Indigenous Peoples is a loaded concept under international law that carries a spectrum of rights and responsibilities. In Nagaland, the term “Indigenous Inhabitant” is used by the State, but it neither embraces nor represents the essence of indigenous peoples, and hence its usage is perhaps confusing and misleading.
Notification NO.AR-8/8/76 of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (Administrative Reforms Branch) under the Government of Nagaland and issued on 28th April, 1977, sheds some clarity on the term “Indigenous Inhabitant.” In the notification issued by A. Shanmugam, Joint Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, it reads as follows: “The Governor of Nagaland is pleased to decide that in order to qualify as an “Indigenous Inhabitant” of the State of Nagaland for the purposes of employment as envisaged in the order No.APPT-18/6/62 dt.6.7.73, a person should have settled permanently in Nagaland prior to 1-12-1963.”
The notification further lists the following “criteria for determining a person to have had a permanent settlement in the State prior to 1-12-1963: (1) His/her name of parents or legitimate guardian, in case the person was then a minor should have been entered in the Electoral Roll published on 5-12-1963. OR; (2) The person or his/her parents or legitimate guardians should have been paying house tax prior to 1-12-1963. OR; (3) The person or his/her parents or legitimate guardians should have acquired property and patta on it prior to 1-12-1963.”
Based on this notification, the term “indigenous inhabitants” is limited to the purposes of employment under the State Government and specifically used in the context of a permanent resident who has settled in Nagaland State. The criteria for permanent settlement are based on fulfilling any one criterion out of three options related to Electoral Roll, House Tax and Property Patta with 1-12-1963 being the cut-off year.
Nowhere in the notification is the word ‘Naga’ mentioned as a qualifying criteria, nor are the terms ‘indigenous peoples’ or ‘first peoples’ or ‘natives’ or ‘tribe’ used. Based on the meaning and intent of the Nagaland Government notification one can confidently state that use of the term “Indigenous Inhabitant” means a person having permanent settlement in Nagaland. In lay terms, a permanent settler is not synonymous with being indigenous.
Since the term “indigenous inhabitant” in Nagaland is used to represent permanent residents, without any actual reference to indigenous peoples such as the Nagas, the concept of indigenous can be misused and misappropriated. In other words, any person – indigenous or non-indigenous, tribal or non-tribal – who qualifies to have ‘settled permanently’ in Nagaland acquires the legal status of an “Indigenous Inhabitant.” This brings to question: how can a non-indigenous person become indigenous? The problem lies in the erroneous use of the term “Indigenous Inhabitant” when actually the government means someone who has settled permanently. It would be wise to replace the term “Indigenous Inhabitant” with a more suitable term that reflects the criteria of a permanent settler.
The public seems to be making the assumption that “Indigenous Inhabitant” refers only to Nagas of the State. This interpretation is misplaced because the 1977 Government Notification clearly refers it to be a person who has settled permanently prior to 1-12-1963.
The Nagaland Government, through the Chief Secretary of Nagaland, on 29 June 2019 proposed to institutionalize the “Indigenous Inhabitant” through the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN), which will serve as the “master list” of all Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland with an objective to prevent issuance of fake Indigenous Inhabitants Certificate. This irony is not lost. The 1977 notification focuses on the legal status of persons who have settled permanently in Nagaland and has nothing to do with what it means to be indigenous. Hopefully, the three-member Commission for RIIN has identified these fundamental conceptual contradictions.
The “Indigenous Inhabitant” notification was issued in 1977, but the process must have started much earlier. In context, the State by using the term “Indigenous Inhabitants” is seeking to define the peoples as a product of a specific territory and geography, rather than recognize its history and continuity as a community of peoples.
