Students rally in Manipur seeking NRC before census exercise

PTI, August 17, 2026, Imphal: Hundreds of students on Monday took out a rally demanding implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur before any census activity is conducted in the state.

The students took out the rally from Tiddim Road in Imphal West district for nearly 2 km to press for their demands.

They held posters and raised slogans that said "No NRC, No Census."

They also demanded that internally displaced people (IDPs) must return to their original homes before any census activity is taken up.

The protests were held under the aegis of the 'Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) Student Wing'.

The students also called for the government to defer the census exercise until the NRC is conducted, citing concerns over citizenship identification and demographic changes in the state.

At DM College of Teacher Education in the state capital, a separate group of student protesters, mostly girls, attempted to disrupt a census training programme. They were, however, stopped by security forces.

School students of CC Higher Secondary School in Imphal East also came out on the streets to raise slogans demanding NRC.

The house-listing phase of Census 2027 is scheduled to begin with self-enumeration from August 17. The main house-listing operations is scheduled from September 1 to September 30 this year.