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Pace likely to pick up before deadline ends next month; 175 applications challenging inclusion received
About 4.5 lakh of the 40,07,707 people excluded from the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam have reapplied for inclusion in the list.
Simultaneously, the authorities have received 175 applications challenging the inclusion of names of suspected foreigners in the NRC meant for bona fide residents of the State.The complete draft of the Supreme Court-monitored NRC was published on July 30. It included the names of 2.9 crore of the total 3.29 crore applicants.
Claims, objections round
The claims and objections round of the exercise began on September 25 and is scheduled to end on December 15. Officials associated with the exercise, seeking anonymity, said the pace of submitting applications for inclusion is expected to pick up before the window of opportunity closes. “A month ago, only 1.02 lakh people had submitted their claims form with relevant documents,” an official said.
One of the reasons for the low turnout of applications is believed to be the delay by the government in setting a standard operating procedure for the disposal of claims and objections. The apex court, too, had taken time to allow five documents that State NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela sought to be scrapped from the initial list of 15 documents to be submitted by the applicants.
These five documents, allowed on November 1, are the 1951 NRC, electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, citizenship certificate, refugee registration certificate, and ration card. March 24, 1971 is the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal migrants, as per the Assam Accord of 1985.
Decision on Gorkhas
The Assam government has decided to stop marking members of the Gorkha community as suspected foreigners and referring them to Foreigners Tribunals. The government will also move the Gauhati High Court for relief to members of the community whose cases are pending with the tribunals, officials said.
The move follows a circular the Assam government received from the Ministry of Home Affairs saying that Gorkhas who are citizens of India or who have Nepalese documents cannot be referred to Foreigners Tribunals to prove their citizenship.According to All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union president Prem Tamang, more than 20,000 Gorkhas have been wrongfully marked as D-voters despite having all documents.
“Some 1,50,000 Gorkhas have also been left out of the draft NRC because of various reasons, including the D-voter tag,” he said.
