National Register of Citizens
What is the NRC:
- The National Register of Citizens, 1951 is a register created following the conduct of the Census of 1951 in respect of each village. It displays the houses or holdings in serial order and lists the names and numbers of occupants next to each house or holding.
- Only one issue of the NRC was released, in 1951.
Details of NRC in Assam:
- The need for an update became more pressing when Assam experienced widespread illegal migration from former East Pakistan and, after 1971, from modern-day Bangladesh.
- This sparked the Assam movement, which lasted from 1979 to 1985 and called for the deportation of illegal immigrants.
- The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) led the movement that demanded the updating of the NRC and the deportation of all illegal migrants who had entered Assam after 1951.
- The Assam Accord was signed in 1985, marking the movement’s conclusion.
- It established March 25, 1971, as the deadline for deporting unauthorized immigrants.
- Since July 19, 1949, was the deadline set forth in articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution, the Citizenship Act of 1955 was amended and a new clause was added to give effect to the new deadline.
- Only Assam was given the ability to use it.
- An Assam-based NGO petitioned the Supreme Court after receiving repeated requests from AASU and other Assamese organizations for the NRC to be updated.
- The NRC must be updated in a timely way, the highest court’s division bench ruled in December 2014.
- Legacy Data refers to the NRC from 1951 and the Electoral Roll from 1971 (up to midnight on March 24, 1971). People whose names appeared on these records, as well as their descendants, are recognized as Indian citizens.
Impact:
- Speculations regarding the real number of illegal immigrants in Assam specifically and the nation at large are set to come to an end with a revised NRC.
- It will offer a validated dataset to conduct insightful discussions and put into practice calibrated policy initiatives.
- The release of an updated NRC is anticipated to discourage upcoming Bangladeshi immigrants from entering Assam illegally.
- People already believe that being in Assam without proper paperwork will result in imprisonment, a jail sentence, and deportation as a result of the publishing of the draught NRC.
- More importantly, obtaining Indian identity documents and taking use of all the rights and benefits available to Indian citizens may be considerably harder for illegal immigrants.
- All those Bengali-speaking Assamese who had hitherto been assumed to be Bangladeshis would find some solace in the NRC’s inclusion of their names.
Challenges:
- Process flaw – Individuals who were on the first list, which was made public on January 1, 2018, did not appear on the second. Even a former Indian president’s family was not mentioned on the list.
- Due to the fact that none of these organizations are communicating with one another, the simultaneous processes of the NRC, the Election Commission’s voter list, and the Foreigners’ Tribunals with assistance from the Assam Border Police have resulted in complete pandemonium.
- Although there is a window for re-verification in the draught, it will be incredibly challenging to physically check every single one of them because so many people were left off the list.
- Since these “noncitizens” can seek court remedies to support their citizenship claim, this could cause the judiciary, which already has a backlog of cases pending, to become overburdened.
- The destiny of individuals who were omitted from the list remains uncertain.
- Since Dhaka has never acknowledged that they are its residents or that there is an issue with illegal immigration, sending them back to Bangladesh is not an option. India cannot forcibly re-enter Bangladesh with illegal immigrants without a written agreement.
- Furthermore, bringing up this matter could harm relations with Dhaka. Such an endeavor would harm not only bilateral ties but also the nation’s standing abroad.
- The alternative to deportation is the use of large-scale detention facilities, which is improbable in a developed democracy like India.
- Another choice is to provide work permits, which would grant them some legal protections for employment but guarantee that they have no political voice. What will happen to the children of such people is unclear, though.
- NRC appears to be a process without a conclusion since uncertainty has no end.
Steps to Take:
- Given that it adheres to the “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” doctrine, India shouldn’t act hastily and risk disenfranchising its population, which would go against the country’s long-held principles.
- The Union Government must immediately lay out a clear plan of action for what will happen to those who were left out of the final NRC data, and political parties must refrain from tainting the entire NRC process with election-related concerns that could escalate into intergroup violence.
- For the four million people who must use their few resources to prove their citizenship in India, a strong legal support system is required.
