Assam Gets Updated NRC List: Here's All You Need To Know

Assam got an updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Saturday. The final list of 'citizens' was published on August 31, 2019. The law and order situation in Assam was normal on the eve of publication of the final NRC. Centre has rushed additional 51 companies of paramilitary forces to Assam to maintain law and order in the state, Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia said on Friday.

The state police have also been deployed along with the central paramilitary forces and all measures are in place to ensure peace and harmony in Assam when the final National Register of Citizens list is published on Saturday, Saikia said on Friday.

Saikia expressed confidence that the people of Assam will cooperate and maintain peace as they did during the publication of draft NRC on December 31, 2017 and the complete draft on July 30, 2018. The situation in the state is "calm, quiet and under control", he said adding "Assam police is prepared for any kind of situation".

What Are The Prepartions

Besides Assam Police personnel, there are 167 companies of CRPF, BSF, ITBP and other paramilitary forces deployed in the state. Assam police are in constant touch with states bordering Assam so that no miscreants cross over to create trouble. Personnel from home guards, task force and village defence parties have also been extensively deployed for maintenance of the law and order situation.

What is NRC

It was committed in the accord, signed in 1985 between the then Rajiv Gandhi government and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), that the NRC of 1951, unique to Assam, will be updated. The demand for its updation was in the light of alleged unabated migration of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. March 24, 1971 was declared as the cut-off date for identifying illegal migrants.

Who will be on NRC list

Only those people whose names or family members appeared on the first NRC in 1951 or in the electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971. People will have to submit permanent residential certificate, passport, government-issued licence or certificate, LIC policy, land and tenancy records, government employment certificate, bank/post office accounts, educational certificate and court records to prove their residency.

The final NRC list will carry the names of all Indian citizens who have been residing in Assam before 25 March, 1971. In the final draft, issued on 30 July, 2018, as many as 40, 07,707 applicants of the total 3.29 crore registered names found them excluded.

Out of the 40.37 lakh applicants who were not included in the draft list, 36.2 lakh have claimed inclusion. On 26 June, 2019, the NRC authority published an additional draft exclusion list, where an additional 1, 02,462 persons were included in the list of excluded persons, taking the total ineligible persons to 41, 10,169.

How to check your name

Offline

To check the final NRC list offline, citizens need to visit their respective NRC Seva Kendra/Office of Circle Officer/Officer of Deputy Commissioner and look for their names in the Supplementary Inclusions List on all working days from 10 am to 4 pm.

Online

- Visit NRC website – www.nrcassam.nic.in or www.assam.mygov.in

- Click on the link - "Supplementary Inclusions/Exclusions Lists (Final NRC) status"

- Type in your Application Reference Number (ARN) to check if your name has been added to the final NRC list

What happens if your name in not on NRC list

Non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner. The person will be allowed to present his/her case before designated foreigners' tribunals. Those people left out of the NRC will not be detained "under any circumstances" until the foreigners' tribunals declare them foreigners.

How to appeal

There will be a time limit of 120 days – till December 31, 2019 - to file an appeal. A total of 1,000 tribunals have been sanctioned by the home ministry in the state. The decision of these tribunals can be challenged in high court and, then, the Supreme Court.