Mizoram census to include Myanmar, B’desh refugees & Manipur IDPs: Officials

Aizawl: The Census 2027 will encompass not only permanent residents of Mizoram but will also include refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as internally displaced people of Manipur taking shelter in the state due to political and ethnic turmoil in their respective countries and state, census officials said.Nearly 30,000 refugees from Myanmar, over 2,000 refugees from Bangladesh and over 7,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) of Manipur are currently taking shelter in Mizoram. Officials from the directorate of census operations and the state nodal department — general administration department (GAD) — said inclusion in the census enumeration does not have any links with being Indian citizens. “This is an exercise for counting people living at this time within the country and we will undertake enumeration even in the relief camps,” they said.The officials said the refugees and IDPs are sharing water supply, electricity and other public utilities with the permanent residents, requiring their inclusion in the Census 2027.Over 10,400 people have registered themselves till Wednesday during the self-enumeration exercise which was concluded on Thursday, the officials said.