National Register of Citizens (NRC)

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

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• It is a list of Indian citizens which is meant to decide who is a bona fide Indian citizen and those who fail to enlist in the register will be deemed, illegal
• The first list was made in 1951 across India according to the census of that year.

• It is for the first time that it is being updated and that too only in Assam.
• Now, it is not linked to census but one has to link oneself to a family member whose name had appeared either in the NRC of 1951 or to any of the state’s electoral rolls prepared till midnight of 24th March
• Assam is the only state in India that has an NRC.

D-voter

• Short for 'dubious' or 'doubtful, this is a category of voters disenfranchised by the government for alleged lack of proper citizenship documents.
• Some 2.48 lakh people got the D-voter tag during NRC process

Declared foreigner

• D-voters are tried by special tribunals under the Foreigners' Act.
• If they fail to defend their citizenship claim they are marked as declared foreigners.
• They will be sent to any of six detention camps, which are within jails for criminals, for deportation.
• There were 91,206 declared foreigners as on December 31, 2017.

NRC update in Assam

• Officially, the NRC process will address the issue of illegal migrants, specifically from Bangladesh.
• The National Register of Citizens was first published in 1951 to record citizens, their houses, and
• Updating the NRC to root out foreigners was a demand during the Assam Agitation (1979-1985)
• NRC is being updated as per provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

March 24, 1971 - the cut-off date

• In the late 1970s, All Assam Students’ Union spearheaded a massive drive, popularly known as the Assam Agitation calling for the detection, deletion, and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
• Assam also witnessed political instability, frequent strikes boycott of elections, thus, bringing the whole state to a standstill.
• To quell the agitation Assam accord was signed in 1985 between Rajiv Gandhi and leader of Assam movement led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the ‘All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad’ (AAGSP).
• The Assam Accord of 1985 that ended the six-year anti-foreigners' agitation decided upon the midnight of March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date.

Citizenship

• The Citizenship Act of 1955 was amended after the Assam Accord for all Indian-origin people who came from Bangladesh before January 1, 1966 to be deemed as citizens.
• Those who came between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 were eligible for citizenship after registering and living in the State for 10 years
• While those entering after March 25, 1971, were to be deported.

Final NRC Released

• Recently, Assam government has released its final draft of National Registry of Citizens of Assam on 30^th July 2018
• According to the release, out of 3.29 crore total applicants, 2.9 crore people have been found eligible to be included in the National Register of Citizens.
• 07 lakh people who have not made their name to the list have been declared ‘illegal immigrants’.
• Assam is the first Indian state where the NRC is being updated after 1951, with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date, to include names of genuine Indian citizens.
• The first NRC draft, with 1.9 crore names, was released during the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 this year.

The fate of excluded 40 lakh

• They will have to file for claims and objections and submit relevant documents for re-verification.
• The NRC office will issue claim forms and these applicants would have to submit the forms.
• The documents will be verified and accepted or rejected for the final NRC to be published on an unspecified date.
• The cases of those left out of the final NRC will be heard in the Foreigners' Tribunals, after which applicants can approach the High Court.

Implementation of NRC

• The actual implementation of NRC is done by Statutory Authorities i.e., Local Registrars and District Magistrates appointed by State Government.

• A senior official of State Government functions as State Coordinator and coordinates with the Registrar General of Citizen Registration (RGI) in regard to various activities.

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