Why has the Manipur Census operation been deferred?
The house-listing phase of Census 2027 operations in Manipur, due to begin around 1 September 2026, has been deferred
The deferment follows sustained demands from civil society organisations that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise, based on the 1951 electoral/population register, be completed before any census enumeration in the state
A high-level review meeting on the situation in Manipur was held at the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi
The demand is linked to the ethnic conflict that has affected Manipur since May 2023 and to apprehensions among some communities about demographic change from unregulated cross-border migration
National Register of Citizens (NRC) — Legal and Historical Basis
The NRC is a register of "genuine" Indian citizens, prepared to date only for Assam under a Supreme Court-monitored process. Its legal foundation lies in Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, inserted in 1985 to give effect to the Assam Accord, which distinguishes citizens based on their date of entry into Assam relative to 1 January 1966 and 24 March 1971, referencing the original 1951 NRC prepared after independent India's first census.
Key Details
- Assam's NRC update (2013-2019) was conducted under Supreme Court supervision; the final list, published 31 August 2019, excluded about 19 lakh of 3.3 crore applicants
- Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 remains the specific statutory basis linking Assam's NRC to citizenship determination; the Supreme Court upheld its constitutional validity
- No national NRC framework currently exists in law; NRC outside Assam would require a fresh statutory or executive mechanism
- The demand in Manipur is for an NRC using the 1951 register as the base year, similar in structure to Assam's precedent, though Manipur was not part of the original NRC exercise
Civil society groups in Manipur are seeking to replicate the Assam precedent (1951 base register, NRC before enumeration) as a precondition for participating in Census 2027, directly linking the current deferment to this established legal and administrative template.
Census Act, 1948 — Central Government's Power to Conduct and Schedule the Census
Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948 empowers the Central Government to declare, by notification in the Official Gazette, its intention to take a census in the whole or any part of Indian territory "whenever it may consider it necessary or desirable." This is the same statutory provision under which the Centre determines timing, area, and phasing of census operations.
Key Details
- Census is a Union List subject (Entry 69, Seventh Schedule, read with Article 246), so only the Union Government has legal authority to order, phase, or defer census operations
- The Act grants the Centre discretion over "whenever" and in what territorial extent a census is conducted, providing the statutory basis for deferring operations in a specific state while the rest of the country proceeds on schedule
- Confidentiality provisions (Section 15) and penalties for false information (Section 11) apply uniformly wherever the census is eventually conducted
The deferment of Manipur's house-listing phase, while Census 2027 proceeds elsewhere, is possible only because Section 3 vests the Centre with the discretion to determine the "when" and "where" of census-taking territory by territory.
Article 371C — Special Constitutional Provision for Manipur
Article 371C, inserted by the 27th Amendment Act, 1971, provides special protection for the "Hill Areas" of Manipur. It empowers the President to constitute a Hill Areas Committee of the state Legislative Assembly (comprising members elected from Hill Areas) and requires the Governor to report annually to the President on the administration of these areas, with the Union executive empowered to issue directions on their administration.
Key Details
- Distinguishes Manipur's Hill Areas (largely tribal-inhabited) from the Imphal Valley in administrative and legislative procedure
- The Union government retains a supervisory role over Hill Areas administration through the Governor's reporting obligation to the President
- Comparable special provisions exist for other states under Articles 371A (Nagaland), 371B (Assam), 371F (Sikkim), 371G (Mizoram) — testing the ability to distinguish state-specific special provisions
- Manipur is also one of four northeastern states (with Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh) where the Inner Line Permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 applies, extended to Manipur in December 2019
The ethnic and administrative distinction between hill and valley areas under Article 371C forms part of the backdrop against which demands for citizenship verification before enumeration have arisen in Manipur.
- Manipur ethnic conflict onset: May 2023
- Assam NRC final list published: 31 August 2019 (19 lakh excluded of 3.3 crore applicants)
- Section 6A, Citizenship Act 1955: inserted 1985 pursuant to the Assam Accord; cutoff dates 1 January 1966 and 24 March 1971
- Census Act, 1948, Section 3: Central Government's power to notify census timing and territorial extent
- Article 371C: inserted by the 27th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1971
- Inner Line Permit extended to Manipur: notified 11 December 2019, effective December 2020
- Census 2027 (national): House Listing phase April-September 2026; Population Enumeration February-March 2027