NRC update: Registrar General of India not to fund after March 2021

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Registrar General of India (RGI) has informed the Assam Government that the former would not be able to provide funds for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise beyond March 31, 2021.

The development has come at a time when the political parties are making the NRC an issue in the ongoing Assembly elections in the State.

Jaspal Singh, Joint Director in the Office of the RGI in the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi in a recent letter to the Assam Government has made it clear that all activities for the updation of NRC have to be completed within the approved cost of the scheme within March 31, 2021. There is no further provision of funds for expenditure made under the scheme beyond March 31, 2021, the letter said.

The letter was addressed to the Secretary of Home & Political department, Government of Assam SR Bhuyan on March 23, 2021. The RGI has written the letter in response to the Assam Government's letter on March 4, 2021 proposing additional requirement of Rs 3.22 crore per month beyond March 31, 2021 to complete pending work for the NRC update exercise.

In the letter the RGI has mentioned that the Cabinet on Economic Affairs has approved the Revised Cost Estimates of Rs 1602.66 crore up to December 31, 2019 for the NRC update scheme with a condition that the cost estimates will not be revised further before winding up the NRC process by March 31, 2021.

The final NRC — an updated version of the 1951 NRC — was published on August 31, 2019. And in the process, while 3,11,21,004 of the 3,30,27,661 people applied for the inclusion of their names in the updated NRC through 68,37,660 applications were found eligible for inclusion, 19,06,657 were found ineligible for inclusion. The gigantic process that involved mammoth manpower and crores of money to detect illegal Bangladeshis living in the State, did not move much forward between August 31, 2019 and March 27, 2021 due to various reasons.

More than 19 lakh applicants who were left out of the final NRC have not been able to file appeals as they are yet to get rejection slips from the office of State NRC Coordinator. The rejection slips, which will mention reasons for exclusion of an applicant's name, are required for those left out of the NRC to file appeals in the Foreigners' Tribunals (FTs), a quasi-judicial body that decides the fate of those declared suspected illegal foreigners.

The RGI in its letter has asked the Assam Government to shift the NRC Data Centre to the State IT department at the earliest to save on cost. It has also asked to shift the office of State NRC Coordinator to the State Government building. The letter has also requested to the State Government to sort out the issue of keeping or discharging staff associated with the NRC at the earliest.

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