Fifty lakh people should have been excluded from NRC: Upamanyu Hazarika

Guwahati (Assam) 6 August 2018

The convenor of Prabajan Virodhi Manch, Upamanyu Hazarika, on Monday said at least 50 lakh people should have been excluded from the “complete draft” of National Register of Citizens (NRC) published last week.

He said the fact that only 40 lakh people were excluded from the list was possibly due to lapses by a section of NRC officials.

“The 40-lakh figure is way short of the official estimates. It is likely to be reduced further following the process of filing of claims and objections,” Hazarika said.

He said in 2004, the then Union Minister for State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal had made a statement in the Parliament stating that there were 50 lakh infiltrators in Assam and later in 2016, the incumbent Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju claimed it was 80 lakh.

“The overall exclusion of names of people was 11.59 per cent of the total applicants. The figures of exclusion in India-Bangladesh border districts were far below the state average with Dhubri recording exclusion of only 7.40 per cent and Karimganj 7.49 per cent. The decadal growth rate of population in Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Nagaon and Morigaon has been between 21 and 24 per cent for the decades between 1991 and 2001 and 2001 and 2011 and 18.19 per cent between 1991 and 2001. These are far above the state average of 16.93 per cent during 2001-2011,” Hazarika said.

He expressed astonishment that a tribal district like West Karbi Anglong recorded exclusion of 17.4 per cent.