NRC comes back to haunt Assam, long ordeal awaits residents

At the stroke of 10 am on August 31, 2019, when the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam was released, Rakhal Dey, 39, was elated to find the names of his entire family in the coveted list.

Their names in the NRC meant all doubts about their Indian citizenship, that was under question a year ago when they failed to make the cut in the draft list published on July 30,2018, would be cleared now. Or so at least he thought, little knowing that another ordeal for the family was just about to begin.

The draft list put the citizenship of nearly 40 lakh people of the state under scanner. In the draft NRC, Rakhal Dey’s name did not figure though the names of both his father and mother were listed. His two children were also excluded, but their mother found a place in the list.

To establish their Indian nationality, they had to make fresh claims, and were called upon for hearings. During the claim and objection phase of the lengthy and complicated process, the biometric data of Dey and his daughter and son were collected.

Biometric data

They were among the 27,43,396 excluded citizenship claimants whose fingerprints, retina scan and other details were collected.

“We were told that based on biometric data separate IDs will be generated for those who had made claims for inclusion in the NRC and those who were facing objections to their inclusion in the draft list. The usual Aadhaar number was supposed to be issued to those who would make it to the final list,” said Dey, a casual worker with the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited in Udalguri district.

Also read: Red tape, NRC glitches deprive lakhs in Assam of Aadhaar

More than 19 lakh people were left out of the citizenship register when the NRC was finally published after six years of gruelling Supreme Court-monitored scrutiny of the 3.3 crore applications. Dey and his children made it to the list, a feat that was supposed to end their agony. But that was not to be.

The BJP government in Assam felt the number of non-citizens should have been more than 19.06 lakh, and so it sought re-verification of the list.

Accordingly, the state’s NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma filed an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court last May, seeking a time-bound re-verification of the NRC, claiming there were major irregularities in the process.

The re-verification plea is now pending before the Supreme Court, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the entire process.

Fresh trouble

The stagnation sparked fresh trouble for over 27 lakh people like Dey who had given their biometric details during the claims-and-objections phase of the exercise carried out after the publication of the first draft. This is because their biometric data have been frozen, pending completion of the NRC process.

“Now we find ourselves in fresh trouble. As our biometric data have been locked, we are unable to get our Aadhaar card, which is now being made mandatory for banking services and to avail benefit of any government schemes,” Dey pointed out.

“I am not able to get rations from the government as my ration card has not been linked with the Aadhaar. I am also getting a regular reminder from the bank to update my KYC details of the account by providing an Aadhaar number. I am helpless,” he added.

Dey had made several attempts to get Aadhaar card for himself and his children in vain.

“Lakhs of people in the state are now deprived of their basic rights due to this limbo. Once the voter card is linked with the Aadhaar, these people will not be able to even vote despite their names being in the NRC,” said senior Guwahati-based advocate Hafiz Rashid Choudhury.

Another such victim is Susmita Das (name changed on request), a senior research fellow with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Due to the unavailability of Aadhaar card, her fellowship is not released and she could not even get herself registered in the new fellowship management system (FMS) portal of the CSIR.

Also read: NRC in Assam: Further agony in store for those rejected

Such stories of miseries are now rampant across Assam. Just that, for those who did not find a place in the citizenship register, the trouble is two-fold, if not more.

Neither benefits nor legal redress

One such person is Sanjay Dey, a resident of Karimganj. Since the NRC process has now hit the re-verification wall, the certificate (popularly called rejection slip) citing the reason for their exclusion has not been issued to those who did not make it to the list of Assam’s residents. In the absence of the slip, they have not been able to approach the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) to challenge their exclusion. There are about 300 such tribunals in Assam.

“Look at our plight. We are neither able to seek legal recourse against our exclusion from the NRC nor are we getting benefits of any government schemes in the absence of Aadhaar. We are neither here nor there,” he said.

Seeking immediate issuance of the rejection slip and unlocking of the biometric data, Sanjay Dey recently approached the Gauhati high court.

Meanwhile, the NRC coordinator and the Assam government have been maintaining that they could not do anything in the matter.

Bureaucratic red tape

“We have raised the issue with the Government of India. The Centre can only decide whether to unlock the biometric data and issue the Aadhaar cards to these people,” said Ranjeet Dass, Assam Minister for General Administration.

Officials at the UIDAI’s regional office in Guwahati said the biometric data of these people could not be unlocked without a nod from the Registrar General of India (RGI), who is supposed to issue a notification on the NRC.

The RGI has not issued the notification as the SC has not yet heard the plea for reverification of the NRC.

Caught in such procedural binds, life is back to square one for Rakhal Dey, Sanjay Dey and lakhs of people like them in Assam, whose existence is constantly being challenged.