Millions stare at uncertain future: Amnesty on NRC draft

New Delhi, July 30 (IANS): The Draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam might deprive people, who have lived in India for decades, of their nationality, global rights group Amnesty International’s India chapter said on Monday.

In a statement, Amnesty International India Programmes Manager Arijit Sen expressed concern about the NRC process in Assam, saying it may render a significant number of people stateless.

“It is possible that the process will arbitrarily deprive people, who have lived in India for decades, of their nationality,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Assam government published the first complete draft of the NRC which included the names of 2,89,836,77 people out of the total 3,29,91384 people, who have applied for inclusion of their names in the document.

According to the statistics given by the government, 40,07,707 people’s names were left out of the NRC.

Amnesty urged the government to extend the time period for appeals and to ensure that all appeals are processed in transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

“Care should be taken to ensure that families are not torn apart, and appropriate legal aid should be provided to those who are at risk of losing their nationality,” said Sen.

He added, “the fate of those who may lose their nationality, as a consequence of this process, is unclear.”

“India does not even have an agreement with other countries, particularly Bangladesh, on deportation. It is crucial that the government make public their plan for dealing with those at risk of being rendered stateless and ensure that their rights are not violated.”