Assam National Register of Citizens Final draft: Here’s all you need to know about NRC

The Assam government released the second and final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Monday.  As per the exercise, which was directly monitored by the Supreme Court, those who have entered Assam after March 24, 1971, will be viewed as illegal immigrants. 2,89, 83,677 persons were found eligible out of 3,29,91,384 applicants in the second draft of the NRC while names of 4,007,707 people were not included in the final Draft NRC.

READ| Assam Government Releases Final Draft List Of National Register Of Citizens In The State, 40 Lakh Names Struck Off From The List

WHAT IS NRC?

The National Register of Citizens of 1951 is being updated in Assam to check illegal immigration. The NRC features the names, addresses and photographs of all indian citizens, who have been residing in the northeastern state before march 25, 1971.

The process of filing the applications ended on May, 2018. A total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across the state of Assam.

The centre had earlier asked for a seven-month extension from the apex court but the plea was rejected.

WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR THE NRC?

This has been a volatile political issue and an intensely emotional subject of public debate since decades. A 2005 government resolution had decided to update the first list of state's citizens prepared in 1951.

The exercise finally took off ten years later in 2015.

The collation of information is being conducted under orders of the Supreme Court of India and the final draft list was released on Monday.

As per reports, the authorities have ensured that only Indian citizens are enrolled in the NRC. However, many are facing a hard time proving their citizenship, fueling fears of deportation. The government has assured those who didn’t make it to the list won’t face detention.

READ| TMC, Congress Politicise Assam NRC Draft List, Rajnath Singh Hits Back, Says, “unnecessary Fear-mongering”

ELIGIBILITY FOR INCLUSION IN NRC

• Persons on the electoral rolls up to midnight of March 24, 1971
• Descendants of the above-mentioned persons
• Persons who came to Assam between January 1, 1966 and march 25, 1971, and registered themselves in accordance to the government rules (made by the central government with the foreigners registration regional officer).
• Those who have not been declared as illegal migrants or foreigners by the authorities can also apply
• Persons who can provide any one of the documents issued up to midnight of 24 March 1971 as mentioned in the list of documents admissible for citizenship
• Every applicant and each of his/her family member must establish a link to an ancestor/parent/grandparent whose name appears in the nrc of 1951 or any electoral roll up to 1971, or any one of 12 other documents issued before March 25, 1971

PRESENT STATUS

The final draft of the national register of citizens was published on Monday in Assam. 2,89, 83,677 persons were found eligible out of 3,29,91,384 applicants in the second draft of the NRC while names of 4,007,707 people were not included in the final Draft NRC.

While publishing the draft of NRC, officials reiterated that this was a draft and that people left out of the register would still be able to appeal and present their claim.