Assam seeks details of NRC dropouts

Assam government is collecting details of about 3.80 lakh dropouts of draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), who did not submit claims for inclusion in the final NRC slated for release on July 31.

The state home and political department have recently written to NRC co-ordinator Prateek Hajela seeking details for preparing a database of the dropouts in order to prevent them from making a vanishing act after final NRC is out.

"We need the details to identify those persons first and keep track of them. Otherwise, they may vanish like thousands of persons did after being declared foreigners by tribunals in the past. Once the final NRC is out, they can submit their claims in foreigner tribunals but if they don't move the tribunal for clearing their names, the state government will do the same and act accordingly," an official source said.

The NRC 1951 is being updated only in Assam with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date. The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the multi-crore exercise has set July 31 for publication of the final NRC.

Over 40.07 lakh of the total 3.29 crore applicants found their names dropped from the draft NRC, released on July 30 last year. They were allowed to submit claims again but 36.20 lakh submitted claims for inclusion in the final NRC. Those failing to make it to the final NRC can move the foreigner tribunals to prove their Indian citizenship and get their names enrolled in the updated NRC.

The NRC aims to segregate the illegal migrants from Bangladesh for deportation, as per the Assam Accord of 1985.

Assam government recently informed the Supreme Court that over 70, 000 declared foreigners went missing and "mixed with common citizens."