Manipur Assembly Demands National Register Of Citizens Update Before Census Begins
Manipur Assembly demands priority NRC update.
The Manipur Legislative Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Government of India to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state before conducting the upcoming Census, citing the interests of both the state and the nation at large. The resolution was moved during the evening session of the eighth session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly by Leader of the House and Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh, marking the third such resolution passed by the Assembly on the issue since 2022. Assembly Speaker Th Satyabrata Singh confirmed that the House reaffirmed its two previous resolutions on the matter, passed on August 5, 2022, and March 1, 2024, once again calling on the central government to prioritize an updated NRC exercise in Manipur ahead of the Census, in the interest of both the state in particular and the country more broadly.
The demand for an NRC update has been driven largely by longstanding concerns among sections of the state's Meitei and Naga communities regarding demographic changes linked to alleged illegal immigration from neighbouring Myanmar, concerns that have persisted for several years amid the state's broader ethnic and political tensions. Addressing the House on the opening day of the session, Chief Minister Khemchand Singh had earlier announced that the central government had agreed to defer the Census exercise in Manipur, citing public concern and the sustained demand for an updated NRC process to precede it. He noted that the Assembly's original resolution on the issue dated back to August 2022, during the tenure of former Chief Minister N Biren Singh, and was formally communicated to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2023, before being reiterated through a subsequent Assembly resolution in 2024.
Following the imposition and subsequent lifting of President's Rule and the formation of the current government, the state's Home Department reportedly conducted a two-day seminar in August this year, which concluded that the NRC exercise should indeed precede the Census, a position that was then formally conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Ministry. During the same session, Khemchand also laid four separate papers before the House, including the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's report on State Finances for the year 2024-25, along with a separate CAG report covering the General, Social, Economic and Revenue Sectors for the year ended March 31, 2024.
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He also tabled the Manipur Private School (Registration and Regulation) Rules, 2024, and the Manipur Town and Country Planning (Sixth Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, alongside presenting the Business Advisory Committee Report 2026 and seeking the House's agreement on the government's proposed allocation of legislative time for the remainder of the session. Separately, responding to a Calling Attention Motion raised by MLA K Ranjit Singh, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam reaffirmed the state government's determination to protect Manipur's territorial integrity, stating that there was no official report of any land swap arrangement between India and Myanmar, and noting that the majority of international border fencing work along the state's frontier had already been completed.
Responding to a separate Calling Attention Motion raised by MLA K Meghachandra, Konthoujam called on all stakeholders to assume responsibility and act with humanity in efforts to restore lasting peace across the state, while appealing to religious and community leaders to help bridge the trust deficit that continues to affect different communities in Manipur. Chief Minister Khemchand subsequently presented the First Batch of the Demands for Supplementary Grants for 2026-27, totaling Rs 3,861 crore across 31 separate demands and one appropriation, as the Assembly session continued to address a broad range of legislative and administrative matters alongside the central NRC resolution.
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