Over 19 lakh people left out from final list of NRC Assam

The final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was published on Saturday excluding over 19 lakh people.

Whereas over three crore people have been found eligible for the inclusion in the final NRC, Prateek Hajela, the State Coordinator of the NRC, said in an official statement.

"A total of 3,11,21,004 persons are found eligible for inclusion in final NRC leaving out 19,06,657 persons, including those who did not submit their claims," Hajela, said.

He, however, asserted that those who are not satisfied with the outcome of the claims can appeal before the Foreigners Tribunals.

The status of both inclusion and exclusion of the people from the list can be viewed online on the NRC website, www.nrcassam.nic.in.

The hard copies of the supplementary list of inclusions will be available for public view at NRC Seva Kendras (NSK), offices of the Deputy Commissioner and offices of the Circle Officer.

The list has segregated Indian citizens living in Assam from those who had illegally entered the state from Bangladesh after 1971.

The process of receipt of NRC application forms had started during the end of May in 2015 and ended on August 31 in 2015. A total of 3,30,27,661 members had applied through 68,37,660 applications.

Following this, the applications submitted by the people were taken up for scrutiny to determine the eligibility of their inclusion in the NRC.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had earlier clarified that non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC will not amount to his or her being declared a "foreigner".

Those who will be excluded from the list will get an opportunity to file an appeal within 120 days in the Foreigners' Tribunal (FT), as per the direction given by the Union Home Ministry, said Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

NRC is a register containing names of Indian citizens, which was prepared for the only time in 1951. It is being updated for Assam as of now to weed out illegal immigrants.

The first list of NRC was first published in Assam in 1951. When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it.