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Manipur becomes 4th state in Northeast to have ILP regime
What is Inner Line Permit?
- ILP is an official travel document issued to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.
- It is obligatory for Indian citizens from outside those states to obtain a permit for entering into the protected state.
- ILP allows Indian citizens to go and live in any State protected under ILP for a specific period of time.
- Any person is entitled to renew his permit every six months if he is not a native in these states despite the fact that he/she is a long-term resident.
- It also regulates the movement to certain areas located near the international borders of India.
- It is issued by the concerned states coming under the protection of ILP.
History of ILP
- ILP was introduced by the British Government under the Bengal East Frontier Regulations(BEFR), 1873, in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur
- The BEFR prohibits an outsider’s — “British subject or foreign citizen” — entry into the are beyond the Inner Line without a pass and his purchase of land there. On the other hand, the Inner Line also protects the commercial interests of the British from the tribal communities.
- Despite the fact that the ILP was originally created by the British to safeguard their commercial interests, it continues to be used in India, officially to protect tribal cultures in northeastern India
- After Independence, the Indian government replaced “British subjects” with “Citizen of India”
Which are the other three states with ILP?
Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh are the three other states that have the ILP system.
ILP’s connection with the Citizenship Amendment Act
The CAA, which relaxes eligibility criteria for certain categories of migrants from three countries seeking Indian citizenship, exempts certain categories of areas, including those protected by the Inner Line system. Amid protests against the Act, the Adaptation of Laws (Amendment) Order, 2019, issued by the President, amended the BEFR, 1873, extending it to Manipur and parts of Nagaland that were not earlier protected by ILP.
Recently a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and All Tai Ahom Students’ Union (ATASU) against CAA .
It noted that the original BEFR included the then Assam districts of Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong (now Nagaon), Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, and Cachar, the petition said the order took away the Assam government’s permissive power to implement the ILP. This could have made the CAA inapplicable in these areas, the petition said
