State Of Assam Approves19 Million People As Its Citizens In First NRC Draft Released

Guwahati: The state of Assam on Monday in order to distribute legal status to its inhabitants and to segregate illegal Bangladeshi immigrants (Muslims), released its first draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Sunday.

First part draft of the (NRC) for Assam that came out amid watertight security recognises 19 million people out of a total 32.9 million applicants as its legal citizens. Registrar general of India Shailesh reportedly said there was no need to panic as the verification process for the rest of the applicants was underway. “Everybody should be patient to wait for the release of the final draft,” he said.

NRC is being updated in Assam for the first time after 1951 with the aim of identifying those who may have entered the state from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971 — a sensitive issue that led to a movement by the state’s indigenous people in the 1980s. Many fear an unabated influx, which has been going on for close to a century, is a threat to Assam’s identity, media reports said.

No timeline has been fixed for the release of the complete draft but officials reportedly say the process, which is being monitored by the Supreme Court of India (SCI), could take a few more months. Security has been tightened across the state as there were apprehensions about violence by those whose names are missing. No report of violence was reported till Monday morning.

“But we will be watchful for few days. Since the draft was released online, it would take some days for people to reach NRC offices and physically verify if their names are in the list,” reads the statement of Assam’s DGP Mukesh Sahay published in an English vernacular.

Individuals, who can prove links with family members whose names appeared in the 1951 NRC or subsequent electoral rolls till March 25, 1971 will be included in the updated NRC.

It is reported by the media sources that the physical verification of the updated first draft has begun at over 4,200 NRC centres across Assam. Long queues of people waiting to check their names were seen at several centres since early morning.

Back in 1980’s the All Assam Students Union (AASU) led a mass agitation for six years against illegal immigrants, and the stir led to the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. In 2005, as part of an agreement among central and state governments with the AASU, it was decided to update the 1951 NRC to prepare a comprehensive list of bona fide Indian citizens in the state, notes Hindustan Times (HT).

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