Guwahati: The National Register of Citizens secretariat on Saturday published the status of each individuals of all 3.3 crore people on their website who had applied for inclusion of their names in the ongoing exercise of updating the NRC that started five years ago in Assam. The list was published online on the official website of the NRC authorities.
The final NRC list — which has the names of those who have been accepted as citizens, those who have been rejected and those whose appeals are pending – was uploaded on the official NRC site. The NRC authorities on August 31 released the finl list in which 19.07 lakh people could not find place in the citizens’ registry.
The NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela in a statement also explained the difference between the final NRC lists released 14 days apart. “Whereas the final NRC publication on August 31, 2019, consisted only of supplementary lists, queries were received about publication of results of all members of a family irrespective of their involvement in the Claims and Objections process. The results for the complete family will be available only for display online,” he clarified.
“Queries were also received from the public about the issue of certified copies of rejection from final NRC… The process of collection of the orders passed by the NRC officers is being carried out to enable early availability of the same to the public to file appeals,” Mr Hajela who is now accused of various lapses in the final NRC said.
Meanwhile, a platform of about 30 organisations representing various indigenous groups, including the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), have demanded that the indigenous people excluded from the final NRC should be included without forcing them to approach Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) to establish their citizenship.
Various rights groups and tribal organisations in Assam have been claiming that at least 2 lakh indigenous people have been excluded from the NRC allegedly for lack of proper documents. Among the NRC-excluded are Koch-Rajbongshi, Karbi, Reang and Bodo tribes. Many non-tribal Assamese people have also found themselves on the rejection list.
Indicating that publication of complete NRC data would help in finding the identity of those left out, rep-representatives of Gorkha community said that a large number of people from their community have been left out.
Though, many organizations had also threatened to approach the Supreme Court for re-verification of the NRC, not a single group has moved the petition in the court. Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi instead of moving in the apex court wrote a letter top the chief justice of India, highlighting the plight of genuine Indian citizens.
