DIMAPUR, JUNE 5 (MExN): The Senior Citizens Association of Nagaland (SCAN) has called for rigorous implementation of the ILP and the proposed Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN).
A press release from the SCAN informed that it had submitted its suggestions and recommendations to the RIIN Commission in 2019 stating that “all Nagas naturally originating from the geographical boundary of the State of Nagaland with the defined original attributes of indiginity are the only people who qualify as indigenous inhabitants.”
For domicile inhabitants and permanent residents, it stated that the government notification AR-8/3/76, dated Kohima, April 28, 1977 that a person should have settled permanently in Nagaland prior to 1-12-1963 should serve the purpose. It further stated that the place of registration as indigenous inhabitants should be made in their respective officially recognized village and not in the place of residence. The authority to authenticate claims of being indigenous/domicile should be left to all officially recognized village councils by the Government of Nagaland, it added.
The SCAN further said that the office memorandum dated June 11, 2012 should be strictly followed for any category of adoption cases, “children of non Naga fathers as well as non Naga children adopted by Naga parents are not to be given Scheduled Tribe/Backward Tribe/Indigenous Certificates.”
The SCAN meanwhile appreciate the in depth study of the RIIN Commission’s recommendations done by the NTC and supported the suggestion for December 1, 1963 as the cutoff date. At the same time, it also welcomed the Chief Minister’s statement that “indigenous inhabitant status would not be accorded, but permanent resident status would be accorded to those who had settled in Nagaland prior to 1963. For those who have settled in Nagaland after 1963, they would be given temporary resident status.” This, the SCAN said, “has put an end to the ambiguity and confusions.”
