Final NRC Draft List : Assam On The Edge As 2.89 Crore People Found Eligible, 40 Lakh Left Out

File Picture : Representational purpose only

The much awaited final draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was released in Guwahati . The state has  been put on high alert to prevent any violence and maintain law and order in the state. Companies of para military forces     have been deployed to handle any untoward incident .

2.89 crore people have been found eligible to be included in the NRC, the State NRC Coordinator said at a press conference. This is out of a total of 3.29 crore people. Around 40 lakh people have been left out of the list.

This is just a draft, and not the final list. The people who are not included can make claims and objections. No deportations will be based on this list.

Claims and objections from those left out of the citizens’ list will be taken up from August 30.

The officials clarified that those left out will not be branded as foreigner and no punitive action will be taken against them. “Whoever does not have name will get opportunity to file claim/ objections under adequate time.

Those left out will have the option to file online application in NRC website or visit a NRC Seva Kendra,” said Shailesh, Registrar General of India.

The NRC, for which a total of 3.29 crore people had filed an application, is aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state. The unpublished names are still under stages of verification. The process of filing the applications had ended in May, 2018 and a total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across Assam.

The NRC updation basically means the process of enlisting the names of those persons (or their descendants) whose names appear in any of the Electoral Rolls up to 1971, 1951 NRC or any of the admissible documents stipulated.

The demands to update the NRC of 1951 were first raised by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Assam Gana Parishad more than three decades ago. The organisations had submitted a memorandum to the Centre on January 18, 1980, two months after launching the anti-illegal foreigners Assam Movement.

A total of 6.56 crore supporting documents along with 68.31 lakh application forms submitted, were scanned in 16 rounds of digitisation.