The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is emerging as quite the artful dodger. In yet another example of skillfully skirting a key issue by offering irrelevant information, the Minister of State in the MHA, Nityanad Rai not only blamed all delays squarely on the Covid-19 pandemic, he also attempted to completely avoid answering pointed questions about notification of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) that was published in Assam on August 31, 2019 by the Registrar General of India (RGI). This final NRC had excluded a whopping 19,06,657 people.

During the Monsoon Session of the Lok Sabha, Member of Parliament(MP) Abdul Khaleque asked a series of questions specifically about the role and actions of the Office of the RGI with respect to the NRC. The questions may be viewed here:

In the written response submitted before the LS on July 27, 2021 by the MHA, the questions related to RGI notifications have been responded to with outdated and irrelevant information. The statement says, “A total of nine Gazette Notifications, the last being on 31.7.2019, have been published by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.”

It is important to point out that the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019. Therefore by the MHA’s own admission, no notification was passed by the RGI after July 31, 2019… a month before the final NRC was published. Thus, it confirms that the RGI has not notified the final NRC so far. This even as the Assam state government is using a two-pronged approach of demanding additional verification and completely rejecting the final NRC to derail the entire process. 

The MHA further submitted that several communications and instructions have been sent to the State Coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam for complying with the orders of Supreme Court with regard to disposal of claims and objections, publication of lists of inclusions and exclusions in NRC, etc. But these matters all deal with processes preceding the publication of the list, as the Claims and Objections process took place in the period between publication of the draft NRC in July 2018 and the final NRC in August 2019. 

The response does not shed light on directions issued post the publication of the final NRC specifically w.r.t “winding up of processes” as the response only mentions “pending works”, a rather vague term. Moreover, all of this is rather moot given how the NRC is yet to be notified. This makes one wonder if the MHA and the RGI have, just like the Assam government, chosen to ignore the entire mammoth and expensive NRC process.

On the pointed subject of directions on issuance of Rejection Slips and delays in the process, the official response says, “Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and flood situation, the process of issuing rejection slips has been postponed.” 

The issuance of Rejection Slips that contain the reason for rejection as mentioned in the speaking orders passed by the Claims officer, is vital for those who have been excluded from the final NRC and now need to defend their citizenship before the Foreigners’ Tribunals. Once a rejection slip is handed over, the excluded person has only 120 days to file an appeal before a Foreigners Tribunal. But as these Rejection Slips have still not been issued, the 19 lakh applicants who have been left out of the NRC, have not been able to file appeals before the FT.

During the Budget Session of the Parliament earlier this year, the Minister on February 9, 2021, had provided the same reason that Covid-19 and floods had postponed the process of issuing rejection slips. This is detrimental to all excluded people who are prevented from taking any judicial recourse in the matter.

Other systemic problems

SabrangIndia’s sister organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has dedicated itself to helping our fellow Indians defend their citizenship in Assam. CJP has not only helped secure the release of 41 people from detention camps on conditional bail, it has also distributed food rations to some of the detainees. When it comes to the follow up to the NRC process, CJP also moved the Gauhati High Court this year, seeking directions to the state to formulate effective and robust modalities for legal aid for people who will now be required to defend their citizenship before Foreigners’ Tribunals. CJP has raised concerns about the absence of trained lawyers and paralegals at legal aid centres that the government insists will be able to adequately assist these people.

CJP had also conducted an independent survey in 10 districts of Assam to assess the preparedness of District Legal Services Authorities (DSLA) which revealed glaring lacunae in terms of both infrastructure as well as trained personnel. We found that the front offices were either not present at these DLSA centers or did not have adequate space or staff to handle the veritable deluge of applicants. It was also revealed that in none of the ten legal services authorities, were the personnel trained on Citizenship, NRC, Immigration or the Foreigners Act, all of which are germane to the impending situation of people having to appeal before the Foreigners’ Tribunal to prove their citizenship. It also revealed that only 10 citizenship related cases were handled by the counsel of these DSLA, all by Dhubri DLSA: 7 in 2019, and 3 in 2020.

SabrangIndia had previously reported that on February 2, 2021, in response to a series of questions raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) Abdul Khaleque and Pradyut Bordoloi from Assam, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gave a series of boiler-plate responses and non-answers. Khaleque and Bordoloi had raised questions about details of the Clause 6 Committee, its functioning, its recommendations and steps that had been taken to implement said recommendations. But in response, the government did a basic “copy-paste” job from the Assam Government website: assamaccord.assam.gov.in 

It not only reproduced contents of clauses 6 and 7, it also copy-pasted measures taken way back in 1989 in response to a question about implementation of committee recommendations.

When we take all of this into consideration, and add to it the compulsive gaslighting techniques of the MHA by way of giving bland, boiler-plate responses or often non-answers, the image that appears is one of apathy.

Related:

No separate list of exclusion of Gorkhas published in Assam’s NRC: MHA
CAA rules yet to be framed, NRC in Assam yet to be notified, says MHA
Inadequate legal aid for NRC excluded persons, CJP moves Guwahati HC
Empowering Assam: CJP goes above and beyond the call of duty

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Even as the Assam Assembly elections are underway, with the first phase having just concluded on March 27, comes a decision that appears to be designed to generate political capital for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The issue of Rejection Slips for those excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31, 2019 has suddenly been made a priority, after over a year of delays. It is noteworthy that the process had been put on hold due to Covid-19 related concerns, but then that doesn’t explain the resumption amidst a new surge. 

The Registrar General of India (RGI) has written to the Assam Home Secretary in the matter of delay in issuing rejection slips to those excluded from the NRC. More than 19 lakh persons were excluded from the Assam NRC, after which their citizenship status has been in a limbo due to delay in issuing rejection slips which show the reason for exclusion and are based on the speaking orders issued by the officer examining Claims and Objections. This reason for exclusion is vital for going before the Foreigners Tribunal to defend one’s citizenship. 

Further, the RGI has also asked the Assam government to explain its request for additional funds to carry out pending work on the NRC, while also making it clear that Rs 1,600-crore allocated for completing the exercise by March 31, cannot be increased. The state had sought a monthly allocation of Rs. 3.22 crore. The letter states that the NRC updation process was to be completed within the approved cost of the scheme by March 31, 2021 and there is “no further provision of funds for the expenditure made under the scheme beyond 31.03.2021,” reported Indian Express.

The letter further states that Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved the revised estimates of Rs 1,602.66 crore up to December 31, 2019 with a condition that the amount would not be revised further before winding up the NRC process by March 31, 2021. The letter reiterates what was decided in the NRC Coordination Committee meeting held in January 2020 that “pending work relating to issue of rejection slip should be completed on a mission mode”.

This particular reminder comes in the light of Assam Assembly elections, voting for which has already begun and as BJP has given a commitment of a “corrected NRC” in the state. Though the NRC was a process monitored by the Supreme Court, the Assam government has vehemently refused to accept the NRC. Moreover, the Assam government has repeatedly demanded reverification despite the Supreme Court having refused the demand previously. 

Interestingly, NRC co-ordinator Hitesh Sarma, in an affidavit filed before Guwahati High Court in December 2020, implied that the August 2019 NRC list which was declared as the final draft, was not, in fact, final and stated that the 2019 list was “supplementary NRC” which includes 4,700 ineligible names. “The Final NRC is yet to be published by Registrar General of India as per Clause 7 of the rules under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003,” the affidavit said.

However, in preparation for whenever this entire process could be kickstarted, by issuance of rejection slips, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), SabrangIndia’s sister organisation has already filed a petition before Guwahati High Court seeking directions to the state to formulate effective and robust modalities for legal aid in terms of having trained panels of lawyers and adequate front offices in light of the impending appeals to be filed before Foreigners Tribunals by people from marginalised sections to prove their citizenship.

Related:

Deadline to challenge ex-parte FT decision valid only when notice is served: SC

NRC Reverification: SC responds to contempt petition, issues notice to Hitesh Dev Sarma

Aug’19 NRC was supplementary list: NRC Co-ordinator 

Inadequate legal aid for NRC excluded persons, CJP moves Guwahati HC

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On August 21, Hitesh Dev Sarma, the State Coordinator for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, had issued a notification directing all Deputy Commissioners and District Registrars of Citizens Registration (DRCR) to ensure laptops and internet availability for Circle Officers who are to begin the quality check of speaking orders from September 1, 2020.

This spread panic among people who feared that the gathering of people at Nagrik Seva Kendras (NSK) to get their rejection slips could cause further spread of the deadly Coronavirus. So far, Assam has recorded over 1 lakh Coronavirus cases. There were also concerns about burgeoning travel fares amidst the pandemic and how that could prove to be a deterrent for many of those left out of the NRC given that they hail from economically weak backgrounds.

However, in an exclusive interview to CJP’s sister publication SabrangIndia, Sarma said, “Right now most NRC officers are on Covid duty. Very few Circle Officers are free to do the quality check. So, we don’t know how long this will take. Moreover, the quality check procedure will be a completely in-house activity and will be carried out by the Circle Officers using a software. At this quality check stage there is no requirement of any physical interaction with people whose names have been excluded from the NRC.”

Further explaining the process step-by-step Sarma said, “The Circle Officers will first find out the reason for rejection based on the speaking orders. Then they will issue notices to the party concerned. In case the reason for rejection is not clear, the NRC official will ask for a clarification from the authority that issued the speaking order and update it without changing the result of the order.”

Sarma says that people will be required to collect the Reason for Rejection from NSKs. However, Sarma clarified that this process cannot take place amidst the pandemic. “At present we have no provision for issuing the Rejection Slip online. Therefore, people will have to come to their designated NSK and collect the Rejection Slip. But we cannot allow people to gather together at the NSK because of concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus. We cannot ignore social distancing. Therefore, Rejection Slips will not be issued until Covid-19 has been brought under control. However, I cannot commit to a timeline as to when that will happen,” said Sarma.

Sarma also clarified that the deadline for approaching Foreigners’ Tribunals would begin only after receipt of the Rejection Slip and not date of issuance. “It is only logical that the 120-day time period given to people for approaching Foreigners’ Tribunals begins after receipt of the reason for rejection,” said Sarma.

But there are several other concerns, not the least of which is transportation expenditure. A vast majority of people left out of the NRC hail from impoverished backgrounds and can barely afford bus fare to and from the location of the Foreigners’ Tribunal. “Because of Covid, buses require social distancing to be practiced while seating passengers. They have doubled their fares. In some cases, a Rs 200 ticket is not selling for Rs 500! Imagine if a family of 5-7 people has to travel for even one hearing, the expenditure would be impossible for them to incur,” says Nanda Ghosh, CJP’s Assam State In-charge. This has caused much anxiety among people and one can only hope that if the NRC process resumes after the pandemic has been brought under control travel fares will also come down.

The August 21, 2020 notification may be read here:

Related:

BREAKING: NRC related activity put on hold in Assam due to Corona Virus

NRC process to remain on hold in Assam due to Covid-19 lockdown

Reason for Exclusion from NRC only available for 3 lakh people in Assam?

First Covid, now floods; NRC work still on hold in Assam

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