All you need to know about the NRC
What is National Register of Citizens and why is it being updated?
The National Register of Citizens is an exercise which was first carried out in 1951 to enumerate the citizens, their houses and holdings. Over the years, there has been a demand from the indigenous Assamese groups to update the NRC. A pilot project was initiated at two places in 2010. In Barpeta, police action on an anti-NRC protest led to four deaths and the project was shelved. It resumed afterCan t order from the Supreme Court.
How is the NRC being updated?
People had to submit a form quoting legacy code, basically a PNR kind of unique code to establish their family or parental linkage before the cut-off date. Legacy documents include the electoral rolls up to March 25, 1971 and the 1951 NRC. Apart from the legacy documents, one could also furnish 12 other documents.
Is the verification of documents enough to make your entry into NRC?
For Original Inhabitants of Assam, the verification was done less
vigorously. However, for the rest, as Prateek Hajela, the state coordinator, says “mere documentary evidence is not the end of it. If there is a contradiction, which is appearing through some other means of verification, that also has to be properly explained”.
Which categories of people face exclusion from the updated list of the NRC?
Those who have been declared foreigners and their descendants will be out of the NRC, those who have been marked as Doubtful voters or suspected illegal
immigrants and their descendants, and those whose cases are pending in the foreigners tribunals and their descendants will be kept on hold till their cases are cleared by the foreigners tribunals.
Does not having your name make you stateless or an illegal immigrant?
No. They can file claims against the decision on a prescribed form. However, there are misgivings for in many instances they will again be submitting the same document which has been rejected in the initial rounds of verification.