NRC update: No decision yet on illegal migrants’ fate

GUWAHATI: The Centre has kept its decision on the fate of illegal foreigners, who are expected to be filtered out after the NRC update, in abeyance, at least for now.
Union home secretary Rajib Gauba, after reviewing the updating process here on Friday, indicated that the issue of identified illegal foreigners is outside the purview of this mammoth exercise carried out by the Registrar General of India to list the names of Indian citizens living in the state with the first NRC of 1951 and the electoral rolls of 1971as the base lines.

"Our job is to compete the task at hand. We have been emphasizing that the draft of the NRC will be published after which there are provisions of claims and objections under the rules. What happens after the final NRC is published is a different issue," said Gauba.

He added, "We have rules of law and whatever happens will be under the judicial process. Let's not make any presumption," he said in reference to a query on what policy the Centre has for deporting illegal foreigners identified after the NRC update process is over. The first draft will be published on January 1, immediately after the expiry of the December 31 midnight deadline set by the Supreme Court. Citizenship claims of about 2.38 crore people out of a total 3.28 crore applicants have been verified so far. The soon-to-be published draft will contain the names of Indian citizens who passed this exercise. "The job of the RGI is to scrutinize documents of each applicant irrespective of caste and creed. The process has been done systematically," he said.

The home secretary allayed fears of being left out of the NRC by a section of people. "This is only a draft NRC. Those who do not find their names in the first draft need not worry. There will opportunities for subsequent verification of documents and the there is also a provision for claims and objections under the rules," he added.