Distribution: weekly

Context

• The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to conduct Census 2021 and update the National Population Register (NPR).
• While the Census will be conducted in 2021, the NPR update will take place from April to September 2020 in all the States/UTs except Assam.

Focus shifts of Protestors: CAA TO NPR

• While the row over the CAA brought thousands of people to the streets — with protests turning violent at many places – a fresh controversy erupted over the updating of the National Population Register (NPR).
• The NPR is a register of residents of India where the enumerator collects demographic and biometric data of individuals living at the place of enumeration for six months or more.
• Now, this turn of events where non-NDA ruled states started to halt an ongoing enumeration of residents (NPR) process left many confused, with the time to begin counting for the Census approaching fast.
• Is the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act related to NPR? The answer is both yes and no. There is no direct link.
• It depends on how the government decides to use data collected for NPR.

What is the National Population Register (NPR)?

• The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country. It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
• It includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.
• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.
• The first NPR was prepared in 2010 and updating this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
• The next update of the NPR will take place next year from April to September with the Houselisting phase of the Census 2021.
• It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

Who is the usual resident?

• According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, a usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.

The Census of India

• The Census is the enumeration of the population of the country.
• It is being conducted at an interval of 10 years.
• The Census 2021 will be 16th census in the country since the first census happened in 1872. However, it will be 8th census after the Independence.
• For the first time, the Census 2021 will use the Mobile App for data collection. It will also provide a facility to the public for self-enumeration.

What is the whole issue?

Issues with the states

• Citizenship, aliens and naturalization are subject matters listed in List 1 of the Seventh Schedule that fall exclusively under the domain of Parliament.
• Legally, the states have no say in implementing or ruling out NPR.
• However, given that the manpower is drawn from the states, the defiance could potentially result in a showdown.

Issues with NPR

• Census is an exercise carried out under the Census Act, 1948. Census data is based on self-declaration made by the persons without verification.
• NPR is carried out as per the 2003 Citizenship Rules. Under these Rules, it is compulsory for a person to share the demographic data for preparation of NPR.
• Therefore, these Rules have a coercive element, as they penalize non-cooperating persons with fines and penalties.
• Failure to comply with the NPR data collection can expose one to penal consequences under Rule 17.
• It may be noted that both these processes are carried under the supervision of a single office: the Office of Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner.

Privacy Concern

• Officials insist that NPR information is private and confidential, meaning it will not be shared with third parties. 
• There is no clarity on the mechanism for protection of the vast amount of data that will be collected through NPR.

Census vs. NPR

• The census is decadal headcount in India. It involves a detailed questionnaire aimed at gathering general data about the population of India.
• The NPR process collects demographic and biometric particulars of individuals.
• Both processes involve door-to-door enumeration but NPR differs from the Census in the sense that its objective is to have a comprehensive identity database of those residing in India.
• The Census does not identify individuals.
• However, in Census 2021, this distinction may no longer exist as the government is said to be planning to conduct it through a mobile phone application.
• Moreover, Census data are kept and maintained centrally under the Registrar General of India.
• But once the NPR data are recorded and ready, these details would be kept and maintained in a population register at levels of village or ward, tehsil or taluk (sub-district), district and state.
• Together, they will constitute the National Population Register with all data at the central level.

The link between NPR and NRC

• The Citizenship Act empowers the government to compulsorily register every citizen and maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens.
• A nationwide NRC — if undertaken — would flow out of NPR.
• This does not necessarily mean that an NRC must follow NPR — no such register was compiled after the previous NPR in 2010.
• After a list of residents is created, a nationwide NRC — if it happens — could go about verifying the citizens from that list.

What de-links NPR and NRC?

• The NPR is different from the NRC which excludes the foreign citizens.
• According to the Citizenship Rules 2003, a Population Register is ‘the register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area within a ward in a town or urban area.
• Whereas the NRC is a register containing details of Indian Citizens living in India and outside India.

Advantages of NPR

• NPR gives a comprehensive identity database of its residents with relevant demographic details. It will help the government formulate its policies better and also aid national security.
• It will ease the life of those residing in India by cutting red tape. Not only will it help target government beneficiaries in a better way, but also further cut down paperwork and red tape in a similar manner that Aadhaar has done.
• For instance, it is common to find a different date of birth of a person on different government documents. NPR will help eliminate that.
• With NPR data, residents will not have to furnish various proofs of age, address and other details in official work.
• It would also eliminate duplication in voter lists, the government insists.

Where Aadhaar does comes to the picture?

• There is a little back story about NPR and Aadhaar. The two were considered rival projects under the UPA government.
• When NPR process began in the government, P Chidambaram was the Union home minister, who pushed the population register project.
• Both the NPR and Aadhaar projects were concurrently underway collecting demographic and biometric data.
• Initially, both had better and targeted delivery of benefits and services to people as their objectives. The works of the UIDAI and the home ministry were viewed as duplication and wastage of resources.
• The conflict, however, ended in a compromise between the home ministry and the UIDAI where it was decided that NPR and Aadhaar databases will be used for different purposes.
• Aadhaar will deliver welfare services and NPR will be used for other purposes of governance.
• It was also decided that those already enrolled for Aadhaar need not give their biometric details during NPR exercise.
• The NPR data were to be matched with Aadhaar data for de-duplication. But the final formula gave NPR an upper hand.
• It was agreed that in case of discrepancy between Aadhaar and NPR data, NPR would prevail.
• Simply put, NPR conducted in accordance with the Citizenship Amendment Act 2003 will form the key data set for both Aadhaar and NRC.

References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/national-population-register-npr/

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/what-is-the-caa-npr-nrc-linkexplainer-151105

https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/caa-npr-nrc-confusion-connection-explained-india-1631534-2019-12-26

Context

• Possibly one of the biggest stories in that broke in cyberspace recently has been WhatsApp’s reports that 1,400 of its users were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware tool from Israeli firm NSO Group.
• A significant number of these Indian users include journalists, academics, human rights and Dalit activists.
• Further, the timing of such surveillance — late April to mid-May — rakes up another set of worries about the motive behind the hack.

Pegasus

• All spyware do what the name suggests — they spy on people through their phones.
• Pegasus works by sending an exploit link, and if the target user clicks on the link, the malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone.
• A presumably newer version of the malware does not even require a target user to click a link.
• Once Pegasus is installed, the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone.
• The first reports on Pegasus’s spyware operations emerged in 2016, when Ahmed Mansoor, a human rights activist in the UAE, was targeted with an SMS link on his iPhone 6.

Method of working

• A Pegasus operator must convince a target to click on a specially crafted ‘exploit link’ which allows the operator to penetrate security features on the phone.
• This automatically installs Pegasus without the user’s knowledge or permission.
• Once the phone is exploited and Pegasus installed, it begins contacting the operator’s command and control and send back the target’s private data, including passwords, contact lists, events, text messages, and live voice calls from popular mobile messaging apps.
• The operator can even turn on the phone’s camera and microphone to capture activity in the phone’s vicinity.

Why is Pegasus dangerous?

• What makes Pegasus really dangerous is that it spares no aspect of a person’s identity. It makes older techniques of spying seem relatively harmless.
• What can’t it do would be an easier question to answer. Once on a phone, the spyware has the run of the place.
• It can intercept every call and SMS, read every email and monitor each messaging app.
• Pegasus can also control the phone’s camera and microphone and has access to the device’s location data.
• The app advertises that it can carry out “file retrieval”, which means it could access any document that a target might have stored on their phone.

Concerns over Snooping

The pertinent questions are, who is behind this surveillance and hacking incident; and has this intrusion of privacy reached a level that has not been fathomed by the legal and technical communities?

Stretching this further, is this a vulnerability ignored by WhatsApp’s management?

Perpetrators behind the attack

• The other angle to this whole episode is the role of the perpetrators behind the hack.
• With access to technology increasing, networks can be intruded from any part of the world provided the encryption can be broken.
• The offering of products such as Pegasus and their misuse or proliferation has the same, if not more, ramifications as advanced nuclear technology falling into the wrong hands.
• The role of non-state actors with support from rogue nations or even criminal syndicates is also not out of question.

Security and privacy breach

• Clearly, the potential revelations are worrying a large section of social media users about the confidentiality and integrity of the networks, which is the basis of trust for most users.
• At the same time, the NSO Group’s claim about only working with specific security agencies across the world brings to the fore questions about the role of such agencies.

Government under question

• Some in India have been quick to jump the gun and blame the government and its ‘snooping’ networks.
• But, that is definitely not proven to be the situation yet, and both the MeitY and Ministry of Home Affairs have clearly said they played no role.

Snooping:  an offence in India

• Any form of online interception, monitoring and decryption are well defined as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act 2008 (IT Act) and the concomitant rules.
• These provisions clearly list the 10 agencies that can undertake such actions and the procedures for them, the competent authority who can order such an action being the Union Home Secretary.
• Even such authorised surveillance actions have to be reviewed by a committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, which meets at least once in two months.
• Likewise for States, the respective Home Secretary is the competent authority and the Chief Secretary heads the review committee.
• No such authorizations have been given by any of the competent authorities for the monitoring of the affected individuals in India for the period in reference.

Whom to blame, then?

• This is a clear case of willful hacking whose proportions entail it to be seen as a cyber terrorism attempt; it calls for application of Section 66 (F) of the IT Act to deal with the perpetrators.
• To date, there have been three denials, by the central government (the ministry of electronics and information technology, the ministry of home affairs, and CERT-IN, a technical body that probes cyber threats).
• The issue has brought to the fore the fear around the possibility of how emerging network access technology could also beat secured encryption, which remains the fundamental basis of user trust and hitherto privacy.

Clear implications

No national security without individual privacy!

We must all recognise that national security starts with securing the smartphones of every single Indian by embracing technologies such as encryption rather than deploying spyware. This is a core part of our fundamental right to privacy.

• This intrusion by the spyware is not merely an infringement of the rights of the citizens of the country but also a worrying development for India’s national security apparatus.
• The security of a device becomes one of the fundamental bedrocks of maintaining user trust as society becomes more and more digitized.
• Such an approach belies appreciating the injury and threats to individuals and the country.
• There is an urgent need to take up this issue seriously by constituting an independent high-level inquiry with credible members and experts that can restore confidence and conduct its proceedings transparently.

Alleged perpetrator

• The alleged spying on Opposition leaders and activists in India reminds one of the illegal espionage in the Watergate scandal.
• Given that NSO claims it only sells to governments and the fact that it is mostly critics of the ruling dispensation who have been targeted, some people have alleged that it is the Indian government that was behind the snooping.
• In response, the Union minister of IT Minister alleged that the former Indian government had spied on the then chief of the Indian Army as well as the Union Finance Minister.

A note of caution

• Social media providers must stop chest-thumping, start investing in attribution solutions and be honest with users about the risks involved in their products.
• Such software must be strictly controlled and legal provisions must be inked, so that providers of such technologies are deterred.
• Needless to say, a relook at laws, technology and ethics is needed, preferably sooner than later.
• In the digital age, companies will emerge and operate in the grey areas of the intersection between technology and security to make a profit.
• But national security must not be used as a shield by either governments or private players to justify the violation of fundamental rights.

Way Forward

• It is incumbent on Parliament, the judiciary and Facebook, the company that owns WhatsApp, to plug the breach of privacy and nail those responsible for it.
• Indian government must leverage its relationship with Israel to hold NSO to account.
• Since this attack involves users from a quite a few countries, there is a greater need for global cooperation to a concerted and coordinated investigation.
• The government has made it clear that it holds a sovereign right over the data of its citizens. The idea of data sovereignty must include a citizen’s right to privacy.
• It must punish anyone found guilty of unlawfully violating the privacy of Indian citizens.

References:

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/spyware-pegasus/

https://scroll.in/article/942300/explainer-how-whatsapp-was-hacked-to-spy-on-indian-dissidents-and-who-did-it

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/whatsapp-snooping-is-a-grievous-offence/cid/1719010

https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/why-there-cannot-be-any-national-security-without-individual-privacy-analysis/story-JvDaOJLW85gXR9cILtwq7M.html

Context

• India decided to drop out of the RCEP agreement, citing its negative effects on farmers, MSMEs and dairy sector.

What is RCEP?

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between –

• The 10 members of ASEAN
• Additional members of ASEAN +3 = China, Japan, South Korea
• Members with which ASEAN countries have FTA = India, Australia, New Zealand

RCEP includes more than 3 billion people, has a combined GDP of about $17 trillion, and accounts for about 40 per cent of world trade. By any means, this is a huge community in making.

How significance was RCEP for India?

• From India’s point of view, the RCEP presented a decisive platform which could influence its strategic and economic status in the Asia-Pacific region and bring to fruition its “Act East Policy.”
• It is expected to be an ambitious agreement bringing the 5 biggest economies of the region – Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea – into a regional trading arrangement.

There are three immediate benefits that its trade policymakers should note-

#1. The RCEP agreement would complement India’s existing free trade agreements with the ASEAN and some of its member countries.

This consolidation can address challenges emanating from implementation concerns vis-à-vis overlapping agreements, which is creating a “noodle bowl” situation obstructing effective utilization of these FTAs.

It will also help achieve its goal of greater economic integration with countries East and South East of India through better access to a vast regional market ranging from Japan to Australia.

NOTE:            India is not a party to two important regional economic blocs: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The RCEP would enable India to strengthen its trade ties with Australia, China, Japan and South Korea, and should reduce the potential negative impacts of TPP and TTIP on the Indian economy.

#2. Getting India closer to ASEAN

• Clubbing with the ASEAN has been a principal policy priority for both China and India.
• At present, while China has clubbed with the ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6,
• India is clubbed only under the ASEAN+6 framework

#3. India can leverage its capabilities in IT, Healthcare, Education and services

• The RCEP will create opportunities for Indian companies to access new markets
• India is well placed to contribute to other countries in RCEP through its expertise in services

#4. Balancing with China

• India’s allies in Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, want India to join it to balance China.
• On the other hand, many in India feel that RCEP will aggravate India’s burgeoning trade deficit with China.
• The Indian industry feels that China does not provide a level playing field for items that they could export, especially in fields like pharma, IT, films, indigenous medicines, wellness and yoga.
• Some of these are founded on opacity that surrounds the Chinese government’s decision making.

What compelled India to opt-out?

Chinese imports

• Key issues that have prevented India from coming on board include “inadequate” protection against surges in imports.
• This is a major concern for India, as its industry has voiced fears that cheaper products from China would “flood” the market.
• India had been seeking an auto-trigger mechanism that would allow it to raise tariffs on products in instances where imports cross a certain threshold.
• India has also not received any credible assurances on its demand for more market access, and its concerns over non-tariff barriers.

Rules of origin criteria

• Its concerns on a “possible circumvention” of rules of origin — the criteria used to determine the national source of a product — were also not addressed.
• Current provisions in the deal reportedly do not prevent countries from routing, through other countries, products on which India would maintain higher tariffs.
• This is anticipated to allow countries like China to pump in more products.

Trade deficit

• Despite India already having separate, bilateral FTAs with most RCEP nations, it has recorded trade deficits with these countries.
• China India has an over $50 billion trade deficit is one of the major reasons for New Delhi not joining in at this stage.
• During negotiations, it was also not able to get a favourable outcome on its demands on the base year that would be used to reduce the tariffs on the products that would be traded as part of the pact.

Protecting domestic industries

• Throughout the RCEP negotiations, several sections of the Indian industry have raised concerns over India signing the deal.
• They have argued that some domestic sectors may take a hit due to cheaper alternatives from other participant countries.
• For instance, the dairy industry was expected to face stiff competition from Australia and New Zealand.
• Similarly, steel and textiles sectors have also demanded protection.

RCEP minus India

It comprises half of the world population and accounts for nearly 40% of the global commerce and 35% of the GDP. RCEP would have become the world’s largest FTA after finalisation, with India being the third-biggest economy in it. Without India, the RCEP does not look as attractive as it had seemed during negotiations.

What it means?

• Divided ASEAN – ASEAN has been keen on a diversified portfolio so that member states can deal with major powers and maintain their strategic autonomy. ASEAN member states have tried to keep the U.S. engaged in the region.
• Indo-Pacific – Both geopolitically and geo-economically, China is set to dominate the Indo-Pacific. India’s entire Indo-Pacific strategy might be open to question if steps are not taken to restore India’s profile in the region.
• Rejected China’s dominance – India signalled that, despite the costs, China’s rise has to be tackled both politically and economically. Japan is now suggesting that it would work towards a deal that includes India.

Implications for India

Inherent lack of confidence?

• Our government’s decision to stay out of the RCEP has drawn near-unanimous support from political parties and organisations representing farmers, traders and industries.
• It is clear recognition that Indian producers will find it difficult to cope with increased import, especially of dairy products from Australia and New Zealand and manufactured goods from China.

Isolation from the global value chain

• India’s absence in integrating with global value chains will impact India’s internal and external ambitions.
• India’s own evidence shows that jobs linked to global value chains earn one-third more than those jobs focused on the domestic market.
• The inability to accede to the RCEP and ensure India’s integration into these emerging global value chains means India will lose out on a key opportunity to create such high-quality, high-paying jobs.
• Moreover, India’s absence in both of Asia’s two key economic architectures will take away from India’s goals as a regional and Indo-Pacific power, as well as a prospective global power.

Unclear on ‘national interest’

• India’s ambitions to become a global hub for manufacturing means that it is the country’s long-term national interest to be integrated into global value chains.
• Such growth matters for two reasons: within India, it will create millions of jobs and secure a stable future for India’s young population, and externally, to facilitate India’s rise as one of the poles in a multipolar 21st century.
• India cannot decide its future by remaining isolated and sitting alone in a corner.

The Indian protectionism

• It has been argued that the Indian industry has hidden behind a wall of protectionism for far too long, and must open itself to global competition.
• There is a tendency in Indian industry to seek protection, whenever any steps towards globalization are taken.
• However, it is an acknowledged fact that globalization did benefit the Indian economy, it brought in newer technology and made Indian industry far more competitive.
• RCEP does provide Indian industry a huge market to grow and expand, provided it transforms and the government frees it from bureaucratic controls that have been stifling growth.

Conclusion

• It does not seem a good idea for India to be out of the agreement from its inception, only to join it later.
• Economic isolation is not an option for India. However, there are reports that India will move towards bilateral trade pacts.
• Given India’s own ambitions to generate growth and jobs within India, and becoming a key player and rule-maker on the world stage, India’s decision to withdraw from the RCEP is not ideal.
• India must now translate this withdrawal into a commitment for domestic reforms to prepare itself for the next opportunity to integrate itself into the global value chains and unleash Indian manufacturing.
• However, having no deal is far more prudent than signing up for a bad one.
• It is easy to succumb to the rapturous sound of global applause, but far tougher to make a tactical retreat in the larger national interest.

References

https://www.civilsdaily.com/what-is-the-significance-of-rcep-for-india/

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/explained-rcep-trade-negotiations/

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/how-to-craft-an-rcep-to-indias-advantage/articleshow/72016572.cms

Context

• The deadline set by the Centre for wrapping up the Naga peace talks, October 31 has ended up.
• While the Centre’s interlocutor and now Nagaland’s Governor, R N Ravi, has stressed that some key issues remain unresolved with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN(I-M).

Rise of Naga nationalism

• The British had annexed Assam in 1826, in which they subsequently created the Naga Hills district and went on to extend its boundaries.
• The assertion of Naga nationalism, which began during British rule, has continued after Independence, and even after Nagaland became a state.
• Along the way, the unresolved issues gave rise to decades of insurgency that claimed thousands of lives, including civilians.

The Naga assertion through History

• The earliest sign of Naga resistance dates back to 1918, with the formation of the Naga Club.
• In 1929, the Club famously told the Simon Commission “to leave us alone to determine for ourselves as in ancient times”.
• In a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929, representatives of Naga tribes demanded that Nagas be left free after Independence and not be included in the Indian Union.
• Ahead of Independence, a nine-point agreement was signed between the Government of India and the Naga National Council.
• This included an experimental coexistence with India for 10 years to be reviewed at the end of that period.
• While the Nagas saw this provision as temporary, with a right to self-determination after 10 years, Naga historians say the Indian government has interpreted the “trial period’’ as accession to the Indian Union.
• In 1946, A Z Phizo formed the Naga National Council (NNC), declared Naga independence on August 14, 1947, and then, in 1951, claimed to have conducted a referendum.
• The referendum got an overwhelming majority in support of an independent Naga state.
• By the early 1950s, the NNC had taken up arms and gone underground.
• The NNC split in 1975, the breakaway group being the NSCN, which split further in later years, most prominently into the NSCN(I-M) and NSCN (Khaplang) in 1988.

What are the Naga peace talks?

• The talks seek to settle disputes that date back to colonial rule.
• The Nagas are not a single tribe, but an ethnic community that comprises several tribes who live in the state of Nagaland and its neighborhood
• One key demand of Naga groups has been a Greater Nagalim that would cover not only the state of Nagaland but parts of neighboring states, and even of Myanmar.

And how have the peace talks played out in recent years?

Before the ongoing talks, which followed a framework agreement in 2015, there were two other agreements between Naga groups and the Centre. 1975:

• A peace accord was signed in Shillong in which the NNC leadership agreed to give up arms.
• Several NNC leaders, including Isak Chishi Swu, Thuingaleng Muivah and S S Khaplang refused to accept the agreement and broke away to form the NSCN.
• In 1988 came another split, with Khaplang breaking away to form the NSCN(K) while Isak and Muivah headed the NSCN(I-M).

1997:

• The NSCN (I-M ) signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1997, preceded by rounds of talks since 1995.
• The key agreement was that there would be no counter-insurgency offensive against the NSCN(I-M), who in turn would not attack Indian forces.
• The NSCN (I-M) had then announced to “every citizen of Nagalim wherever they may be”, that a ceasefire agreement was entered into between India and the outfit to bring about a lasting political solution.

2015:

• In August that year, the Centre signed a framework agreement with the NSCN(I-M).
• PM Modi described it as a “historic agreement” towards settling the “oldest insurgency” in India. This set the stage for the ongoing peace talks.
• In 2017, six other Naga armed outfits under the banner of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) joined the talks.
• Today, Muivah remains the senior-most Naga rebel leader. Isak died in 2016. In the NSCN(-K), its leader Khaplang died in 2018.

What was in the framework agreement?

• The government has not yet spelled out the details in public.
• Following the agreement, the government had said in a press statement: “The Government of India recognized the unique history, culture, and position of the Nagas and their sentiments and aspirations.
• The NSCN understood and appreciated the Indian political system and governance.
• On the other hand, the NSCN(I-M) issued a statement earlier this year which said that Nagaland State does and will not represent the national decision of the Naga people.
• The statement was in opposition to the proposal for a Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) in the state of Nagaland.

Where does the territorial demand currently stand?

• The accord being finalized “does not change the boundary of states; it provides autonomous Naga territorial councils for Arunachal and Manipur; a common cultural body for Nagas across states.
• It provides for specific institutions for the state’s development, integration and rehabilitation of non-state Naga militia and the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
• The map of Greater Nagalim in the NSCN(IM) vision, on the other hand, covers a 1,20,000 sq km sprawl across the Northeast and Myanmar — the area of Nagaland state itself is only 16,527 sq km, a fraction of this vision.
• Amid the anxiety this has caused among citizens in neighboring states, state governments have assured them that their respective states’ territorial integrity would not be compromised.

What are the other issues?

• The government and the NSCN(I-M) have failed to agree on issues relating to a separate Naga flag and a constitution.
• In its latest statement, the NSCN(I-M) has said it will not budge from the demand for the flag and the constitution — and that it is looking for a lasting solution.
• However, the NSCN(I-M) has adopted a procrastinating attitude to delay the settlement raising the contentious symbolic issues of separate Naga national flag and constitution.

I. Independence celebration

• The tallest leader of the Naga struggle, Dr A Z Phizo, met M K Gandhi in Delhi on July 19, 1947.
• According to Naga historians, Gandhi agreed that the Nagas would celebrate their independence a day ahead of India, on August 14, 1947.
• To this day, Nagas across Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh celebrate August 14 as Independence Day.

II. The Naga flag

• In the Naga narrative, passed down generations by word of mouth, the Naga flag was not designed by a mortal but is of divine origin.
• As Naga groups battled the Indian armed forces, the legend goes, Phizo and his closest colleagues had a vision — a rainbow, in a startlingly blue sky that had appeared after a storm.
• A woman of the Rengma tribe, one of the tribes under the Naga umbrella, was commissioned to weave the flag.
• It was hoisted for the first time in Parashen in Rengma on March 22, 1956.
• The flag has a blue background, representing the sky. A red, yellow and green rainbow arches across the centre.
• The Star of Bethlehem adorns the top left corner of the flag; Nagas are predominantly Christian.

Present status

• The flag remains a symbol of the Nagas’ struggle for over 60 years, of their religious faith, of the aspirations of the Naga people, and their identity.
• It helps bind all the different Naga tribes together.
• Outside Nagaland state, in particular, the flag continues to elucidate strong emotions of identity from Nagas.
• Inside the state, common citizens are today divided on it. Certain sections believe that with secession from the Indian Union no longer possible, the Naga flag has lost some of its relevance.

Status of secessionist tendencies

• The moderates have supported a complete inclusion in the Indian state, for access to the latter’s development project, infrastructure, and its education and health facilities.
• But a large section of the Nagas still holds dear the idea of the Naga identity and their tribal roots.

Impacts of disagreement

• The statement from the Governor’s office has given rise to speculation that the government is ready to sign a final peace agreement with other groups without the NSCN (I-M), the largest group.
• Civil society groups in Nagaland are divided in their opinion.
• Some have said the talks should be wrapped up with whatever is offered now and keep other issues open for later negotiations.
• Others believe all issues should be settled and the NSCN (I-M) should be on board, even if it takes longer than the deadline.

Conclusion

• The Naga struggle claimed thousands of lives over decades and devastated countless homes, all over the idea of a sovereign Naga nation.
• If the NSCN (I-M) accedes to economic and political packages alone, without a separate flag and constitution, it remains to be seen whether it will be seen as a solution, or as a defeat.

References https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history-of-naga-flag-and-why-is-it-important-6098576/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/naga-talks-long-road-issues-6090652/