Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjen Toy on Monday said the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) will strengthen the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the State, especially in Dimapur district.

The State Government found it necessary to conduct the exercise to identify the indigenous inhabitants of the state and therefore notified creation of RIIN, Toy told reporters here

Extension of ILP has also been the demand of several Naga tribal organisations and student bodies taking into consideration the influx of illegal immigrants, he said.

The chief secretary said that it has been found that a robust IT enabled ILP system is required to be put in place to check such influx which threatens the very existence of the indigenous inhabitants.

Expressing that ILP should have been put into force in Dimapur after the 1979 order declaring it as a tribal belt, Toy, however, said the present government accepting the submissions of the tribal bodies and civil societies has decided to extend ILP to Dimapur.

He said that creation of RIIN before implementation of ILP is a must. Toy said that following the demand of the Naga tribal bodies and civil society organisations asking for formulation of proper modalities for RIIN, the government has constituted RIIN commission headed by Banuo Z Jamir.

He said that the RIIN is an ongoing process and it has not been put on hold, except for enumeration process, which will commence only after consensus is achieved on Banuo Z Jamir Commission recommendations, which will be submitted next month.

RIIN will be a one-time exercise but there will be continuity in the entry as the family members of those entered in this exercise will be added as and when needed, he said.

He also asserted that rights and properties including land of non-Naga inhabitants of Nagaland before statehood, December 1, 1963 and those before declaration of then Dimapur sub-division under Kohima as a ‘tribal belt’ in 1979 will have to be protected.

He affirmed that RIIN will first identity the Naga indigenous inhabitants of the state and than other non-Nagas who have settled in Dimapur before 1979 and those settled in other parts of the state before December 1, 1963, the year of Nagaland statehood.

The non-Nagas cannot be taken as indigenous inhabitants but they will have to be considered as domicile or permanent residents of the state as they have been in the state for such long durations.

Differentiating all this people will help enforce Inner Line Permit (ILP) for different categories of people while the authorities will be able to introduce IT-enabled ILP to have proper records and datas of ILP holders entry and exit into the state, Toy said.

The chief secretary said that the Banuo Z Jamir commission on RIIN will also recommend the cut of dates, thereafter it will taken for deliberation with the general public.

RIIN will be implemented only after all the stakeholders arrive at a consensus through proper discussions, the chief secretary asserted.