NRC Update: Assam set to witness Historic Monday

* Complete draft NRC to be published at 10 am

* The NRC update in Assam considered to be a unique and the first-ever massive exercise possibly in the world to verify citizenship status of over 3 crore population, will contain the names of descendants of those whose names were in the 1951 NRC, or those who were in Assam’s electoral rolls till March 24, 1971

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 29: Nearly four decades after the historic anti-foreigners’ movement that culminated in signing of the Assam Accord to detect and deport illegal migrants from Bangladesh, the complete draft of updated NRC (National Register of Citizens), will be published on Monday.

The NRC, the only document to determine citizenship status of over 3 crore population living in the State, will be in public domain from 10 am on Monday amidst massive security arrangements and under the strict monitoring of the Supreme Court.

Registrar General of India (RGI) Sailesh and Joint Secretary (North East) in Union Home Ministry Satyendra Garg on Sunday reached the city and held the last minute review meeting with the NRC authority to take stock of the situation ahead of publication of the complete draft NRC.

Sailesh told reporters that he is extremely happy to announce that all arrangements have been made to publish the draft NRC on Monday.

Satyendra Garg while urging the genuine Indian citizens not to become panicky if some of their names do not appear in the draft NRC said the people will have ample opportunities to include their names in the final NRC through the claims and objections exercise. He said the Centre and State have jointly made adequate security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident that might take place after publication of the draft NRC.

It may be mentioned that the Centre has rushed and deployed 220 companies of Central Armed Police Forces to back up the State’s massive security arrangements particularly in central and lower Assam and Barak Valley districts.

NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela told The Sentinel that all NRC Sewa Kendras (NSKs) in the State are ready to hang the printed lists of complete draft NRC at 10 am on Monday. He said 6.6 crore applicants had submitted documents to prove their citizenship and enroll names in the NRC.

The printed lists besides containing the names of eligible citizens will carry their photographs with complete residential addresses, dates of births, birth States and parents names.

An applicant can visit the designated NSKs. This facility would be available on all working days from 10 am to 4 pm during the period from July 30 to September 28, 2018.

One can also call 24x7 toll free helpline numbers 15107 (from Assam) and 18003453762 (from outside Assam) to know the status of inclusion of one’s name in complete draft NRC by referring to the ARN number. While checking online, one must type the ARN in capital letters. ARN stands for the 21-digit ‘Application Receipt Number’ that is assigned at the time an application is accepted in the respective sewa kendras.

The other way is to check online by logging on to www.nrcassam.nic.in, www.assam.mygov.in, www.assam.gov.in, and www.homeandpolitical.assam.gov.in.

Automatic receipt of SMS through pre-registration about the status of name inclusion in complete draft would be available shortly after 12 Noon on July 30, 2018.

The receipt of response through on demand SMS about the status of inclusion of name in complete draft on July 30, 2018 is from 12 Noon onwards.

While referring to address, applicants of Guwahati City will need to refer to the Ward numbers as per the earlier demarcation of 60 Wards.

The partial draft NRC which was published on the expiry of midnight of December 31, 2017 included the names of 1,90,10,932 out of 3,29,68,686 persons who applied to enroll their names in the updated NRC. The partial draft NRC covered the names of 57.66 per cent applicants. Hojai district had registered the lowest enrollment (24.75 per cent) with the names of only 2,52,935 out of 10,22,055 applicants appeared in the partial draft NRC. Some of the low NRC enrollment districts were Bongaigaon (30.40 per cent), Hailakandi (31.39 per cent) and Cachar (35.25 per cent).

On other hand, Majuli district recorded the highest enrollment with names of 1,69,648 out of 1,77,708 applicants that appeared in the partial draft NRC. Among the revenue circles, Doboka circle in Hojai district registered lowest enrollment (19.63 per cent) and Koya circle in Kamrup saw the highest enrollment (99.52 per cent).

If names do not figure in the complete draft NRC then the concerned persons would have to apply in prescribed forms in the respective NSKs. This scope would be available during August 7 to September 28, 2018. The NRC authorities would then inform the applicants of the reasons why the names were left out. The next step would be of claims when the applicant would have to fill up another prescribed form and submit it to the sewa kendra. Such claims would be accepted from August 30 to September 28, 2018. The claims would be finally disposed off through hearings.

The NRC, 1951 is being updated taking March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date as per the tripartite agreement signed among the Centre, State Government and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) way back on May 5, 2005. It is expected that after updating the NRC, it will become easier to detect illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam who had sneaked into the State after March 25, 1971 as per the Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985 as culmination of the Assam Agitation against illegal migrants in the State. The process of NRC update came under the supervision of the Supreme Court after the Assam Public Work, an NGO filed a petition in the apex court with a plea for legal actions against illegal migrants from Bangladesh living in Assam. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the senior most judge of Supreme Court has taken keen interest in ensuring free, fair and timely update of NRC.

The NRC was first prepared in 1951 only in Assam after a population census. The original NRC contained names of about 80 lakh citizens. The NRC update in Assam considered to be an unique and first ever massive exercise possibly in the world to verify citizenship status of over 3 crore population will contain the names of descendants of those whose names were in the 1951 NRC, or those who were in Assam’s Electoral rolls till March 24, 1971.

Meanwhile, all ministers of the Sarbananda Sonowal Government are camping in different districts to have constant monitoring of the law-and-order situation on the eve of publication draft NRC.