Joint council of 4 villages under Kiphire for ‘trial-run’ of population census

Joint Council of Seyochung Village, Singrep Village, Phelungre Village and Yangzitong Village Suro Pumji under Kiphire district have reiterated its demand to the government to expedite the process to put into effect January 23, 2014 order for carrying out “trail-run of population census for enumeration of only proper residents of Sumis of Kiphire district so as not to be misused by the Sumis of other districts.”
In a press release, joint council chairman, Thsipise and secretary, Daniel Sechopi, informed that the decision was taken in a joint consultative meeting of the four village councils on July 29 at Kiphire town.
The joint council informed that the meeting was held with regard to the joint representation of Kiphire Tuensang District Sumi Students’ Union (KTDSSU) and Pungro Area College Students’ Union (PACSU) for linking Aadhaar with the electoral-roll of the entire Kiphire district electorate.
While welcoming the concern shown by KTDSSU and PACSU to establish and strengthen the democratic processes by linking Aadhaar with electoral roll for a clean election, the joint council stated that a thorough understanding of the present status of the Aadhaar in the district needs to be taken into account for the same.
 The joint council informed that the estimated number of persons who are in possession of Aadhaar card was very few compared to the total population and claimed that the “Aadhaar capturing agency” in Kiphire district was not in operation for more than a year.
The joint council also alleged “many anomalies and irregularity” found in the census figure 2011 of Seyochung Village, Singrep Village, Phelungre Village and Yangzitong Village Suro Pumji, wherein the total number of enumerated people in respect of each village recorded a negative decadal growth rate by a huge percentage.
It said the negative growth rate was attributed to many factors which were enforced during conduct of census enumeration.
The joint council stated the direction to exclude students who were pursuing studies in towns/cities, people who are out of village for different purposes were also not enumerated and also alleged random deletion of households was carried out as detected from the abridged household listings.
The joint council stated that since the electoral roll is a continuous process necessary modification /deletion/ inclusion is a welcome procedure taking into account the status of the electorate. However, it added that to delete a chunk percentage of village electorate based on 2011 NPR data was irrelevant after irregularities and anomalies have been identified.