Implications Of Nrc Updation In The State Of Assam In India

Authors

  • Kalyani Chakravorty

Abstract

The final publication of the “National Register of Citizens” (NRC), for the Indian State
of Assam, on August 31, 2020 excluding more than 1.9 million applicants out of the total
33,027,661 applicants drew the curtains close for one of the gigantic and voluminous
administrative process ever performed in the country. During the post-independence period, the
first NRC was prepared for Assam in 1951 while the present one, was an updated version of the
1951 Register. Since inception, the NRC updation in Assam has sailed through many
administrative complexities and a series of controversies and the present updated version of NRC
was prepared with the high optimism of delivering an accurate Register, excluding the illegal
migrants and thereby bringing in a viable and permanent solution of the decades-long vexed
foreigners problem in the State. But unfortunately, the outcome of the process, far from solving
the problem, has delivered a further complex scenario. Now, as the matter stands, a good section
of people so also the political parties, barring a few of them, and even the advocates for the
revised version of NRC are not accepting the outcome and are seeking for its rejection at any
cost. In this crucial juncture, a question obviously arises as to whether the present NRC, which
was envisaged to be a ‘historic document’, has become a waste or not? However, final decision
of the Supreme Court of India and so also the Union Government on this subject is yet to be
announced and in this context an attempt has been made in this paper to put forward a critical
assessment of the issue as its stands.

Published

2020-11-01

Issue

Section

Articles