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What is the issue?
While the NRC could address the issue of illegal residents, there lies a range of challenging issues pre and post completion.
What are the challenges ahead?
- Claims - Close to 14 million cases are still remaining under scrutiny out of the total applicants.
- There are more people who do not make it to the Draft List of the NRC, clearly indicating more illegal immigrants in Assam.
- Thus, there are sure to be claims and contestations even after the final draft.
- Humanitarian concerns - Nearly five decades have elapsed since the cut-off date of March 25, 1971.
- Certainly, individuals who have sneaked in illegally would have made settlements in India for generations.
- Expecting them to leave after such a long period has some serious humanitarian issues.
- Deportation - The list of aliens is only expected to increase with further applications and scrutiny.
- This is especially worrying given the absence of a deportation treaty with Bangladesh.
- There is a possibility that the issue could evolve as that of the Rohingyas of Myanmar’s Rakhine province.
- Verification - An individual has to demonstrate that she, or her ancestors, was in the 1951 register, or else in any electoral rolls before March 1971.
- For those born after 1971, even the presentation of a valid Indian passport or birth certificate is not adequate grounds for inclusion.
- The process would be challenging with these procedural issues.
- Notably, it is being monitored by the Supreme Court and supposed to be completed within a year.
- Political - Political parties have turned a blind eye to the situation over the decades in order to ensure vote banks.
- Given this, inclusion of more residents against the will of the anti-Bengali and anti-Muslim political forces is sure to unveil new political challenges to the state government.
Source: The Hindu, Business Standard
