Student bodies demand House resolution on NRC, population panel
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 26 2022: Six student bodies of the state namely AMSU, AIMS, DESAM, KSA, MSF and SUK, have urged the state government to take up and adopt a unanimous resolution with regard to updating the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) and establishment of the State Population Commission in the ongoing session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.

According to a statement released by the student bodies, the indigenous population of Manipur is being threatened by the influx of migrants both from outside the state and country, causing a huge population imbalance.

As such, there is a need to establish a State Population Commission.

The student bodies then appealed to the House members to take up a unanimous resolution for update of NRC and check the influx of outsiders in the state.

The statement further urged for taking a decision on setting up a Manipur Language Policy, Language Commission and Transliterate Committee for preserving the indigenous languages of the state, in addition to publishing reference books on Meetei Mayek, which is Manipur's official script.

Although Meetei Mayek is now being taught at the Master's level, most of the books are in Bengali script and yet to be translated for the benefit of the students.

The government has been made aware of this issue previously, they pointed out.

Bodies also urged the government to see to the inclusion of Meetei Mayek in the UPSC and MPSC examination and further take action against the import of 'Eyong' cloths manufactured outside into the state, thereby protecting the interest of indigenous weavers of the state.

Further urging the government to protect the indigenous Eyong cloth and other designs under Intellectual Property Rights, the student bodies urged for adequate production of threads for weavers and strict punishment for those involved in the drug trade.

The government should uphold the people's trust with regard to its announcement for rationalisation of teachers in accordance with the subjects-students ratio.

The government should take a decision in the Assembly session to take up steps to increase the enrolment rate in government schools, it asserted.

Mention may be made here that COCOMI, an umbrella body of various CSOs in the state along with UNC had been urging the state government to come up with a base year for NRC to identify migrants and deport illegal ones, while also urging the House members to decide on establishment of a State Population Commission during the ongoing Assembly session.

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