The updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) listed 2.89 crore citizens.
These were out of the 3.29 crore applicants for inclusion.
So there are 40 lakh applicants who were not included in the NRC.
What is the status of these 40 lakh?
Since it's only a draft, it does not necessarily mean that the excluded 40 lakh are not citizens.
No one will lose citizenship rights or be sent to a detention camp merely on the basis of the draft NRC.
They can file claims and objections at various NRC Seva Kendras during the specified period.
The Home Ministry has announced that after these, the final NRC will be published by December 31, 2018.
How were they dealt before?
Since 1964, the Foreigners Tribunals have identified an estimated 90,000 foreigners in Assam.
But many of them are dead and many more are “untraced”.
Until recently, around 900 “declared foreigners” and “D-voters” (doubtful voters who could not establish their citizenship) were in the six detention camps.
The NRC has put “on hold” 2.48 lakh names in four categories.
These are “D-voters” and their descendants, and people whose cases are pending in the tribunals and their descendants.
There have been reports about “D-voters” subsequently being declared Indian citizens by the tribunals.
But they are being marked “D” all over again in later electoral rolls.
To resolve such issues, plans are being made for a centralised database.
This will link to real-time information on the status of “suspected foreigners”.
Who are eligible for further inclusion?
The draft includes only those who could establish their linkage to March 24, 1971 or earlier (the cut-off date in the Assam Accord).
The excluded 40 lakh would thus have submitted papers that were not enough to establish this linkage.
They now have to back up their claims for inclusion with other eligible proofs.
They will have to prove that they or their ancestors were citizens on or before March 24, 1971.
Anyone who figured in electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, or who are descendants of such citizens, are eligible for inclusion.
Various other documents are admissible such as birth certificates and land records.
But these are valid only as long as these were issued before the cutoff date.
The claims-and-objections process will also take into account errors during the update, if any.
What after the final NRC?
Once the final NRC is published, there will still be some out of the register.
Appeal - They can approach any of the state’s 100 Foreigners Tribunals (the quasi-judicial bodies established in 1964).
They can also approach the Gauhati High Court and then the Supreme Court.
The Assam Border Police can refer any “suspected foreigner” to these tribunals following an inquiry.
Deportation - If even these legal recourse fails for those excluded, they could be deported.
Assam also has six detention camps for illegal migrants within existing jails, and proposes to build a seventh.
These cannot, however, be expected to accommodate all the exclusions, which could finally run into lakhs.
Also, Bangladesh has never officially acknowledged that any of its citizens migrated illegally to Assam.
Stateless - So if not deported or detained in a camp, they would officially remain to be non-citizens.
But what happens to these non-citizens remains a grey area as India has no fixed policy for “stateless” persons.
The only aspect that is more or less clear is that a “stateless” person will not have voting rights.
The Centre may consider formulating a policy for the “stateless”, after the final NRC.
He or she may, however, be provided certain facilities on “humanitarian grounds”.
There have also been suggestions in Assam that they be given work permits.
