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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Untangling the knot of citizenship -Sanjoy Hazarika

Untangling the knot of citizenship -Sanjoy Hazarika

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published Published on Jul 31, 2018   modified Modified on Jul 31, 2018
-The Tribune

Assam is tense; internet services have been suspended and security forces on standby with the final draft list of the controversial NRC out. Sanjoy Hazarika, a specialist on the north-east, explains why it is sitting on a powder keg

I’M not getting into the numbers game for Assam and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process which is a draft in progress. The first draft, published last December had 19 million names, triggering consternation in some circles. The second and final draft has now been published after a month's delay due to floods.

What is the NRC draft list and how does one get onto it in Assam?  Essentially, it seeks to fulfill a long-standing demand for updating the NRC of 1951 - yes, you got that right, 1951 - which had all our parents or grandparents' names on it.  The idea was to create the equivalent of the ideal but digitised citizen.

The state government provided formats to establish family trees going back till 1951 or earlier. Catch Number One: you had to produce documents to establish that connection. Catch Number Two (of several more): should there be a spelling error or a mismatch, you were sunk. Repeated summons to the local NRC office would follow.

Both Hindus and Muslims find to their alarm that they have been left off this list (for those who didn't know, the forbears of some Assamese Muslims go back 500-700 years). But more Muslims appear to be having to rush around trying to establish their identity.

There is a sense of acute vulnerability, fear mixed with deep resentment and confusion over the whole process and growing prejudice.  To this add the total disregard for responsibility, privacy, facts and law shown by some local media as well as individuals and groups.

There are three principal stakeholders - the state government and the Centre besides the Supreme Court playing the role of arbiter.  But the most affected -- the general public including the many ethnic groups -- are preceptors who are impacted by the decisions of all three.  Assam's ethnicities, before insurgency reared its head in the 1980s, had long given internal strength to the state.  These stand deeply fractured and stressed by an uncertain future.

Add to this mess, the ingredients of the Foreigners Tribunals which have been functioning in one form or another for 35 years has ``proved'' an average of about 150 Bangladeshis per year. This speaks poorly of the effectiveness of the scheme.

Please click here to read more.

The Tribune, 31 July, 2018, https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/untangling-the-knot-of-citizenship/629232.html


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