The confirmation comes at a time when Assam is witnessing massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
New Delhi: Already in the midst of social unrest over the Citizenship Bill as well as the recent incidents of lynching in the state, Assam is now gearing up for what could potentially lead to more chaos – the release of the complete draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Officials responsible for the process confirm that the process in nearly complete and the list will be out on 30 June.
“We are on track to meet the 30 June deadline of publishing the complete NRC draft. The list will be released month-end. However, this is just the complete draft after which claims and objections will be invited and disposed of before coming out with the final draft,” NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela told ThePrint.
The NRC, first published after the 1951 Census, is now being updated keeping 24 March 1971 as the cut-off to essentially identify those who immigrated to Assam illegally from Bangladesh after that date.
The exercise to update NRC in Assam is being monitored by the Supreme Court. It began in September 2015 with the aim is to identify those who have migrated from Bangladesh illegally. The draft of the first part of NRC, published on 31 December last year, had names of about 1.90 crore persons out of a total of 3.29 crore applicants. Work has since been on to verify the remaining names and come out with the complete draft.
Only a draft
The Supreme Court had directed the government to complete the whole process by 30 June, including disposing off claims and objections. The authorities, however, said they will be able to publish only the complete draft list by then, and claims and objections would follow.
Authorities emphasise that those who don’t find their names in the 30 June list will not be deemed illegal citizens since this “list is only a draft and the due process of claims and objections will be followed”.
“If one does not find his/her name in the complete draft, they should not think the state has said they are not genuine citizens. This is just a draft, the final list will come out only after all claims and objections have been received and duly disposed off,” Hajela said.
The state had earlier sought extra companies of the Central Para Military Forces to avoid any untoward situation when the complete draft is published. Authorities, however, hope the process will go off smoothly.
“Our procedure has been entirely transparent. We have constantly been engaging with the public and explaining the process to them. We will make sure no genuine citizen is eventually left out and that no illegal immigrant,” the NRC coordinator said.
The NRC process
Updating the NRC involves multiple steps – inviting and receiving applications, verification, publication of first draft, publication of complete draft, receipt and disposal of claims and objections and finally, the publication of the final list.
The confirmation that the complete NRC draft will be published on 30 June comes at a time when the state has been witnessing massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2016 by the BJP-led NDA government, aims to make illegal migrants – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – eligible for citizenship in India. This has been opposed by the ethnic Assamese who have been opposed to all ‘outsiders’, irrespective of religion.
The two are also linked given one aims to identify all illegal immigrants while the other, if brought in, aims to give citizenship to illegal immigrants based on their religion, leaving out those who are Muslim