Overview
- A 48-hour shutdown called by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation has shut markets, schools and public transport across Manipur’s valley districts and disrupted Census 2027 self-enumeration that began on August 17.
- The Manipur government formally reiterated its demand that the National Register of Citizens be updated before census fieldwork and announced a team of MLAs will visit New Delhi to press the issue.
- Former chief minister N. Biren Singh told reporters he received a reportedly positive response from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but the Centre has not issued any public order to change census timing.
- Police used crowd-control measures to disperse students who tried to enter the Directorate of Census Operations, several people were injured, multiple census training sessions were cancelled and the state ordered schools closed from August 20 for safety.
- The dispute rests on long-standing fears about cross-border migration and the political weight of demographics after May 2023 ethnic violence, and it risks undermining the census’s accuracy and local trust unless IDP resettlement and sequencing are resolved.