GS Paper 2
Topics covered: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Context: Denial of benefits emanating from Aadhar to people who were eventually included in the draft NRC list after being initially excluded from the draft list published in 2018
- Lakhs of people were left out of the complete draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in 2018
- As per the Supreme Court mandated rules, those left out of the draft NRC list had to mandatorily submit their biometrics during the hearings of ‘claims’ (to include themselves in the NRC) and ‘objections’ (to object to someone else’s inclusion) process.
- 27 lakh people who were left out from the list published in 2018 submitted their biometric details and amongst these only 8 lakh people made it into the draft list published in 2019. However, these 8 lakh people are struggling to get Aadhaar, and concerned about benefits linked to it
- Lack of clarity and inability to enjoy the full benefits emanating from Aadhar has caused significant mental pressure on individuals.
- This situation has arisen primarily due to the lack of clarity over the NRC exercise since the government is withholding assigning Aadhar to these newly added individuals since the complete and final NRC list is yet to be published
- What needs to be done? Efforts must be taken by the stakeholders (NRS state coordinator, central government, state government of Assam and Supreme Court of India) involved to address the short-term concerns of these individuals and ensure no one is left behind in enjoying the benefits that the state owes (Ex: Food subsidies) to them; particularly during this pandemic times and a mechanism should be put in place to publish a final list of NRC in a time-bound and just manner
- The NRC is the list of Indian citizens and was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951.
- The process of NRC update was taken up in Assam as per a Supreme Court order in 2013.
- In order to wean out cases of illegal migration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord.
- UN experts had warned that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam could render millions of citizens stateless and create instability in India.
Prelims Link:
- Relation between Census and NPR.
- NPR vs NRC.
- How NRC is related to Assam accord.
- Constitutional provisions with respect to grant and revocation of citizenships.
- Who carries out Census?
Mains Link:
Discuss why a nationwide NRC exercise may not be feasible.
