Hurdles are aplenty as millions in Assam prepare to prove citizenship under NRC
Reeling under devastating floods another year in a row, Assam is bracing itself for another crisis that is awaiting the state later next month. On August 31, the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be released, deciding the fate of millions of citizens and “foreigners”.
In the draft lists published in July 2018 and June this year, around 41 lakh people have been excluded. Around 36 lakh people have filed claims against their exclusion and objections have been filed against two lakh inclusions.
Some have taken their lives at the prospect of facing possible deportations while lakhs of people have sent a petition to the Centre for re-verification which is being considered by the Union Home Ministry.
The Supreme Court on July 23 extended the July 31 deadline to August 31 for the publication of the final draft of the NRC in Assam while it rejected the plea of the Centre and the Assam government for 20 per cent sample re-verification in the districts bordering Bangladesh.
The court refused to entertain the Centre and Assam’s plea for sample re-verification of names included/excluded “wrongly” in the draft NRC, as the NRC Coordinator’s July 18 report stated that district-wise re-verification has already been done during the adjudication of claims.
Many genuine names have been left out and many bogus names are registered, a highly placed source in the Home Ministry said.
The updating of NRC began in 2013, when the Supreme Court of India issued orders in this regard.
The Home Ministry has laid down the modalities for Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam to decide appeals made by people not satisfied with the outcome of claims and objections filed against the NRC.
While the finalization of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is at an advance stage in Assam, the Home Ministry is working on modalities to implement across the country the exercise to identify illegal immigrants for deportation.
An amendment in the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, issued by the central government on May 30 paves the way for expanding the scope of NRC beyond.
The amended order empowers state governments and even district magistrates of all states and Union Territories to set up tribunals to identify a “foreigner” who is living in India illegally. Other north-east states are likely to follow suit.
Except the Congress, all the local parties in Mizoram are demanding introduction of NRC in the Christian-dominated state which shares border with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), in its manifesto for the Assembly elections in November last year, had promised that it would initiate the exercise of NRC in the state on the lines of Assam.
In Tripura, major parties are seeking introduction of NRC including the ruling BJP, the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Meghalaya-based National People’s Party (NPP), which was declared as a national party by the Election Commission last month.
Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), Tripura’s oldest tribal-based party, has already filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking NRC in the state. Tripura Pradesh BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee said that if the central government introduces the NRC in the state, the party would welcome the move.
“Our party’s top priority is to move out the illegal infiltrators from India. The illegal infiltrators are also a threat to the country’s security and integrity,” Bhattacharjee said.
The NRC exercise in Assam – under the supervision of the Supreme Court – is one of the most keenly watched processes in the country as several lakh people will be rendered stateless once the final list is published.
Pitching for the NRC to be a nationwide exercise and not just restricted to Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently told the Rajya Sabha that the government will ensure that all illegal settlers in India are deported as per international law.
The government would deport illegal immigrants from “every inch of the country’s soil”, Shah said in the House.
The NRC, first published in Assam in 1951, is being updated as per directions of the Supreme Court to segregate Indian citizens living in Assam from those who have illegally entered the state from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.
There are six detention camps in Assam and state government officials said there are plans to build 10 more detention centres and a detailed project report is being sent to the Centre.
India, which does not have a treaty with Bangladesh, may deport “illegal foreigners” but Bangladesh may not accept them. Activists say the country may be staring at a humanitarian crisis after August 31 when millions may be declared stateless overnight. The majority of the people left out of NRC happen to be abjectly poor, villagers without any education or legal help at hand.
What will happen to them is a question that is on everyone’s minds.
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