Assam NRC Final Status 2019: Over 3 Crore People Awaiting Citizenship

Guwahati: After a massive hue and cry about the previous National Register of Citizens (NRC) list released on August 31, the Assam government on Saturday released the final list online with statuses of as many as 3.30 crore applicants. All the individuals in Assam, who were a part of the Assam NRC exercise meant to root out the illegal immigrants from the state, can now check their status on the official website of NRC. People who had applied for the inclusion of their names in the NRC list and have a valid ARN number can check their final status online at Assam government official website - nrcassam.nic.in.

The new list published online includes the names of those who have been accepted as citizens, those who have been rejected and also those whose appeals are pending. The online list also allow individuals to check on statuses of family members.
Notifying the date for this publication earlier this week, the Assam NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela had said that the time-frame for those excluded from the list to get the rejection order will be 'announced shortly'.

“Whereas the final NRC publication on August 31, 2019, consisted only of supplementary lists, queries are being received about publication of results of all members of a family irrespective of their involvement in the Claims and Objections process. The results for the complete family will be available for display online from September 14, 2019. This display will be available only online,” a press statement by Assam government read.

Those still excluded from the list published online today will have to to prove their citizenship over the next few months at foreigners' tribunals, which are quasi-judicial bodies that will rule on their fates, across the state. As per the guidelines issued by the centre, they may approach one of more than 300 tribunals within 120 days of the date of publication - i.e. August 31.

Those who have been shortlisted but yet needs another round of legal scrutiny at the hands of the tribunal will be allowed to stay in the country, while those who do not will be asked to head for country's first full-fledged detention centre in Goalpara district of Assam.

More than lakh people in Assam were left facing an uncertain future on August 31 after the final NRC was released. The list was released 14 years after a decision on it was first taken and four years after the exercise to compile it began in full swing under the monitoring of the Supreme Court. According to reports, out of the 3,30,27,661 applicants, 3,11,21,004 made it, leaving out 19,06,657 residents of Assam.