Over 19 lakhs of 3.29 crore applicants in Assam were excluded from the final draft register published on August 31st 2019.
The Assam government has rejected the NRC in its current form and demanded re-verification of at least 30% names in areas bordering Bangladesh and 10% in the rest of the State.
What can rejected applicants do?
Each rejected person can approach foreign Tribunal within 120 days of receiving the rejection list.
Under Citizenship rule any person may object to the inclusion or exclusion of a person from citizens register.
After which the local Registrar will issue a notice and the applicants will have to furnish the documents to prove their claim.
What is NRC:
National register of citizens is the official record of legal Indian citizens. It includes demographic information of all Indian citizens as per the Citizenship Act 1955.
For the first time the register was prepared in 1951.
Assam and NRC:
Assam is the only state in the country that has maintained such a database.
Reason: a lot of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh migrated to Assam after the 1971 Bangladesh war which created a lot of conflicts and resentment that ultimately culminated into the Assam Accord of 1985.
The Supreme Court ordered the update of the NRC of Assam in 2014 which officially started in 2015.
What is the Assam Accord?
This was a memorandum of settlement signed between the representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam movement.
This ended the six years of Assam movement and was aimed to protect Assamese culture, economic and political rights.
Impact:
By updating NRC the problem of illegal immigrants is likely to be resolved by identifying the legal residence from illegal ones.
This record will also provide a verified database to formulate appropriate policy.
The process of NRC will deter the illegal migrants from procuring Indian identity.
At the same time it would also provide relief to Bengalis living in Assam who were suspected to be Bangladeshis.
Concerns and NRC:
The process of updating the NRC was flawed; lakhs of people were left out of the draft published in 2018.
To resolve this matter the Supreme Court issued an order to mandatorily submit the biometrics of those who are left out during the hearing of the claims.
Out of 27 lakh people left out in 2018 draft only 8 lakhs made it to the list and even these 8 lakhs are struggling to get Aadhar and other benefits.
The deprivation from availing the Aadhar and related benefits has created a lot of mental pressure on individuals.
Even after the entire process is completed there remains uncertainty about the future of those left out.
The burden on Judiciary is likely to increase as “No citizens” can resort to judicial relief.
Directly expelling migrants can also jeopardize relations with Dhaka and may damage the country’s image internationally.
Way forward:
Robust mechanism of legal support is required to help people to prove their citizenship of India with their limited means.
A proper course of action shall be decided regarding the fate of those excluded people.
The land of Vasudev Kutumbakam shall take any decisions with least haste and more precision.
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