Kohima, October 7 (MExN): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) on Friday raised concerns over the Nagaland Special Development Zones (NSDZs) plan stating that it is “detrimental to the very interest of the State of Nagaland.”
Expressing its concerns in a press release, the NTC Media Cell stated that the proposed plan was to earmark the whole area of the foothills from Tizit in Mon district to Khelma in Peren district now covering eight districts, namely, Mon, Longleng, Mokokchung, Wokha, Niuland, Chümoukedima, Dimapur and Peren as a Special Development Zones “without any blueprint project report.”
“In order to start the NSDZs, the Chief Secretary of Nagaland directed the Commissioner & Secretary, Industries, Nagaland to circulate the concept note to all the concerned Deputy Commissioners to have negotiation with the civil societies for identification of the areas for NSDZs vide Order No.CSO/1/GEN/2013 dated, the 25th November, 2013.
Accordingly, the then Commissioner & Secretary, Industries & Commerce forwarded the concept note to those Deputy Commissioners vide letter No.I&C/C-SEZ/12-2/2013 dated, January 6, 2014,” it said.
However, the NTC pointed out five clauses under ‘Serial No.10 of the Concept Note’ which deals with restructuring the land tenure system and relaxation of the ILP system based on the BEFR (Bengal Frontier Regulation of 1873), among others.
“The aforementioned clauses have made it clear that within the earmarked areas of NSDZs will be bereft of the enforcements of ILP and the Nagaland Land (Amendment) Act of 1978. Virtually the areas under NSDZs will remain outside the purview of the Article 371-A whereby the vast plain foothill sectors will be offered to strangers for permanent settlement,” the NTC stated.
According to the NTC, the Concept Note was duly approved by the State Cabinet as stated in the Chief Secretary’s aforementioned order and adopted by the Nagaland Legislative Assembly on March 24, 2014 and “no one has ever heard of the revocation of the very resolution.”
On realizing that the NSDZs, when implemented and enforced, would convert Nagaland’s limited plains into “no man’s land,” the NTC recalled that two resolutions adopted at a public rally in Wokha in 2014. The first was to “nullify the No Objection Certificates (NOC) obtained by Government from the individual landowners within Lotha territory in the guise of development and translated as secured documents for the NSDZs,” while the second was to authorize the NTC to pursue the matter till the aforementioned demands were met.
However, it maintained that, “the State Government stealthily obtained the NOCs from the private landowners in the foothill area in Wokha District and those landowners came forward to nullify the NOCs publicly on their own volition in the rally,” it said, while adding that the same resolutions were adopted in Zunheboto in 2014.
In this connection, the NTC urged the State Government to revoke the Cabinet decision on NSDZs and repeal the Nagaland Legislative assembly Resolution of March 2014 “as such would create the earmarked areas to become the buffer zone for subjugating our land and our gullible population into secondary citizens to the intruders.”
Another concern raised by the NTC was the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN).
The NTC stated it was disappointed “to observe that the Government made a U-turn in its pursuance of the issue” and kept the report submitted by the Commission headed by Banuo Z Jamir “in cold storage for more than two years since it has received the report.”
“The NTC urges upon the Government of Nagaland to peruse the given report without inhibition as the RIIN is as indispensable as food is to animate elements as for the survival of Nagaland is concerned,” the release stated.
As and when the RIIN is implemented, the cut-off year has to be the December 12, 1963. “Under no circumstances the faulty method of registration can be incorporated or the cut-off year can be neither relaxed. Improper registration of citizenship will endanger the very existence of the bona fide indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland. The exercise of the RIIN has to be done without fear or favour,” it added.
Delving into the RIIN Commission’s report and recommendations, the NTC stated that with the creation of Nagaland as the 16th State of the Indian Union with effect from December 1, 1963, “for the purpose of identifying its Indigenous Inhabitants there is laid down cut-off date and year maintaining as ‘1-12-1963’ vide the State Government standing Notification No. AR-8/8/76 dated Kohima the 28th April 1978 as referred to in the Commission report vide Para 1 of P/5.”
It also stated that serial 16 of the 16-Point Agreement empowers the state to enforce the BEFR Act 1873/ Inner Line Permit (ILP), while adding that the “BEFR Act 1873/ILP and RIIN are synonymous and cannot be separated.”
“Several times existence of this document was incorporated in the RIIN Commission Findings and Eligibility of the constitutionally delegated Notification No. AR-8/8/76 dated Kohima the 28th April 1978 maintaining cut-off date and year as ‘1-12-1963’ for the purpose of identification of Indigenous Inhabitants in the state. However, it is not included in the Recommendation portion,” it said.
Further, while the whole Nagaland state is a tribal state, it said that the State government had complicated the issue by issuing another Notification “against the wishes of the aboriginal people in the name of Tribal Belt notification vide Land Revenue Department Notification NO. LR/2-118/76 dated 21/11/1979.” This notification is referred do at P/32 of the Commission report bifurcating the hill sections and the plain sector of the state “whereby a person settled in the state prior to November 21, 1979 are eligible for Indigenous Inhabitants status,” it pointed out.
In this context, the NTC questioned as to how there could be two different cut-off dates and years for identification of Indigenous Inhabitants for the hill people and the plain sector. “Whereas the Land Revenue Department Notification NO. LR/2-118/76 dated 21/11/1979 is not in any way a provision within the 16-Point agreement as such, the state cannot be divided into two enforcement zones,” it said, while adding that the tribal bodies and civil society organizations have been submitting representations to the state government in order to rectify the discrepancy.
“But no comeback have been accorded till date,” it stated.
According to the NTC another ‘enormous error’ recommended by the RIIN Commission pertains to proof of permanency of residence which states that “Electoral Roll from 1963 -2019 with a personal declaration of not having been enrolled in any other state.”
The NTC urged the state government to incorporate the constitutionally delegated Notification No. AR-8/8/76 dated Kohima the April 28, 1978 for maintaining cut-off date and year as December 1, 1963 for the purposes of identification of Indigenous Inhabitants in the state as “Recommendation No. 1,” and to delete the ‘erroneous’ recommendation of proof of permanency of residence in P/58 of the Commission’s recommendation.
It also said that the government’s Tribal Belt Notification of 1979 should be revoked immediately while asserting that implementation of RIIN should be done by maintaining cut-off date and year as December 1, 1963.
