Running out of excuses

 After more than a year of being kept on the backburner, the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland(RIIN) was tabled on the floor of the house on the last day of the two-day 8th session of the 13th NLA on August 5,2021. RIIN was to decide on who is and who is not an indigenous inhabitant of Nagaland for the purpose of enforcing ILP in Dimapur district. According to reports, the RIIN commission constituted by the government, had submitted its report to the cabinet during the end of 2019. Subsequently, the government issued a notification on December 11,2019 to extend the Inner Line Permit(ILP) under BEFR Act 1873 for entire Dimapur district but with November 21,1979 as the cut off date and year to determine who is and who is not an indigenous inhabitant of the state. On this day in 1979, the government had issued a notification declaring Dimapur district as a tribal belt. The tabling of the RIIN report has taken a long, tortuous and deliberate delay tactics since end of 2019. It may be recalled that the government decided to form RIIN on July 10,2019 after persistent demands since 2018 from various organisations, to extend ILP to entire Dimapur district to check illegal immigrants. On July 28, the government formally constituted the RIIN commission headed by retired chief secretary Banuo Z. Jamir. The other members included- Home commissioner Abhijit Sinha as member-secretary and the following as members- secretary justice and law, Khanrila Koza T; retired commissioner Nagaland, M. Patton; C. Shingwang and K. Inaka Assumi. The RIIN report was neither shared with JCPI nor with other tribe hohos of Nagaland. Despite JCPI asking the government to table the RIIN report on the floor of the house in the February and July 2020 sessions, it was not done so. Despite persistent and strong demands from JCPI along with other hohos to table the RIIN report in the February 2021 session also fell on deaf ears. JCPI launched protest rallies in Dimapur and Kohima on March 19,2021 demanding implementation of RIIN since the report of the Commission has already been accepted by the state cabinet. The government continued to indulge in delay tactic, when it again convened another ‘consultative meeting’, on April 16 with Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation(ENPO) , Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) and Tenyimi People’s Organisation(TPO), but did not invite JCPI, to deliberate on the issue. At the meeting, specifics were absent since the government provided only a gist of the RIIN commission report to the tribal bodies. The government again effected another delay when it got the nod at the April 16 meeting, to constitute a Joint Consultative Committee(JCC) at the state level and Sub Committees at the district levels for the same issue. It may be noted that more than enough deliberations have been done during the past one and half years besides written submissions from various organisations including JCPI. Even after finally tabling the RIIN report in the assembly on August 5, the government again said it will hold another round of consultations with civil society organisations before coming back with the report. The government appears more concerned with those from other states, who may have settled in Dimapur/Nagaland after December 1,1963. The government should not be over concerned with the issue since this does not mean forfeiture of rights. Instead the government has to look after the interests of indigenous inhabitants of the state in line with Article 371A. Certainly, it is time that the government come clean with its hesitancy, as it cannot continue to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.