Press & Media Cell, NVCO
Commemorating the ‘International Day of the World’s Indigenous People’ – August 9, Nagaland Voluntary Consumer’s Organisation (NVCO) stressed that Article 371A of the Constitution of India is a special provision provided to the Nagas of Nagaland to protect rights of Naga Indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and their own way of life, its land, resources, etc.
In dealing with ownership of land, NVCO President Kezhokhoto Savi said that the Nagaland Land and Revenue Regulation (Amendment Act) 1978 provides that the entire surface of the earth crust within the territory of Nagaland should be owned by the Naga Indigenous and not by the Non-Indigenous inhabitant of Nagaland. So it is clearly provided that only the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland shall own land and not the non-indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland.
To site a genuine incident that the Chakhroma Public Organisation (CPO) on 09.09.2020 alleged that some violation of the Nagaland and Revenue Regulation (Amendment Act), 1978 stating that some non-indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland who were prohibited to acquire or possess any land by way of transfer, exchange, agreement or settlement has been illegally acquiring landed property through sale and purchase in the district of Dimapur. The CPO resolved to reaffirm the resolution of the Angami Public Organisation (APO) taken on February 8, 2016 and the CPO further stated that all such illegal transactions within its jurisdiction will be treated as null and void. Nagas of other states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, etc are the indigenous inhabitants of their respective states and they are not the indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and accordingly they not entitled to own land as per Nagaland and Revenue Regulation Amendment Act, 1978. However, there are many Nagas who not indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland unconstitutionally owned huge land in Nagaland and even run big businesses such as institutions, etc. We also have cases where some non-Nagas unconstitutionally owned land and the state government is silent.
Whereas in some cases government illegally issued permission/Land Patta to non-indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland. In order to protect the rights of indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland, the NVCO asked the village chairman/colony chairman not to issue certificate such residential or any certificate which can help the non-indigenous to obtain Indigenous Inhabitants Certificate from concerned authority. The practice of adopting a non-indigenous person or child must be stopped. In the past our own MPs voted in favour of CAB which is bad for the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and recently it was very discouraging to see own legislators favouring to appoint non-indigenous/non-Nagas to be government nominees in the recent ULB result. The NVCO asked the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland to wake up before it is too late in the area of businesses not to allow outsiders to capture or take away our economy. In regard to the recent problem in Bangladesh, the NVCO questioned the state government to what extend the state government could effectively enforce the BEFR 1873(ILR) and check the infiltration when the non-Nagas and the IBIs has almost controlled the markets in Nagaland. Earlier the state government came up with committee and a draft time to time but never came to a conclusion which shows their insincerity and don’t care for the interests of its citizens. The state government till date remains adamant in regard to the demand of the people to apply the BEFR (ILR) to the commercial hub of the state ‘Dimapur’.
Indigenous Peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique culture and ways of relating to people and the environment. They face discrimination because of their distinct cultures, identities and ways of life, and are disproportionately affected by poverty and marginalization, accounting for 15 per cent of the world’s poorest population. The indigenous peoples are generally regarded as the “original inhabitants” of a territory or region. Today the original inhabitants of the Nagas in Nagaland must seriously considered the proposed Registered Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland(RIIN) which should not affects the rights of the Naga indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland and it is very important to take it as a very serious measures not to register the same to others. The date line of the year of settlement should not qualify a non-Naga/non-indigenous for the proposed registration. Every citizen has its own origin and he/she is the indigenous of that origin or ancestral land and therefore, any citizen come to settle in another land temporarily/permanently may not claim the title of ‘Indigenous’ as she/he continually holds ‘indigenous’ of her/his original land. The cry and voices of the indigenous people must be heard on this day – “The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples”. The Naga people should never allow any mechanism to exploit the rights of the indigenous inhabitants of the land. The United Nations has seriously discussed about indigenous issues related to culture, economic and social development, education, the environment, health and human rights.
