A book on the assessment of the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam was launched in Guwahati on Saturday. The book, “NRC-Turning Hope into Despair, has been authored by senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, who is also a Supreme Court-appointed Commissioner to report on the India-Bangladesh border, and Shantanu Parashar, serving as District Project Supervisor, NRC for Dhubri district.
The book examines the historical origins of the NRC, its legal foundations, procedural mechanisms, and political context. “The book examines the process and impact of migration over the last 100 years, with the indigenous population projected to turn into a minority after 2040. The NRC, being the last resort for the local population to identify foreigners, save themselves from becoming a minority and a secure citizens’ database, forming the basis for reserving resources for the local population,” Hazarika stated.
“The flaws in the NRC process are exhaustively studied, and the mode and manner of re-verification based on such flaws are proposed. The re-verification task is made easier by all the NRC documents being digitized,” he said. Hazarika, who is also the convenor of Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), an organization focused on anti-influx (illegal immigration) issues in Assam, further said the stand of the State Government after the publication of the NRC, that delimitation is the answer to the foreigners’ issue and not NRC, has been examined and rejected.
“Delimitation only redefines boundaries of constituencies; it does not identify or segregate any foreigner. Delimitation legitimizes foreigners because citizenship is not in question. The process of evictions by the last Government has also been examined; it does not force any foreigner to leave Assam. In fact, in quite a few instances, encroachers of doubtful nationality have been given alternate allotments of land, without investigating their citizenship status,” he said.
“The stand of the Government that NRC re-verification requires approval and permission of the Supreme Court is also examined on the basis of statutory rules. The rule position is clear that the authority for re-verification is conferred upon the Government and does not require approval or permission from the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” the senior advocate said. “There is no alternative to a fool-proof NRC being a citizens data base, identifying foreigners and safeguarding the indigenous people,” he added.