Assam: 8 districts to be covered in Ist phase NRC update

Assam government will update National Register of Citizens in 42 legislative assembly constituencies in eight districts of Assam in the first phase. According to an official source, the 42 LACs are from Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts.

The NRC in these constituencies will be updated within three years from the day of starting the work. A separate commission will be set up to execute the updating of the NRC and a helpline will be set up for the convenience of the citizens.

The NRC will be updated on the basis of 1951 NRC. In case of those districts where the copy of 1951 NRC is not available, 1971 voters list and other relevant documents will be consideed as the basis for updating the NRC.

The NRC of the State is required to be updated as per the agreement arrived at the May, 2005 tripartite meeting between the governments of India, Assam and All Assam students' Union (AASU) to facilitate smooth detection and deportation of illegal migrants who came to Assam after March 25, 1971, the cut of date for detection and deportation of illegal migrants s per Assam Accord.

Earlier, the Assam government had started two pilot projects in Barpeta LAC and Chaygaon LAC from June 15, 2010 for updating of the NRC. However, a violent protest by All Assam Minority Students Union in Barpeta on July 21 that year led to total disruption of work on the pilot projects.

Subsequently, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to advise the government on how to go about updating the NRC. The committee recently submitted its report before the State Cabinet and the report was accepted.

The state government then sent a fresh proposal to the Register General of India for updating the NRC.