INTRODUCTION

The NRC, touted as the most authentic effort to detect illegal migrants in the state, has been a
long-awaited aspiration of the indigenous people of Assam. The disappointment over the
partial release of the register was exacerbated by the systematic attempts by the incumbent
union government (having both religious and linguistic overtones) to facilitate new waves of
immigration, with guaranteed citizenship, by amending the Citizenship Act of 1955. The
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 intends to remove the tag of “immigrants” from relevant
rules under the Foreigners Act, 1946 for six religious minorities: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. One can sense the
disappointment and even anguish in the state, by looking at the day-to-day political
developments which have unfolded in the run up to the release of the NRC.

The National Register of Citizens, or NRC, is the list of Indian citizens in Assam. It is being
updated to weed out illegal immigration from Bangladesh and neighbouring regions.
Moreover, Bangladesh does not recognise infiltration-taking place from its end. At present,
only Assam has such a register. The exercise may be extended to other states as well.
Nagaland is already creating a similar database known as the Register of Indigenous
Inhabitants. The Centre is planning to create a National Population Register (NPR), which
will contain demographic and biometric details of citizens.

The Assam NRC was monitored by the Supreme Court. The final list published on August
31 excluded 19 lakh out of 3.29 crore applicants in the State.
The 1951 NRC in Assam
NRC for Indian citizens in Assam was first created in 1951. Manipur and Tripura were also
granted permission to create their own NRCs, but it never materialised. The list comprised of
those who lived in India on January 26, 1950, or were born in India or had parents who were
born in India or had been living in India for at least five years before the January 26, 1950
cut-off.
In 2010, NRC was first started as a pilot project in two districts of Assam — Barpeta and
Kamrup. Nevertheless, this was abandoned in the aftermath of violence in one of the districts.
NRC got a fresh momentum after the Supreme Court’s intervention in the response of a
petition filed by a non-governmental organisation Assam Public Works (APW) demanding
the removal of the illegal migrants from the voters' list. The Assam government under the
supervision of the Supreme Court executed NRC. The process to update the register began
following a Supreme Court order in 2013, with the state’s nearly 33 million people having to
prove that they were Indian nationals prior to March 24, 1971.

One of the basic criteria was that the names of applicant's family members should either be in
the first NRC prepared in 1951 or in the electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971.
Under Article 6 of the Constitution, the cut-off date for migration to India from Pakistan is
July 19, 1948. “There are other provisions like citizenship by birth and naturalisation as per
the Citizenship Act, 1955. In Assam, the cut-off date for inclusion in the updated NRC is
March 25, 1971, as spelt out in the Assam Accord.

There are several constitutional and legal issues pending before a Constitution Bench of the
Supreme Court of India. Out of the outstanding issues, the decision on the following two
issues will have a bearing on the NRC:

 Whether Section 6A of the Citizenship Act,1955 should be struck down, as it

prescribes a different cut-off date for Assam ie, 25 March 1971;
 Whether citizenship should be granted to children of illegal immigrants born in India,
as they will otherwise be assumed to be citizens of India by way of birth.

According to Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR, Hyderabad, Faizan Mustafa, the date to acquire

Indian citizenship for those who migrated from Pakistan is 1948 only. They become citizens
automatically and those who came after that date, need a registration.“First, the
constitutionality of cut-off date should be determined. If tomorrow, the SC that is examining
the NRC, says that the cut-off date for Assam should be 1948 and not 1971, then the entire
exercise will be futile,” Mr. Mustafa said.

The updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants failing to
make it to the list.

How does one prove citizenship?

In Assam, one of the basic criteria was that the names of applicant's family members should
either be in the first NRC prepared in 1951 or in the electoral rolls up to March 24,
1971. Other than that, applicants also had the option to present documents such as refugee
registration certificate, birth certificate, LIC policy, land and tenancy records, citizenship
certificate, passport, government issued licence or certificate, bank/post office accounts,
permanent residential certificate, government employment certificate, educational certificate
and court records.

What happens with the excluded individuals?

In the case of Assam, the state government has clarified it will not detain any individual until
he/she is declared a foreigner by the foreigners' tribunal. "Non-inclusion of a person's name
in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner," govt has said.
Such individuals will have the option to present their case before foreigners' tribunals. If one
loses the case in the tribunal, the person can move the high court and, then, the Supreme
Court.
Authorities have decided to establish 11 detention camps in districts like Goalpara, Barpeta,
Dima, Hasao, Kamrup, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Sonitpur.
The first of its kind is under construction in Goalpara, a district that will house around 3,000
people. Each of these centres will have a capacity of at least 1,000 people. Currently, there
are six detention centres operating in the district jail. Families of the persons are holding the
NRC responsible for infusing uncertainty in their lives.

The government promised that excluded persons would continue to enjoy all the rights of a
citizen. If one has exhausted all other options, the government has also promised to provide
the legal option to appeal for a redressal.
The Government has laid down a well-structured redressal mechanism. In this respect, 400
Foreigners Tribunal (FT) have been set up to hear the cases of the people left out in NRC.
Such individuals have to file their claim within 120 days from the declaration of the final list.
FT is not the end of the road. If the individual is not happy with the verdict passed by the FT,
he/she can approach the High Court and Supreme Court. In addition, the government
declared no one be treated as a foreigner unless he/she has exhausted all the legal options.
Yet, such announcement could not subside the agony and the trauma of the people of being
stateless. People are apprehensive about the capacity of the FT’s timely delivery of justice. At
present, three to four lakh cases are pending in 100 of the existing tribunals. Recently, 221
members, equivalent to the judge position, have been appointed into FTs for hearing of the
cases, but people feel it is insufficient to deal with such a large number of appeals. Besides,
applying to the FTs will require financial resources. Not all the applicants will have adequate
financial support to pursue their case.
Impact of NRC Assam amongst people observation from the ground

In Assam, people are still reconciling with the initial shock of publication of the final list of
the National Register of Citizens (NRC). On 31 August, the final list was unveiled and it
included 3,11,21,004 persons as India’s citizens and excluded another 19,96,657 persons.
Among the excluded peoples there are many Bengali Hindus.

To gain confidence of Bengali people, Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated his stand on a
wider NRC exercise a few days ago in Kolkata when he said “all infiltrators will be thrown
out” while assuring six non-Muslim communities from neighbouring Bangladesh, Pakistan
and Afghanistan that the “BJP government will bring the Citizenship Amendment Bill before
NRC.” The Bill seeks to provide citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsis and
Christians from the three neighbouring countries.
The CAB is an outrightly sectarian Bill, which will change the definition of illegal
immigrants. The government seeks to amend it in order to facilitate the grant of Indian
citizenship to non-Mulsim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who are
of Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian extraction and who had migrated to India
without valid travel documents or the validity period of whose documents had expired during
their stay in India. These people were compelled to seek refuge in India owing to religious
persecution or fear of religious persecution in their countries of origin. The Bill has no
provision for Muslim sects such as Shia and Ahmediya, whose members face persecution in
Pakistan.

NRC was conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India, in response to a
writ petition filed by an Assam based non-governmental organisation, Assam Public Works
(APW), which aimed to protect the rights of the indigenous people of Assam. Notably, APW
is dissatisfied with the outcome of the NRC. The organisation has filed an affidavit in the
Supreme Court demanding 100% reverification of the NRC.

The persons who made it to the final list are thanking their fate, but this did not reduce their
suffering since names of many of their family members and friends are missing in the final
list. Today, people have been questioning the fairness of the NRC process. Many of the
families fear separation from their near and dear ones, especially those who could not make it
to the final list. They fear their loved ones being detained in detention camps meant for
confining the foreigners in Assam.
 CONCLUSION

The NRC is expected to end the illegal Bangladeshi migrant issue, which has been a much
debated topic in Assam. The migrant debate has been a point of tension in Assam’s
multicultural and multi-ethnic society. During the 1980s, Assam witnessed a bloody, ethnic
conflict over the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh. The people of Assam wanted a
conclusion of peace and development for the region.

Post-NRC, people expressed scepticism of fragmentation of the society along ethnic and
religious lines. The apprehension expressed by some, is that the exploitation of the situation
by some vested groups might open up a new dimension in the identity politics in Assam. An
important question that comes up is, the preponderant issue to introspect NRC was benefited
by whom- the local or the migrants. Ultimately, the point to ponder is, it is the lives of the
people involved. Even if the people excluded are migrants, they had compelling reasons
behind their migration. In the present era, deportation is not a preferred option. Again,
government does not recognise all the people left out are illegal migrants rather refugees. For
example, the Bengali Hindus who are forced to migrate to follow religious persecution back
home. The ruling party in Assam has expressed its displeasure over the NRC outcome.
Besides, an important section that is excluded is women who migrated to the state due to
marriage. All such issues demand a patient hearing.

Today, a feeling of despair is prevailing amongst the people because claims are made about
the inclusion of foreigners in the list, while genuine Indian citizens have been excluded. The
pressing question is whether detention ought to be the solution. Can a person be declared a
foreigner, be detained in a camp forever? Will this not be a violation of human rights by the
state, in the eyes of the international community? Furthermore, why should such detention
camps be maintained at the cost of public money? If by amending the Citizenship Act,
Hindus and other religious minorities are granted citizenship, will only illegal Muslims be
forced to live in detention camps? Urgent measures need to be undertaken to avoid such
eventualities. The immediate tasks in this regard should be: the intensification of combined
efforts to compel the union government to withdraw the Citizenship Act (Amendment) Bill,
2016, in order to prevent further polarisation of the state along religious and linguistic lines
and exploration of all possible means to rehabilitate the detected illegal migrants.
The NRC has exposed many fault lines and to some extent dwindled the confidence level of
Assam’s people on the government machinery. However, It will be fruitful to watch how the
state navigates its way through these challenges and brings everyone together to fulfil the
dream of Assam as a vibrant, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous society.