News

• Mizoram Assembly has passed a bill that seeks to detect “illegal migrants” at the village and town level and bring in punitive measures for those making a false statement during the exercise.

The Mizoram Maintenance of Household Register Bill, 2019

• The bill is aimed at Chakma residents, who are often suspected to be illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

• It shall be the responsibility of every householder as well as every member of household in the state to furnish all such information, particulars and passport-size photographs of the members of the household as may be required by the registering authorities reads the bill.

• The Bill further states that once the information prescribed by the state government is received, the concerned registering authority will compile the details in two distinct registers- one for the citizen residents and another for non-citizen residents of a village/area/town.

• Information furnished by individuals for the registers would be verified and counter-signed by the president of the local branch of the state-level NGOs as may be designated by the state government from time to time.

• The Bill says that all government departments and police may use the household registers for administrative purposes, during implementation of development schemes and law enforcement.

Why such move?

• Influx of foreigners into Mizoram through its porous borders has remained a serious concern for several decades.

• Mizoram has 510-km unfenced borders with Myanmar and 318-km with Bangladesh.

• In many cases the benefit of development and welfare programmes are found eaten away to a large extent by such foreigners who clandestinely stayed back and got assimilated in the people.