In News
- In the recent Doubtful Voter case, the Foreigners’ Tribunal reiterated that NRC Assam published in 2019 is the Final NRC.
- It was in response to an affidavit in Gauhati High Court, referring to the 2019 list as ‘supplementary’ and not ‘final NRC’.
- The affidavit sought re-verification.
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National Register of Citizens (NRC)
- National Register of Citizens, 1951 is a register prepared after the conduct of the Census of 1951 in respect of each village.
- It shows the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicates against each house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein.
- The NRC for the whole country was published only once in 1951.
Where did the Problem start?
- Before 1971, there was a huge exodus of people fleeing from the then East Pakistan (Presently Bangladesh) after the tyrannical suppression by West Pakistan.
- In 1979, All Assam Students Union (AASU) started a movement to deport the Bangladeshi immigrants quoting
- Changed demography
- Threat to Assamese Culture.
- This 6 year struggle culminated in the Assam Accord of 1985.
Assam Accord and Citizenship
- It chose three different categories for deciding the fate of immigrants.
- Those came to India before 1 January 1966:
- They were to be deemed as the Citizens of India
- Those who came between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971
- They were eligible for citizenship after registering and living in the State for 10 years.
- Those entering after March 25, 1971
- They were to be deported.
- The cut-off date prescribed under articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution was July 19, 1949.
- Hence, to give force to the new date, an amendment was made to the Citizenship Act, 1955.
- The new section was introduced and made applicable only to Assam.
- The problem began to aggravate due to continuous delay by the governments to conduct NRC until the Supreme Court took matters in its hands in 2018.
- The speed with which the process was conducted led to multiple inclusion-exclusion errors.
- Many government employees were also deemed as illegal citizens.
Difference between NRC and NPR
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National Register of Citizens (NRC)
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National Population Register (NPR)
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- It includes only citizens.
- It was published only once in 1951 for the whole country.
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- The NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country.
- It is compulsory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
- This includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.
- A “usual resident” is defined as
- a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or
- a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
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D or ‘Doubtful Voter’
- D voter, sometimes are also referred to as Dubious voter or Doubtful voter.
- It is a category of voters in Assam who are disenfranchised by the government on the account of their alleged lack of proper citizenship credentials
Foreigners Tribunal in Assam
- They are quasi-judicial bodies set up and empowered under the provisions of Foreigners Act 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964.
- Only Foreigners Tribunals are empowered to declare a person as a foreigner.
- Every individual, whose name does not figure in the final NRC, can represent his/her case in front of the appellate authority i.e. Foreigners Tribunals (FT).
- The Assam Police Border Organisation is tasked with detecting foreigners.
- It also readies the cases for the tribunals to decide who is a foreigner and who is not.
- It is a wing of the State police.
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Significance of Opinion and Verdict by Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT)
- The opinion holds significance since the NRC has not yet been notified by the Registrar General of India.
- The Assam Government is also pushing for a corrected NRC.
- The Order ignores the Assam Government’s recent directive of not to pass “consequential orders/directions”.
- The state government asked FT to stick to giving an “opinion” as mandated by the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964.
- The FT noted that the petitioner’s relatives like grandmother, parents and younger brother are in the NRC list.
- FT accepted it as conclusive proof of his Indian Citizenship despite not being in the NRC list.
- They also took into consideration the fact that the petitioner’s name figured in the NRC that was supervised by the Supreme Court on the basis of
- The Citizenship Act of 1955 and
- The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
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Different Debates and Challenges surrounding NRC
- Social consequences of illegal migration
- Identity Crisis and Threat to Culture
- Many insurgent groups of Assam and violence amongst Assam ethic groups were seen.
- Eg. Bodo-Muslim violence in the BTAD
- Environmental Degradation due heavy encroachment by immigrants for settlements.
- The state experienced a declining percent of land area under forest from 39% in 1951-52 to about 30% now.
- Increased financial burden on state exchequer
- Displacement of natives from jobs and denial of their traditional rights.
- Decreased wage rates due to surplus labour
- Political Rights of the locals are also abridged due to mass inflow of illegal migrants who are outnumbering the native tribes.
- As per Lt Gen SK Sinha in 1998, Pakistan ISI is also involved in fueling such conflicts.
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Way Ahead
- The Central Home Ministry should intervene to clarify all doubts and constitutional positions of all stakeholders.
- The State Government wants FT to issue only advisory orders not final verdicts.
- Detention Camps should be discouraged and those found to be living in India for the last 15 years may be considered for citizenship.
- Also the relationship with Bangladesh must be taken care of while carrying out all such procedures.
Source: TH
