“Half cooked and half amended”: JFD seeks rectification of Manipur census deferment notification

The Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) has described the Centre’s amended notification deferring house-listing operations for Census 2027 in Manipur as “half cooked and half amended” and urged the government to issue a revised order covering the entire census process.

At a press conference at its office in Imphal East on Sunday, the JFD said the amended notification issued by the Office of the Registrar General, India, on September 5 did not fully address the concerns raised over the deferment of the census in the state.

JFD secretary Ratan Longjam said the notification only deferred house-listing operations in Manipur until further declaration, while the organisation and sections of the public had sought deferment of the entire census process in the state.

“The notification mentions only deferment of house listing until further notice. The people of Manipur want postponement of the entire process of census,” Longjam said.

He urged the Centre, particularly Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to reconsider and rectify the notification if the demands for census deferment and updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were to be addressed in their “true essence”.

The JFD also expressed dissatisfaction with a recent resolution adopted by the Manipur Legislative Assembly on updating the NRC. According to Longjam, while the Assembly has reiterated its earlier resolution urging the Centre to update the NRC, the latest resolution does not specify a baseline year for the exercise.

The organisation urged the state legislature to review the resolution and clearly mention 1951 as the baseline year for NRC updation.

Longjam said the omission of a baseline year could leave the resolution incomplete and urged Manipur legislators to incorporate 1951 if they intended to pursue the demand for NRC updation “in its true spirit”.

The Centre formally deferred the house-listing operations for Census 2027 in Manipur through a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 5. The order amended an earlier Census 2027 notification dated January 7, 2026, which had provided for house-listing operations across all states and Union territories.

Under the amendment, the words “except the State of Manipur till further declaration” were inserted after the reference to house-listing operations across all states and Union territories.

The notification was issued under Sections 3 and 17A of the Census Act, 1948, read with Rules 6A and 6D of the Census Rules, 1990.

The JFD’s remarks come amid continuing demands in Manipur for greater clarity on the census exercise and the proposed updating of the NRC in the state.