Assam: Farce of NRC updation may lead millions to statelessness

Updating process of NRC (National Register of Citizens) is going on in Assam. Those who have their names in 1951 NRC, any electoral rolls issued upto 1971 or any other of the 14 documents mentioned in application form are eligible to be included in the updated NRC.

Parts of 1951 NRC and some electoral rolls of pre-1971 period have been made available online and termed "legacy data".

The NRC which is under preparation is not a new NRC. It is an updating process of 1951 NRC which was prepared on the basis of census data of 1951. However, section 15 of the Census Act, 1948 says that records of census are not admissible in evidence notwithstanding anything contrary in the India Evidence Act, 1872. Moreover, 1951 NRC data for many areas of the state are not available. Not prepared at all or subsequently destroyed.

Not all electoral rolls upto 1971 are available. Only electoral rolls of 1966 and 1971 have been made available online. But they also don't cover the whole of Assam. For many areas electoral roll of 1966 is not available.

Legacy data for the districts of the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills, the Naga Hills and the Mizo Hills, which were part of Assam until they were separated in 1972 are not made available.

Apart from variations in spelling of the names and other anomalies in legacy data it has now came to light that names of many people are not found. Adivasi organisations are claiming that around 80% of their people does not have names in legacy data while authorities says that only about 10% does not have. My guesstimate is that about 20% of people of all communities may not find their names in legacy data.

The other 14 documents that can be submitted must be pre-1971 origin. How can one accept that poor people of villages in this flood affected state to preserve their pre-1971 papers. Assam is the state with highest IDPs in the world. Then, there are lakhs of landless and homeless people.

This farce of updation of NRC based on an inadmissible document, if carried to its conclusion and is taken as the basis of citizenship, may drive about 20% of about 31 million people to statelessness.

Why I Support Indo-Bangla Land Boundary Agreement?

The Indo-Bangla Land Boundary Agreement is a mere formality. But this formality will end virtual statelessness of more than 51 thousand people.

According to a report, 37,334 Indians are residing in 111 enclaves in Bangladesh that spread over 17,000 acres and 14,215 Bangladeshi people are residing in 51 enclaves in India that spread over 7,110 acres. As these 51,549 people are living in land-locked parcels of land situated within another country they can not exercise and avail any of the rights and amenities which citizens are provided with by the constitution and laws of their respective countries. They are virtually stateless people.

The Land Boundary Agreement was first signed by Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1974 stipulated that both countries would exchange the enclaves of land that both countries had within each other's territory. India even agreed to forgo compensation for land that would be transferred to Bangladesh. India would lose about 40 square kilometres of land. But it is a matter of formality since there is no sensible ways to use these lands as they sit in small enclaves within another country.

As per the agreement, people living in the enclaves would be given a choice either to go to their country or to stay where they were living by becoming the citizens of that country. It is reported that no significant exchange of population would be involved as people reportedly wanted to stay where they were living for generations.

Bangladesh parliament ratified the agreement but India did not. When, after decades, the Manmohan Singh government attempted to move the constitutional amendment bill required for ratification of the agreement in parliament in 2013, it was strongly opposed by BJP and regional parties like TMC and AGP.

But now that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs tabled its report in which it recommended that the constitution amendement bill be moved to end the boundary issue between the two nations and the Prime Minister also announced his intention to go ahead with the bill, I hope, it will be passed and these 51 thousand odd stateless people will get some relief.