries is among the most worrying issues being faced by the people of the North East region at present.
India-Pakistan partition was the main reason for large-scale influx of Bangladeshis into small states of the North East till 1950 and another reason was chaos in Bangladesh in 1960.When large numbers of Bangladeshis started entering Assam, people of the state raised the demand for deportation of immigrants to their countries of origin, he informed, adding that influx of illegal immigrants in Assam since 1947 is creating serious matter due to mixing of language and religion issues.
Moreover, with politicians exploiting the situation Assam is now facing problem in checking illegal immigrants, elaborated professor Gohain, while calling for in-depth discussion to ascertain the root cause of the problem.
He reiterated that update of NRC in Assam and implementation of NRC in rest of the NE states will help in fighting the problem of illegal immigration in the region.
Former vice chancellor of Dhanamanjuri University and Ojha Sanajaoba Memorial Trust president professor N Rajmuhon, RIMS department of biostatistics former head pro fessor RK Narendra Singh and former head of department of political science professor K Ibo Singh were presidium members at the event.
Regarding the memorial lecture, Trust managing trustee S Bhubol said it is being held to pay tribute to the legacy of former dean of the faculty of law, Guwahati University professor N Sanajaoba popularly known as Naoriya Sanajaoba on his 79th birth anniver sary.
He highlighted late professor's life-long decision to human rights advocacy as well as his relentless fight against colonialism, racism and fascism in the North East region.
According to S Bhubol, as influx of ille gal immigrants is the main reason for the present crisis in Manipur, it merits serious introspection by all concerned to as to ensure survival of the indigenous people of Manipur.
With this thought, the memorial lecture centred on NRC, discussion on records of NRC conducted in Assam with base year of 1951 and on whether NRC is being implemented successfully or not.
Assam being the first state of the region to conduct NRC, it was imperative for dissecting the pros and cons of the NRC exercise in Assam and implement the same in Manipur, he said, adding that professor Romesh Gohain was invited as the main speaker of the memorial lecture to share his expertise and knowledge on the matter.
Before the memorial lecture, a book and booklet titled 'Idea of Manipur Series-1, Focus Jiribam Files' were released.
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