Nagaland Governor R N Ravi said that the protection and safeguarding of the rights and identity of the indigenous people of the State have always remained at the forefront of Government’s concern.

Delivering his maiden address in the Assembly on January 17th, 2020 after taking up the gubernatorial post in August 2019, Ravi said that to protect and safeguard the rights and identity of the indigenous people of the State, the Government has taken a decision to create a Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) which envisages identification and making a master list of all the indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland.

He said that the creation of RIIN will clearly identify the indigenous people of the State, as well as those non-indigenous persons who have permanently settled, will also help in proper and effective implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime in the State.

However, Ravi said that the RIIN exercise raised several issues and concerns from various quarters with regard to fits modalities. “Hence the Government constituted a Commission for studying, examining and advising on all Issues related to RIIN. Once the Commission submits its Report along with recommendations, the same will be tabled in the House for further deliberations,” he further said.

The Governor also said that there were concerns raised on the possibility of the indigenous people of the State getting demographically overwhelmed and seriously marginalized by people from outside because of the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

He said that the Nagaland Government had brought to the notice of the Centre the special status being enjoyed by the State under Article 371A, and this in conjunction with the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime Binder Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873 that is in force in the State did not provide any ground for applicability of CAB 2019 in the State.

Ravi further said that the Government had taken a decision December 9th, 2019 to extend the ILP to the entire district of Dimapur in view of the concerns raised in various quarters of the situation arising in Dimapur because of possible large influx of illegal immigrants as well as the visible worsening of law and order situation on account of entry of anti-social elements and groups of various shades from outside.

“On December 9th, 2019 we decided to operationalize the decision taken earlier by extending ILP to cover the entire district of Dimapur with immediate effect,” he stated.

Photo credit: @MeghalayaGov