Question : NRC in Assam

(a) the status of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam following its publication in 2019 and the time by which it is likely to be finalized;

(b) whether the Government is aware of delay in issuance of rejection slips, which prevents the excluded people from taking judicial recourse;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to expedite the grievance redressal for the people excluded in the draft NRC and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether there are genuine Indian citizens who have been left out of the NRC List or could not even apply for the same because of lack of valid documents which got destroyed due to various calamities and migration due to natural calamities in the State;

(e) if so, the number of persons who have been left out due to lack of document; and

(f) the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI NITYANAND RAI)

(a): On the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the hard copies of the supplementary list of inclusions and online family-wise list of exclusions have been published on 31st August, 2019. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has



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directed the State Coordinator to enact an appropriate security regime on lines similar to the security regime provided for AADHAR data and only thereafter the list of inclusions and exclusions shall be made available to the State Government, Central Government and Registrar General of India.

(b): The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 08.05.2018 allowed the State Coordinator for developing a system to provide reasons of rejection without bringing the same in the public domain so as to protect the privacy of the applicant(s). Due to outbreak of Covid-19 and flood situation, the process of issuing rejection slips has been postponed.

(c) to (f): NRC in Assam is an application based process. Each applicant is mandatorily required to furnish a documentary proof of residence of self or the ancestors (legacy person) in Assam or any other part of India on or before the cut-off date, through one of the stipulated legacy documents. A total number of 19,06,657 persons are not found eligible for inclusion in the NRC list published on 31st August, 2019. Any person not satisfied with
the decisions for inclusion of name may prefer appeal before the designated Tribunal constituted under the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964. The period of appeal has been increased from ‘Sixty days’ to ‘One



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hundred and twenty days’ for preferring appeal before the designated Tribunal with effect from 21st August, 2019. 200 Appellate Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) in addition to the existing 100 FTs have been established in 2019. State Government of Assam has made necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to the needy people amongst those excluded from final NRC by providing all assistance through the District Legal Services Authorities.
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