Centre defers Manipur census; Kukis oppose 'NRC before census' call given by Meiteis, Nagas
The Central government deferred census operations in Manipur, a day before the house-listing phase of Census 2027 was scheduled to begin in the state on September 1.
The deferral followed a high-level review meeting called to assess the ground situation in the ethnically fractured state.
Various civil society organisations, backed by the Meitei and Naga communities, have demanded that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) be updated before the census is conducted, citing concerns about undetected illegal immigration from Myanmar.
Kuki-Zo civil society organisations and leadership have opposed this demand, viewing the "NRC-before-census" push as an attempt to brand the Kuki-Zo community as illegal migrants given their ethnic ties with groups across the Myanmar border.
The Manipur High Court had earlier placed a hold on census-related activities in the state, reflecting the sensitivity of the exercise amid ongoing ethnic tensions.
The Census Act, 1948 and Constitutional Basis of the Census
The decennial Census in India is conducted under the Census Act, 1948, a Central legislation (list entry: Census is a Union subject under Entry 69 of the Union List, Seventh Schedule). The Act empowers the Central government to notify census officers, mandate participation, and penalise refusal to furnish information or furnishing false information.
Key Details
- The Act allows the Central government to extend census provisions, with modifications, to pre-tests, pilot studies, house-listing (housing census) operations, and post-enumeration checks.
- Census information is confidential; individual-level data cannot be used as evidence in any court proceeding or for any purpose other than statistical compilation, under Section 15 of the Act.
- The house-listing/housing census phase is the first operational phase of a Census round, preceding the actual population enumeration.
The deferred exercise is the house-listing phase of the census due to begin September 1 — its postponement in a single state illustrates how a nationally uniform statutory exercise can be selectively paused for law-and-order and administrative reasons, a power the Act's framework allows the Centre to exercise.
National Register of Citizens (NRC): Legal and Administrative Basis
The NRC is a register of "genuine" Indian citizens maintained under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. It is distinct from the Census (a demographic headcount) and the National Population Register (NPR, an administrative list of "usual residents," not necessarily citizens).
The demand from Meitei and Naga civil society groups is precisely to sequence NRC (citizenship verification) ahead of the census (a pure headcount), reflecting anxiety that census data — if collected before citizenship status is verified — could be seen as implicitly legitimising undocumented residents; Kuki-Zo groups reject this sequencing as ethnically targeted.
Manipur's Ethnic Landscape and Institutional Mechanisms
Manipur's population is broadly divided among the Meitei community (concentrated in the Imphal Valley) and various Naga and Kuki-Zo tribal communities (concentrated in the surrounding hill districts). Hill districts in Manipur have Autonomous District Councils under the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 1971 — distinct from the Sixth Schedule autonomous councils found in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura.
Key Details
- Manipur's hill areas are NOT covered by the Constitution's Sixth Schedule; instead, land and local governance protections stem from Article 371C (a Hill Areas Committee of the state Assembly) and state legislation.
- Ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities has persisted in the state since May 2023, triggered initially by a Manipur High Court order on Scheduled Tribe status for Meiteis, later stayed by the Supreme Court.
- Kuki-Zo groups have separately sought a Union Territory with a legislature or a Sixth Schedule-equivalent arrangement, citing loss of trust in the state government machinery.
The census deferral sits atop this fault line — any population count exercise in Manipur today is read through the lens of demographic anxiety on both sides, making a routine statistical exercise a flashpoint for competing claims about land, citizenship, and political representation.
- Census house-listing phase was scheduled to begin in Manipur on September 1, 2026; deferred a day earlier.
- Census conducted under the Census Act, 1948 (Union List, Entry 69, Seventh Schedule).
- Assam's NRC (the only state with an updated NRC) was finalised in August 2019, following the Assam Accord of 1985.
- NPR is governed by the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 — not the Census Act.
- Ethnic violence in Manipur has continued since May 2023, involving Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.
- Manipur's hill areas are governed under Article 371C and the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 1971 — not the Sixth Schedule.