Assam all sets to publish final draft of NRC on July 30

The NRC published the names of altogether 1.90 crore people out of a total 3.29 applicants from Assam.

For publishing the final draft of NRC, the earlier schedule was June 30, but the Supreme Court on July 2, extended the deadline by a month.

At the last hearing, NRC State coordinator Prateek Hajela informed the Supreme Court that during the course of the Family Tree investigation, 65,694 cases which were earlier found to be matched at office level were discovered to be false. The due opportunity has been given to such persons during the Family Tree hearing and as such their names are proposed for exclusion from Complete Draft NRC as per the provisions of Clause 4(3), 4(5) & 4(6) of the Citizenship Rules, 2003.

“Similarly, 48,456 cases of married women who have submitted Panchayat certificates as a linkage document but were included in the Part Draft based on their office verification have not been found admissible in the verification process of hearing conducted for Gaon Panchayat Secretary Certificate verification as mandated by the Hon'ble Court," it was informed.

These married women were also issued notices and they appeared subsequent to their inclusion in the Part Draft for special verification conducted in respect of Gaon Panchayat Secretary Certificates. As such, 1.15 lakh persons already included in Part Draft have not been found admissible for inclusion during the verification process in the Complete Draft though they figured in the earlier draft. In addition to these persons, the quality control exercise has also revealed errors in respect of 19,783 persons who were included in the Part Draft but are not eligible,” the NRC state coordinator informed the Supreme Court.

“As such about 1.5 lakh persons will be excluded from Complete Draft NRC although they were included in the Part Draft and they will be individually informed about the decision and can file a claim for inclusion at the claim/objection stage. Those applicants will be informed additionally through a Letter of Information (LOI). The LOI will have to be served to the rejected applicants within 7 days from publication of Complete Draft. The LOI will explicitly state that the applicant has an opportunity to file Claim for inclusion. The LOI will also inform about the time schedule and place of submission of the Claim. The Hon’ble Court may like to grant approval to exclude such 1.5 lakh persons from Complete Draft NRC though their names appeared in Part Draft,” Hajela submitted to the apex court.

The top court has approved the proposals submitted by the NRC state coordinator.

But there are also allegations that the names of may bona fide citizens were not included in the first draft. They apprehend that their names will not figure in the final draft as well.

The names of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief and two time Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal, his brother Sirajuddin Ajmal, MP and son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, an MLA,  were missing in the first draft of NRC published on December 31 last year.

Not only Ajmal’s family members, BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev, Ashwini Rai Sarkar, Congress MLA Nurul Huda and few other Assam MLAs have also found their names missing in the first draft.

It has been alleged that the names of more than 70 per cent people of lower Assam's Barpeta,Dhubri, Goalpara, South Salmara, Bongaigaon, Hailakandi, Cachar, Karimganj district and some parts of Nagaon, Morigaon, Hojai, Darrang district were excluded from the first draft of NRC.

On the other hand, the names of most of the people of upper Assam and northern Assam district were included. 

The application process for updating the NRC draft started in May 2015 and around 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.33 lakh families across the state.

After publishing the first draft, the verification process of the remaining applicants' documents has almost been completed in all 2500 NRC Seva Kendra (NSKs) in the state.

Ahead of the final draft publication, adequate security has been beefed up across the state to prevent any untoward situation.

The Assam police have been monitoring the security scenario with op cops visiting different parts of the state and holding meetings with subordinate officers and the district administration.

The Assam government has sought additional companies of central armed forces to man the vulnerable areas and maintain law and order.

The process of updating NRC is continuing in Assam under Supreme Court monitoring to identify the illegal foreigners residing in the state.

According to the Supreme Court, all Indian Citizens including their children and descendants who have moved into Assam prior to  March 24, 1971, would be eligible for inclusion in the updated NRC on the production of satisfactory proof of residence in any part of the country (outside Assam) as on March 24, 1971.

For long, the politics of Assam has been revolving around the issue of the entry of large-scale illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which many say, has altered the demographic complexion of the state and threatens the identity of the indigenous people of Assam.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)