With the second and final draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens set to be published on July 30, the fate of millions hangs in the balance.

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

• The National Register of Citizens (NRC) contains names of Indian citizens of Assam. The NRC was prepared in 1951, after the Census of 1951.
• The NRC Updation of 2014-2016 across Assam includes the names of those persons (or their descendants) who appear in the NRC 1951, or in any of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24 March 1971 or in any one of the other admissible documents issued up to the midnight of 24 March 1971, which would prove their presence in Assam on or before 24 March 1971. The NRC (1951) and the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24 March 1971 together are collectively called Legacy Data.

Why was it necessary to bring out an NRC in Assam?

• The NRC is being updated in Assam to detect Bangladeshi nationals, who may have illegally entered the State after the midnight of March 24, 1971, the cut-off date.
• This date was originally agreed to in the 1985 Assam Accord, signed between the then Rajiv Gandhi government and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).
• However, successive State governments failed to achieve much progress in detecting and deporting foreigners as set out in the Assam Accord.
•  In 2005, another agreement was signed between the Centre, the government in Assam and the AASU where it was decided to update the NRC that was first published after the Census data of 1951 in post-Partition India.

Source: The Hindu