Assam NRC: lakhs made it to list, but struggle for Aadhaar continues

Ground Report | New Delhi: Assam NRC; It has been two years since the list of NRC was published in Assam, but despite the names appearing in this list, there are many people in the state who are now facing the problem of not being able to issue Aadhaar numbers. These people are facing problems in everything from ration cards to admission to government colleges, flight booking.

According to the Indian Express report, Bhanu Upadhyay, a postdoctoral fellow at IIT Bombay, has been running around for Aadhar cards for 18 months. Even after several calls to toll-free numbers, e-mails, and visits to the application centers, their Aadhaar is still in process.

Assam NRC

Upadhyay's name is not the only one who is facing such a problem. Even after the inclusion of the names of these people in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on 31 August 2019, they are facing difficulty in getting the Aadhaar number.

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About 27 lakh people had done biometrics registration for NRC, out of which 19 lakh people are not named in the NRC list, while the names of eight lakh people were included in the list of NRIs. State government officials blame it on government negligence and lack of clarity on the process on NRC. The report states that a letter has been given to the Registrar General on the issue, but no action has been taken in this matter.

At the heart of the problem is the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) approved by the Supreme Court in November 2018. Under the SOP, those excluded from the draft NRC list published on July 31, 2018, will be allowed to hear 'claims' (to include themselves in the NRC) and 'objections' (to object to someone else's). During this, it was mandatory to submit your biometrics. These hearings were held on 31 August 2019 in the order of publication of the complete list.

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List not yet notified

Clause 9 of the SOP states, once the final NRC is published, such persons who are included in the NRC will be given a common Aadhaar number as applicable to legal residents in the country. The biometric data of 27,43,396 was collected during the process of UIDAI. Freeze in Biometrics The process of NRC hangs in the balance even after two years of publication, waiting for fate. The Registrar General of India has not notified it.

An official in the office, requesting anonymity, admitted that nothing is happening right now. Last year, NRC state coordinator HD Sarma submitted an affidavit to the Gauhati High Court, referring to the August 31 list as a 'supplementary' list and seeking re-verification.

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