-The Hindu ‘Several States are demanding a register, though they are competent enough to detect and deport foreign nationals’ Before the Centre rolls out a plan to compile a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) on the lines of the document compiled in Assam, it will have to decide a common cut-off date, a senior government official said. Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated his stand on a wider NRC exercise a few days...

-The Indian Express The fate of close to two million people excluded from the NRC in Assam rests with the Foreigners Tribunals. The constitutionality and conduct of these quasi-judicial bodies are questionable Over 1.9 million people have been excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. The herculean executive exercise, mandated and closely monitored by the Supreme Court, has incurred a staggering expenditure of over Rs 1,200 crore...

-The Hindu House passes a resolution opposing NRC in Assam In an unprecedented show of unity, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Friday passed a resolution opposing the National Register of Citizens ( NRC) in Assam. The resolution also categorically ruled out the possibility of any such exercise in the State. The development comes within a week of release of the final list of NRC, in which over 19 lakh people have been...

-Hindustan Times The Constitution promises religion-neutral citizenship. NRC and its fallout could upend that The controversy unfolding in Assam over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), published on August 31, has brought to the fore important fault lines in the construction of citizenship in contemporary India. In particular, it places the spotlight on the role of key institutional actors – the bureaucracy and judiciary – in adjudicating citizenship. Crucially, the implementation of...

-The Telegraph Can issuing work permits and settling people outside Assam resolve the problem temporarily? In his Outlook article, (retired Union Cabinet secretary and a long-time North-east hand at the Centre) G.K. Pillai offered a temporary arrangement of granting ‘a five-year work permit’ to those not included in the final NRC, basically to maintain status quo, ‘to calm things down and allow a range of policy options to be developed carefully over...