National Register Of Citizens (NRC)

As soon as the Citizenship Amendment Bill was enacted by both houses of Parliament and granted Presidential approval, talk of a National Register of Citizens, or NRC, began to circulate. Let's take a closer look at what the national register of citizenship is. 

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a government-issued document that lists all legal Indian citizens. It was created using data from the 1951 census and has not been updated since then. It contains demographic data on all Indian citizens who meet the criteria set out in the Citizenship Act of 1955.

The NRC was introduced and updated in Assam to identify illegal immigrants who had fled to Assam from Bangladesh following the 1971 conflict with Pakistan. Many people in Assam worry about large infiltrations from the eastern border, which are destroying Assamese culture and altering the region's demography. Since 1975, the All-Assam Students Union has been advocating for the state's NRC to be updated. Following a Supreme Court decision in 2013, the process of updating the register began, with the state's approximately 33 million residents needing to show that they were Indian nationals before March 24, 1971. On August 31, the revised final NRC was announced, with over 1.9 million applications failing to be cut.

We can't comprehend the NRC without first learning about the Assam Accord. So, let us discuss what is the Assam Accord and how does it connect to the NRC?

The All-Assam Students Union (AASU), the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad, and the then-Central Government of Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accord in 1985 to bring peace to the state.

The Assam Accord included The Following Provisions

• If a foreigner arrived in Assam between 1951 and 1961, he or she will be granted full citizenship, including the ability to vote.

• Foreigners who arrived in Assam between 1961 and 1971 will be granted full citizenship rights, with the exception of the ability to vote, which would be denied for 10 years, and those who arrived after 1971 will be deported.

During the implementation of the Assam Accord, several obstacles arose, resulting in major legal issues. A mob attack on the Deputy Commissioner's office in Barpeta resulted in the deaths of a large number of individuals. Before 2009, an NGO named Assam Public Works filed a case in the Supreme Court requesting that unlawful Bangladeshis in Assam be identified and deported. They also asked that their names be removed from the voter registration database. Therefore, the Supreme Court issued an order in 2013 mandating the completion of the NRC update by December 31, 2017. Currently, the Supreme Court is in charge of overseeing the entire NRC update procedure. The Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Citizenship Rules of 2003 are being used to update the NRC.

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Controversies Over ​National Register Of Citizens (NRC)

While the goal of the NRC update is to identify and perhaps expel so-called unlawful migrants, the process and its aftermath have recently become controversial. After the document's completion on August 31, 2019, a large number of lawmakers publicly came out to criticize it, resulting in a slew of controversies. The state's largest student body, the All-Assam Students Union (AASU), has accused the government of prioritizing its political agenda over the larger benefit of the Assamese people. 

After over 4 million individuals, mostly Hindu Bengalis, found their names missing in the final draught issued in July last year, the NRC in Assam became a blazing scandal in West Bengal. 

Military veterans, government officials, and even family members of a former President of India and previous Chief Minister of Assam have been removed from the draught NRC list and made to show that they were not "illegal" migrants before Foreigners' Tribunals.

CAA and NRC protests are a series of events in India against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which was signed into law on December 12, 2019, as well as the national implementation of the National Register of Citizens. Protesters throughout the country are afraid that the National Register of Citizens, which is set to be published soon, would be used to strip Muslims of their Indian citizenship.

What Kind Of Documents Need For NRC And The Criteria?

• Those whose names are present in the NRC of 1972 or any of the Electoral Rolls until midnight on March 24, 1971, as well as their successors.

• Persons who have registered with the Foreigners Registration Regional Officer (FRRO) under the Central Government's laws and are not regarded as illegal migrants or outsiders by any authority.

• Persons who can present any of the documents included in the list of documents acceptable for citizenship that were issued before midnight on March 24, 1971.

• Anyone who arrived in Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971.

• People who were born in Assam and are citizens of India, as well as their children and descendants, if the registering authorities can prove their citizenship beyond a reasonable doubt.

Who May be ann Assamese Citizen?

Citizens of Assam can be anyone who lived in the state before March 25, 1971. To establish their residency, persons must submit their forms together with one of the 14 "list A" documents before the deadline as well as additional "List B" documents to prove their ancestor's ties.

What are the Documents Required For National Register Of Citizens? 

To have their name added to the list of Assam's chosen citizens, they must provide papers from list ‘A’ proving their residency in the state before March 25, 1971. However, they must submit the paperwork together with any documents included in the list ‘B’ to establish that their descendants are the native residents.

NRC Documents Lists

Following are the documents required for NRC in India (list A):

Following are the NRC Documents (list B):

NRC Documents Final List

In Assam, the final NRC list has left out at least 19 lakh individuals. There were 3.29 crore applicants, with 3.11 crore making the final cut. The Assam government issued the second draft of the NRC on June 30, 2018. The number of individuals excluded from the NRC at the time was 40 lakhs. In the final list, this number has been reduced to 19 lakhs.

What About those who have been Left Out?

Anyone dissatisfied with the list has 120 days to file an appeal with a foreign tribunal. The Assam administration has stated that people who are not included on the NRC will not be detained until the Foreigners Tribunals find them to be foreigners. If they are dissatisfied with the decision of the foreign tribunal, they have the option of appealing to the high court in Guwahati or even the Supreme Court.  

Impact Of NRC

• A revised NRC is expected to put an end to misinformation about the true number of illegal migrants in Assam and the rest of the country.

• It will give a validated dataset for engaging in meaningful debates and putting in place calibrated policy actions.

• The release of an updated NRC is likely to prevent future Bangladeshi migrants from illegally entering Assam.

• Illegal migrants may find it much more difficult to get Indian identification cards and access all of the privileges and advantages that all Indian citizens are entitled to.  

NRC Implementation Challenges

• The NRC, the Election Commission's voter list, and the Foreigners' Tribunals, which are assisted by the Assam Border Police, are all running in simultaneously, resulting in complete pandemonium.

• Though the proposal allows for re-verification, due to the huge number of persons that are removed from the list, personally verifying all of them will be impossible.

• Because such "non-citizens" might seek legal remedy to prove their citizenship claim, the judiciary may become overburdened, which is already dealing with a significant number of outstanding cases.

• The fate of individuals who were not included on the list remains unknown.

• Apart from deportation, large-scale prison camps are another option, but this is improbable in a civilized democracy like India.

• With no end to ambiguity, NRC appears to be a never-ending procedure.

The necessity of the hour is for the Union Government to lay out its plan of action for the destiny of those who were left out of the final NRC data, and political parties should avoid tainting the entire NRC process with electoral considerations that might lead to communal bloodshed. There is a need for a strong legal assistance system for the four million people who must prove their Indian citizenship with little resources.