As per Supreme Court's September 29 instruction to state governments to provide dry ration to all sex workers, identified by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and district legal authorities, Nagaland has identified 5,315 sex workers.

"Senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, assisting the apex court as an amicus curiae in the matter, referred to the affidavit filed by Nagaland", a PTI report stated.

He said as per Nagaland's affidavit, the state has identified 5,315 sex workers. When the counsel appearing for Nagaland told the bench about some technical difficulty in distribution as the system was fully computerised there, the bench said, "If it is online then it will be faster."

"Larger states have implemented it. It is now four weeks since we gave the direction. You are still at the stage of identification. If you will take refuge under computerisation, it is going to take a year. You do whatever you want but don't delay this," the bench said.

"We have passed these directions as we are aware that there is serious problem. It is about their survival. It is a question of giving them ration and you should not delay it," it said, adding, "It is a humane problem".

The counsel appearing for Manipur raised the issue of financial constraint faced by the state.

The bench observed that North Eastern states rely on central funds and asked the counsel appearing for Manipur to give representation to the Centre on this issue, the report added.