Manipur Students Demand NRC Before Census, Protests Intensify Across Imphal
Students and civil society groups are demanding that the Census process be postponed until an NRC with 1951 as the base year is implemented, with protests spreading across Imphal and two students reported injured on Monday.
IMPHAL: Students and civil society groups intensified protests across Manipur on Monday, demanding that the Census process be postponed until the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is implemented, with demonstrators arguing that the state’s population must first be verified before the census exercise begins.
The protests have emerged as the first phase of Census 2027 approaches in Manipur. According to a government notification issued on March 22, 2026, the house-listing operation in the state is scheduled from September 1 to September 30, while the self-enumeration facility is available from August 17 to August 31.
Students were among those at the forefront of Monday’s demonstrations. A large number of students marched along Tiddim Road, raising slogans including “No NRC, No Census.” The rally covered around two kilometres, from the Imphal International Airport towards Keishampat Junction, before being brought under control.
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The protesters’ central demand was that the government should implement an NRC with 1951 as the base year before conducting the census. They also demanded that internally displaced persons (IDPs) be resettled before the census exercise begins.
The demand has been raised by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) along with several civil society organisations, including community representatives from the Naga and Meitei Muslim communities.
JFD convenor Jeetendra Ningomba said the organisations have been pressing the government to postpone the census until the NRC issue is addressed. He argued that beginning the census without first identifying what the organisations describe as illegal immigrants and migrants could adversely affect the state’s indigenous population.
The issue has now moved beyond organised civil society groups, with students participating in demonstrations at multiple locations.
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Students of CC Higher Secondary School in Imphal East also staged a protest outside their institution with the same demand. Women vendors at Khwairamband Ima Market separately demonstrated in the bazaar area.
Clashes during census-related activities
Tensions were also reported at census-related training programmes in Imphal.
According to police, two students sustained injuries on Monday when protesters attempted to intervene in census training sessions being held at Dhanamanjuri Teachers’ Training College and Hindi Teachers’ Training College at Dhanamanjuri University.
Police said security forces used a lathi-charge to control the situation and that the injured students were subsequently admitted to a nearby hospital.
The latest incidents follow similar opposition to census activities elsewhere in the state. On August 14, a census personnel training programme at Moirang College in Bishnupur district was disrupted amid protests.
On Sunday, police said two students were injured during security forces’ crowd-control action in Imphal East after protesters attempted to lock down the Directorate of Census Operations office.
48-hour shutdown announced
The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation has announced a 48-hour total shutdown across Manipur in support of its demand to postpone the census until implementation of the NRC.
The protests are taking place against the backdrop of the state’s upcoming census schedule, putting the government under pressure to address concerns raised by student groups and civil society organisations while ensuring that census-related preparations can proceed.
At the heart of the agitation is a specific sequencing demand from the protesters: NRC first, Census later. They argue that population verification and the issue of migration must be addressed before the state undertakes the formal population enumeration.
For now, the government’s scheduled census preparations remain at the centre of the dispute, while student and civil society protests continue to push for the NRC to be implemented before the census exercise begins.
