The situation is quite unsettling in Assam. Over 19 lakh people have been excluded from the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31. A long, tough legal battle lies ahead for these people, as they have to now prove their Indian citizenship before courts.
In simple terms, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is like a class attendance register. Your class register will have the names of all the students belonging to your class and section. Your ID card is proof that you belong to a particular class.
Similarly, the National Register of Citizens contains names of Indian citizens who call Assam their home. The NRC was prepared in 1951 after the Census of 1951. Assam is the only State in the country to have an NRC.
Let’s go back to the example of class register. Imagine a friend of yours from another classroom wants to shift (migrate) to your classroom without the knowledge of the school. One fine day, he comes and sits next to you in your classroom, attends classes and enjoys the resources of your classroom. Will the teacher be able to identify him as an outsider? Yes, all that the teacher has to do is to check the class register or his ID card.
Let’s shift our focus to Assam now. Over the years, people from other countries, especially Bangladesh have migrated to India through Assam illegally. They have made Assam their home. There has been fear among the original residents that the number of immigrants has increased multi-fold over the years. The government (and the people of Assam) now wants to identify these outsiders. How can it be done? By updating the NRC as a first step.
The updating process began in 2015, following a Supreme Court directive to the government to keep up with the Assam Accord of 1985. One of the key clauses of the accord stipulated that all immigrants who have entered Assam on or after 25 March, 1971 were to be identified and deported. After missing a deadline in 2016, the first draft was published on December 31, 2017.
The Complete Draft was released on July 30, 2018, excluding over 40 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants. An additional 1,02,462 people were excluded in June 2019, taking the total ineligible persons to 41,10,169.
After further verification, the final NRC was released on August 31 and this list excluded about 19 lakh people from it.
Picture Credit : Google