The Hindu Sunday Editorials ( 07th july 2019) Mains Sure Shot
GS-1 or GS-2
Question- In context of NRC in Assam, discuss what is RIIN? and what are the issues concerning it?( 200 Words)
Context- A register of indigenous inhabitants being prepared in Nagaland.
What is RIIN?
● The Naga government is initiating an exercise to prepare a master list of all indigenous inhabitants of the State.
● They are calling the list RIIN i.e. Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland.
● It is sort of a localised version of National Register of Citizens that is being updated in Assam.
What is the objective of RIIN?
● As stated by the government, it is to prevent people from acquiring fake indigenous inhabitants’ certificate.
● Note- If people other than the indigenous people visit Nagaland, they need an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to do so.
So what is Inner Line Permit?
● It is a temporary travel document an Indian citizen has to possess to enter ‘protected’ areas of the Northeast.
● It is issued by the Central government.
●The history of ILP dates back to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, which restricted the entry of ‘British subjects’ into these areas primarily to protect British interests in tea and oil in these regions.
● These have continued even now to protect the tribal cultures in north-eastern region and to regulate the movement of people in certain areas near the international border.
● Presently the ILP is applicable to the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and in Nagaland (except Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur).
How will RIIN be prepared?
● The idea is not new. In the past civil society groups in Nagaland have often conducted house-to-house surveys for listing non-Nagas and IBIs (Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants).
●RIIN will be the first ‘official’ master list.
● The list will be based on extensive surveys, checking official records of rural and urban wards and it will be supervised by district and is scheduled to be completed within 60days.
● The active members of the team will be sub-divisional officers, block development officers, school headmasters and other nominated members. They will visit every village and ward to make the list.
● The list will be published on government websites and any complains and objections can be filed till October 30. After the RIIN is finalised, a barcoded and numbered Indigenous Inhabitant Certificate (IIC) Card will be issued to all those whose names are on RIIN list. No fresh RIIN will be issued after the RIIN list is finalised except to babies born to indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland.
What are the issues concerning RIIN?
● Just like the updating of the NRC list in Assam, making the RIIN list is also not a smooth journey.
● Nagaland has 16 indigenous tribes who have been recognised in RIIN.
● Other than these 16 tribes, the Gurkhas who have been living in Nagaland prior to statehood (i.e. on December 1, 1963) have also been recognised as indigenous.
● But there are other concerns over Nagas from other areas, for e.g. Manipur, who are getting into jobs in Nagaland by claiming to ne indigenous. Who are also buying large swathes of agricultural land in Nagaland?
● Another issue is of the Naga custom of adopting new communities such as Sumiya- children of Muslim men and Sumi Naga women- who own cultivable land.
● Organisations such as Naga Students’ Federation have raised the is due and demanded accommodating only ‘Nagas by birth and not by adoption’.
● So there is a also debate among political parties whether adopted Nagas will be given indigenous rights.
● Another pressure group called Joint Committee on Prevention of Illegal Immigrants had tried to end this confusion by suggesting that December 1, 1963, should be considered as the cut-off date for considering people other than recognised tribes of Nagaland as indigenous inhabitants.
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