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Guwahati, In a significant revelation, the <keyword id="383721" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Register-of-Citizens">National Register of Citizens</keyword>' (NRC) Assam state coordinator has told that the Gauhati High Court claimed that there might be 2.77 lakh "undeserving" names in the list, released on August 31 last year, excluding the names of over 19 lakh persons, officials said on Thursday. Assam's NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma, following the court's direction in October, submitted a detailed affidavit, saying that the NRC published in August last year was only a "supplementary list" and the final document is yet to published by the Registrar General of India (RGI). The affidavit said: "Considering the fact that 1,02,462 names deleted through 'incidental verification' of 27 per cent of the draft NRC, one definitely cannotignore the remaining 73 per cent unverified results where there may be 2.77 lakhs undeserving names in the NRC going by the same arithmetic." The 18-page affidavit said that 1,032 persons belonging to the Declared Foreigner (DF), Doubtful Voter (DV) and person having cases pending at Foreigners Tribunal (PFT) categories and their descendants have been wrongly included in the NRC. It said that absence of quality check in the original inhabitant marking and verification, lack of quality check in family tree cross checking and matching are the main reasons behind such "wrongful inclusions". IAS officer Sarma, in the affidavit, categorically stated that nearly 4,800 ineligible persons got included in the updated NRC for Assam. The affidavit was submitted in a division bench comprising Justice Manojit Bhuyan and Justice Soumitra Saikia in connection with a petition filed earlier by a woman. Among the 10,199 persons whose details were verified, names of 5,404 persons which should have got included in the NRC didn't make it to the list. Sarma, in his affidavit, said that all the anomalies detected by him in the published NRC were reported to the RGI on February 15 seeking necessary directions for corrective measures in the interest of an error free NRC which is of utmost importance as it is directly related to national security and integrity but no directions have been communicated by the RGI. "The RGI is also silent on final publication of the NRC for which it is the only authority to take action and till date the final NRC is yet to be published by the RGI," the affidavit said. The Gauhati High Court in the last week of October has asked the NRC state coordinator to file a comprehensive affidavit detailing how a section of ineligible people managed to include their names in the NRC published on August 31 last year. The Supreme Court which is monitoring the NRC updation had earlier rejected Assam and Central government's pleas for conducting 20 per cent sample re-verification. The NRC under direct supervision of the Supreme Court was released on August 31 last year, excluding the names of 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants. Most of the stakeholders, NGOs and political parties, after the publication of the NRC, criticised it as a flawed document, claiming exclusion of genuine indigenous people and the inclusion of illegal immigrants. Assam's Parliamentary Affairs Chandra Mohan Patowary recently informed the Assembly that the state government had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court requesting for re-verification of 20 per cent names in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 per cent in the remaining areas of the state. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had claimed that the Assam NRC is "faulty" and had rejected it. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/instagram-facebook-messenger-outage-in-india-europe-japan-and-other-parts-of-the-world/articleshow/79661777.cms">Instagram and Facebook Messenger down for users across the globe</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/infosys-hcl-tech-and-tcs-stocks-may-see-another-surge-estimates-edelweiss-heres-why/articleshow/79659516.cms">One research firm says shares of Infosys, HCL Tech, and TCS may see another surge — here's why</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-desi-gps-finally-joins-china-russia-and-the-us-after-a-two-year-long-wait/articleshow/79656300.cms">India’s desi-GPS is now in the same league as the US, Russia and China — can scan 1,500 kilometres beyond its own borders</a>

Assam NRC list not final — High Court told there are 2.77 lakh 'undeserving' names in an 18-page affidavit

The <keyword id="99211" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Assam-government">Assam government</keyword> is going to publish the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) on August 31, 2019. The final list will be available on the official NRC website at (<a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nrcassam.nic.in%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cnetalert%40thehindu.co.in%7C67ac48f9328f4a340a9a08d72b842624%7Cc8f171fb8e124c1286ff9108c97b8963%7C0%7C0%7C637025718879317205&amp;sdata=9kDrEqtpTQEJX1paVXEigY%2BOQWAEjIH1L1EWW1hWztk%3D&amp;reserved=0">www.nrcassam.nic.in</a>) under the title 'Supplementary list of inclusions/exclusions status (final NRC). As many as 4 million applicants were left out of the final draft of the NRC published in July, 2019. Of this, 3.6 million have already filled a form claiming to be included. The NRC authorities <a href="http://www.nrcassam.nic.in/">published a guideline to check names in the final link.</a> Who will be able to view the NRC? <ol><li>All the people who were not included in the July 30 draft will be able to view their status. </li><li>Those who weren't listed in the additional draft exclusions list posted on June 26, 2019. </li><li>Those who objected to their inclusion.</li><li>Those who attended a hearing held from July 5 onwards.</li></ol>In case you are included in the final draft list, you won't be able to see your name in the NRC list as it is a supplementary addition. Other people can also check the status using Acquirer Reference Number (ARN). How to view the full NRC Offline People can check the status offline by visiting NRC Seva Kendra or Office of Circle Officer or Officer of Deputy Commissioner between 10am to 4pm on all working days. Online <ol><li>Visit the official NRC website at<a href="http://www.nrcassam.nic.in/"> www.nrcassam.nic.in</a>, <a href="https://assam.mygov.in/">www.assam.mygov.in</a> or www.assam.gov.in.</li><li>Search for a link with title titled 'Supplementary Inclusions / Exclusions Lists (Final NRC) status'</li><li>Enter your ARNs to check the names.</li></ol>What are the helpline numbers? The State Coordinator office has also given two helpline numbers for assistance: 15107 for Assam and 18003453762 - for people residing outside Assam.

Assam Government is going to publish the full NRC. Here's how you can check your name

Expressing concerns over the <keyword id="301436" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="NRC">NRC</keyword> exercise in <keyword id="6354915" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="assam">Assam</keyword>, the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (<keyword id="1279363" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="USCIRF">USCIRF</keyword>) has said that close to two million long-time residents of the northeastern state in India may soon be deemed stateless and alleged that they are being stripped of their citizenship "without a fair, transparent, and well-regulated" process. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens.The process to update the register in Assam began following a Supreme Court order in 2013, with the state's nearly 33 million people having to prove that they were Indian nationals prior to March 24, 1971. The updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the list. In a report on the religious freedom implications of the NRC, the USCIRF noted that 1.9 million names of residents of Assam have been left off the updated list and expressed concerns about how the exercise is being used to target and disenfranchise the Muslim population. "Close to two million long-time residents of Assam may soon be deemed stateless. They are being stripped of their citizenship without a fair, transparent, and well-regulated NRC process," USCIRF commissioner Anurima Bhargava said on Tuesday. "Worse yet is that Indian political officials have repeatedly conveyed their intent to direct and use the NRC process to isolate and push out Muslims in Assam. And now, across India, political leaders are seeking to expand the NRC and implement different citizenship standards for Muslims altogether," said Bhargava, who testified before a congressional commission on the issue last week. USCIRF chair Tony Perkins said the updated NRC and subsequent actions of the Indian government are essentially creating "a religious test for citizenship" to target the vulnerable Muslim community, and urged the Indian government to protect the rights of all of its religious minorities as enshrined in the Constitution. In its 2019 Annual Report, the USCIRF classified India as a "Tier 2" country for engaging in or tolerating religious freedom violations that meet at least one of the elements of the "systematic, ongoing, egregious" standard for designation as a "country of particular concern," or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act. The India chapter of the report expressed concern that the NRC is "an intentional effort to discriminate and/or has the effect of discriminating against Muslims." Assam has seen a huge influx from other places, particularly Bangladesh, since the early 20th century. It did not stop even after Independence, with a large number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, both Hindus and Muslims, settling there. Updating of NRC is a statutory, transparent, legal process mandated by the Supreme Court of India. This is not an executive-driven process, the Ministry of External Affairs has said in response to questions on the NRC. "The process is being monitored by the Supreme Court directly and the government is acting in accordance with the directives issued by the court. The apex court of the land has itself set the deadlines for all steps that have been taken so far," it said in a detailed statement in September. The statement also said that the NRC is a fair process based on scientific methods. "It is a non-discriminatory process, which leaves no room for bias and injustice. As can be seen from the application form for data entry in NRC, there was no column in the application asking for religion of the applicant," the statement said, adding that anyone excluded from the list has a right to file an appeal within 120 days of receiving a notification exclusion, to the designated Tribunal.

As many 1.9 million Assamese might turn stateless says US-based agency

<ul style=""><li style="">The NRC process will be carried out across India, Home Minister <keyword id="6355521" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amit-shah">Amit Shah</keyword> said in <keyword id="48510" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajya-Sabha">Rajya Sabha</keyword> on Wednesday while making it clear that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion.</li><li style="">Shah said the Government accepts that refugees - Hindu, Buddhists, Jain, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis - who left Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious atrocities should get Indian citizenship.</li><li style="">He said there is no provision in NRC that people belonging to other religions will not be included in the register.</li></ul> The NRC process will be carried out across India, Home Minister Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while making it clear that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion. Shah said the Government accepts that refugees - Hindu, Buddhists, Jain, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis - who left Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious atrocities should get Indian citizenship. "The process of National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC," he said replying to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Upper House. He said there is no provision in NRC that people belonging to other religions will not be included in the register. "People from all religions who are Indian citizens will be included. There is no question of any discrimination on the basis of religion. NRC is a different process and the Citizenship Amendment Bill is different," Shah said. In <keyword id="6354915" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="assam">Assam</keyword>, the NRC process was carried out as per Supreme Court order, he said and added that when the NRC process will be implemented in the entire country Assam will also be included. The Home Minister said that in Assam, people whose name has not figured in the draft list, have the right to go to the Tribunal. "Tribunals will be constituted across Assam. If any person doesn't have the money to approach tribunals, then the Assam government will bear the cost to hire a lawyer," he said. He reiterated that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. The Home Minister said the government accepts that Hindu refugees, Buddhists, Jain, Christians and Sikh and Parsi should get this country's citizenship and this is why the Citizenship Amendment Bill is there. "All refugees coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on account of religious atrocities will get citizenship under the Bill," he said. He said Lok Sabha had passed the Bill and the Select Committee had approved it but Lok Sabha had lapsed. "Now it will come again. It has no connection with the NRC," he said.

NRC process to be carried out in entire country: Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Feb 12 () With Assam's NRC data going offline, IT major Wipro on Wednesday said authorities concerned did not renew the services contract for the project after it expired in October 2019.After a rigorous tender process, Wipro was appointed as the system integrator for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) project in Assam in 2014, as per the company.In an e-mailed statement, the Bengaluru-based company said it had continued to pay the hosting service fee until January end "as a gesture of goodwill" and that it is willing to continue providing these services if the agreement is renewed by the authorities."The project was commissioned by the Registrar General of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs, and was monitored by the Honourable Supreme Court of India."As an IT services provider, Wipro was tasked with providing the technical architecture and technology solutions for the project," it said.The company's statement comes hours after the central government said the NRC data in Assam is safe even though some technical issues were visible and that would be resolved soon."The IT Services Contract was not renewed by the authorities upon its expiry in October, 2019. However, as a gesture of goodwill, Wipro continued to pay the hosting service fee until January-end, 2020," Wipro said in the statement.However, Wipro did not comment on the quantum of dues or whether discussions were underway to resolve the issue. The complete details about the NRC exercise was uploaded on the official website 'www.nrcassam.nic.in' after the final list was published on August 31, 2019.However, the data is not available for the last couple of days and it has created panic, mostly among the people excluded from the list as the rejection certificates were yet to be issued."The NRC data is safe. Some technical issues are in visibility on cloud. These are being resolved soon," a home ministry spokesperson said.On Tuesday, NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma said the data has been made offline, but refuted the allegation of any "malafide" intent in it.The cloud service for the huge set of data was provided by Wipro and the contract was till October last year. However, this was not renewed by the previous coordinator. So, the data got offline from December 15 after it was suspended by Wipro, Sarma had said.He had said also the state coordination committee had decided to do necessary formalities in its meeting on January 30 and wrote to Wipro during the first week of February."Once Wipro makes the data live, it will be available for public. We hope people will be able to access it in the next 2-3 days," Sarma had said. SR MBI RAM

Assam NRC data: Wipro says IT services contract not renewed after October 2019

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Amit DaveActivists of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) shout slogans during a protest against what they say is the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the northeastern state of Assam, in Ahmedabad, India, September 5, 2019.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>India has begun constructing a large scale detention center in the northeastern state of Assam. </li><li>According to Reuters, the expansive project in the Goalpara district includes a school, hospital, and recreation area and is meant to hold at least 3,000 detainees. </li><li><keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> of the construction of the detention facilities follows a crackdown on residents in Assam that the government now considers to be stateless. </li><li>1.9 million people were excluded from the state's register, and the country has not yet outlined what fate lies ahead for them.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>India has begun construction on a mass detention center for illegal immigrants in the Goalpara district of the northeastern state of Assam, one month after the country stripped almost two million people of citizenship.According to <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1VT00S">Reuters</a>, which interviewed workers and contractors at the site, an area the size of seven soccer fields has been cleared to make space for the expansive project said to include a school, hospital, and recreation area. Layout plans reviewed by Reuters also show quarters for guards, a high boundary wall, and watchtower, it said.The detention center visited by Reuters is the first of at least 10 others planned in Assam. It is meant to hold at least 3,000 detainees.Government guidelines released this year indicate that detention centers should have a boundary wall at least 10-feet high lined with barbed wire, Reuters said, citing local media.The Goalpara camp has a red boundary wall and two large watchtowers. Men and women will have separate living areas, workers and contractors told Reuters. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Anuwar HazarikaA security tower inside an under-construction detention centre for illegal immigrants is pictured at a village in Goalpara district in the northeastern state of Assam, India, September 1, 2019. Picture taken September 1, 2019.</div></div></div>One contractor told Reuters that the rooms in the center would be around 350 square-feet each, with each unit housing 24 rooms. <h2>India made 1.9 million people effectively stateless last month </h2>News of the detention facilities in Assam follows a crackdown on 1.9 million residents that the government now considers to be stateless. Last month, the government <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31">put out a final list</a> of all the residents in Assam considered to be Indian citizens called the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Around 33 million people submitted documents for consideration by the state, though the final list only contains 31.1 million names. According to <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31">India Today</a>, the NRC is used to verify citizenship in India and is used by the government to identify anyone who immigrated from neighboring Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.Residents need to prove their citizenship by showing that either they or their ancestors were born in Assam before the cutoff date - which corresponds to the beginning of the Bangladesh War of Independence that saw hundreds of thousands of people flee the country as it split from Pakistan. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Anuwar Hazarika Laborers work at a construction site of a detention centre for illegal immigrants at a village in Goalpara district in the northeastern state of Assam, India, September 1, 2019. Picture taken September 1, 2019. </div></div></div>Those excluded from the NRC have 120 days to prove their citizenship. The Assam government has previously said those not included in the register will not be detained until they are declared foreigners by a special tribunal, according to India Today. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-citizenship/india-leaves-nearly-two-million-people-off-citizens-list-fate-uncertain-idUSKCN1VL04W">Reuters</a>, state officials have not outlined what fate lies ahead for those deemed foreigners, and neighboring Bangladesh has not agreed to accept the potential influx of stateless people.<h2>Critics say the move is bringing the region to the brink of a crisis </h2>The move has faced backlash from critics who accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies of stoking racial tensions in one of India's poorest regions, which is also home to a large Muslim population. Amit Shah, the country's home affairs minister, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/not-a-single-illegal-immigrant-will-stay-says-india-after-register-excludes-millions">said on Sunday</a> that the government "will not allow a single illegal immigrant to stay." He also previously encouraged the country to take action against "infiltrators who were eating the country like termites," according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/not-a-single-illegal-immigrant-will-stay-says-india-after-register-excludes-millions">Guardian</a>. "Our intention is to expel illegal immigrants from the entire country and not just Assam," he <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/intend-to-expel-illegal-immigrants-from-entire-country-shah/articleshow/71047249.cms">said</a>.<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/71047249.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst"></a>Read more:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kashmir-india-controlling-srinagar-razor-wire-2019-8"> India is controlling people in Kashmir with an elaborate maze of razor wire that changes configuration several times a day</a><a href="https://amnesty.org.in/news-update/uncertain-destiny-for-millions-in-assam-post-nrc/">Amnesty International</a> has criticized the NRC and says it leaves the futures of millions of people in the region uncertain."Many Indians, especially those belonging to poor and marginalized communities, do not have certified copies of identity documents or are unable to produce it on time to prove their citizenship," said Aakar Patel, Head of Amnesty International India. "Assam is on the brink of a crisis which would not only lead to a loss of nationality and liberty of a large group of people but also erosion of their basic rights - severely affecting the lives of generations to come."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kashmir-india-revoke-article-370-quasi-independence-internet-tourists-2019-8">Earlier this month</a>, India also revoked part of its constitution which gave the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir a special status and quasi-independence. The state, which is home to a significant Muslim population, was cut off from communication and is now directly under the control of India's federal government in New Delhi. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-us-marines-respond-to-natural-disasters-hurricane-2019-8">We rode along with US Marines to see how troops respond during a hurricane</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

India is building a mass detention center for illegal immigrants, less than a month after it effectively stripped 1.9 million people of their citizenship

<ul class="summary-list"><li>People across India are protesting two controversial citizenship laws that critics say target Muslims.</li><li>The two acts, known as the NRC and the CAA, would provide a path to citizenship for several minority groups and foreigners in India, but exclude Muslims.</li><li>India's deeply religious roots are now at odds with its secular constitution.</li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/">View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.</a></li></ul>Following is a transcript of an episode of Business Insider Today. Watch the full episode <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderToday/videos/1344754715706477">here</a>.In this coastal town in India, workers split bamboo stalks with a machete. They cut and shape them to make fences, homes, and baskets.Ala Uddin was born and raised in the northeastern state of Assam, but after the government implemented a citizenship list, he found himself fighting to prove his identity as an Indian national.Ala Uddin, bamboo worker: "The people are frightened. They feel scared that they might be sent to the detention camps."Ala Uddin is one of the lucky ones. His family is on the registry. But there are still 1.9 million people living in Assam whose <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-citizenship/india-leaves-nearly-two-million-people-off-citizens-list-fate-uncertain-idUSKCN1VL04W">citizenship remains in limbo</a>.In recent months, protests have erupted across India due to two controversial laws that critics say target Muslim immigrants, and even those born here.At odds are the country's deeply religious roots and its secular constitution.Ala Uddin travels from his small island to the town of Dhubri, making on average 250 rupees, or $3.50 a day, to provide for his mother, wife, and four children.But when the National Register of Citizens, or NRC, was enforced, things changed.Uddin: "When I heard about NRC I was shocked. I was completely shocked. Even though the paperwork was there, I had to leave my job and run around to get the paperwork ready."In a country like India, not everyone has their documents in order, says Milan Vaishnav, an expert on South Asian politics.Milan Vaishnav, director and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: "India is a very poor country. Even today, only about 70% of births happen with an official birth certificate. So a lot of people cannot prove their citizenship status. They're worried that this essentially is going to disenfranchise a bunch of genuine citizens who simply are either too poor or come from the wrong community to be able to justify their existence."Uddin: "I was trying to trace my ancestors and relatives, trying to trace my grandfather and my uncles. Trying to figure it out was very stressful.""The hearings were held at rather far-off places. Per person one had to spend 500 rupees to travel one way, so it's 1,000 rupees worth of commuting both ways in a day."The Indian government has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">discussed the possibility</a> of rolling out NRC in the entire country by 2021.On top of that, parliament passed the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">Citizenship Amendment Act</a>, or CAA, which gives minorities originally from neighboring countries a faster path to citizenship - but it excludes Muslims.Vaishnav: "If India were to carry out a nationwide citizens register, and there are people who are deemed to be illegal migrants, illegal residents, not genuine citizens, if you are a Muslim, you will essentially will be deemed perhaps a stateless person, and your citizenship, your voting rights would be taken away."People who are not considered citizens <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49520593">fear being sent to detention centers</a>, even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denied the camps exist.Across the country, Indians of all faiths have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-explainer/explainer-why-indias-new-citizenship-plans-are-stirring-protests-idUSKBN1YR0WL">protesting for months</a>. They claim these laws go against the constitution by deciding citizenship on the basis of religion.Demonstrator: "This bill is unconstitutional, it is communal."Demonstrator: "I got this Indian flag painted because I need to prove that I am Indian."But in some areas the demonstrations turned violent. Twenty-seven people have been killed since the government passed the citizenship act in December.During the unrest, the government shut off internet and phone networks in large areas of the country.Critics say the NRC and CAA laws are just the latest in a series of moves by Modi that are driving India toward being a Hindu nationalist country.Vaishnav: "This is an ideology which has been present going back to the 19th century. This is not a new phenomenon. At the time of India's founding in the 1940s, there was a debate about should India be an avowedly, explicitly Hindu country?"Even though India chose a secular path, today Hindus <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/">make up the majority</a> at roughly 80% of the population, while Muslims account for 15%.And now many fear that the minority voice is being muffled by Modi's laws.Last month, India's Supreme Court <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/india-supreme-court-refuses-stay-citizenship-law-200122061532294.html">refused to put a hold</a> on the CAA. Instead it will hear arguments from the government in favor of the law. Meanwhile, several Indian states have said they will not cooperate.In the weeks and months to come, Muslims fear that life in their homeland may get increasingly harder if they can't prove Hindustan is home.

Why Indians are protesting 2 controversial laws that could leave millions of Muslims stateless

The government is all set to carry out two mega exercises -- the Census and the update of the <keyword id="101292" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Population-Register">National Population Register</keyword> (NPR) across the country involving every resident next year. Below are the objectives, characteristics and differences between the NPR and the Census. The National Population Register (NPR):
 The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (village/sub-town), subdistrict, district, state and national level under provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
 A usual resident is defined, for the purposes of the NPR, as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more, or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months. The law compulsorily seeks to register every citizen of India and issue a national identity card.
 The NPR exercise will be carried out between April and September 2020 in all states and UTs, except Assam, along with the house listing phase of the census exercise.
 Assam has been excluded because the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise has already been conducted in the state.
 The objective of the NPR, being carried out under the aegis of the Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India, is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.
 The demographic details of every individual are required for every usual resident: name, relationship to head of household, father's name, mother's name, spouse's name (if married), sex, date of birth, marital status, place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address of usual residence, duration of stay at present address, permanent residential address, occupation, educational qualification.
 The data for NPR was last collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of the Census 2011. Updating of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
 A gazette notification for the forthcoming NPR has been published by the central government in August.
 On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet approved funds to the tune of over Rs 8,500 crore for the NPR exercise. 
 The Census:
 The decennial census is the largest single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India conducted on the basis of the Census Act enacted in 1948.
 The census, 2021 will be done in two phases. In the first phase, the work of house-listing or housing census will be conducted from April to September, 2020. In the second phase, the enumeration of population will be done from February 9 to February 28, 2021 with reference moment as 00:00 hours of March 1, 2021.
 For snow-bound areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date will be October 1, 2020.
 The census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing schemes of the government and plan for the future.
 The census provides detailed and authentic information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanisation, fertility and mortality, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, language, religion, migration, disability besides others.
 The enumerators also collect data related to cultivators and agricultural labourers, their sex, occupational classification of workers in non-households industry, trade, business, profession or service by class of worker and sex.
 There will be detailed survey on gender and literacy rate, number of towns, slum households and their population.
 Information is also collected on sources of potable water, energy, irrigation, method of farming, whether a house is concrete, thatched or others.
 With a history of more than 130 years, this reliable, time tested exercise has been bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics every 10 years, beginning from 1872 when the first census was conducted in India non-synchronously in different parts.
 The government of India decided in May 1949 to initiate steps for developing systematic collection of statistics on the size of population, its growth, etc., and established an organisation in the Ministry of Home Affairs under Registrar General and ex-Officio Census Commissioner, India.
 This organisation was made responsible for generating data on population statistics including vital statistics and census. Later, this office was also entrusted with the responsibility of implementation of Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 in the country. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-will-spend-rs-8500-crore-for-updating-the-national-population-register/articleshow/72952994.cms">India will spend ₹8,500 crore for updating the national population register</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/assam-national-register-of-citizens-excludes-1-9-million/articleshow/70920758.cms">1.9 million people left out of Assam's National Register of Citizens</a> <a href="http://businessinsider.in/india/news/indian-government-releases-five-clauses-to-acquire-indian-citizenship/articleshow/72908709.cms">Indian government outlines conditions for Indian citizenship -- depending on when you were born</a>

Everything you need to know about the Census and National Population Register update

<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's parliament passed a new amendment to its citizenship law earlier this month, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities while singling out its minority Muslim population. </li><li>The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> and has sparked deadly protests around the country.</li><li>The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A controversial amendment to a law was recently passed in India, sparking deadly protests around the country and leading some to question the country's democratic values.On December 11, India's parliament passed an amendment to its Citizenship Act of 1955, which sets out guidelines for becoming a citizen in the country. The 2019 revision added a religious element to the bill, providing a pathway to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities who fled neighboring Muslim-majority countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The amended act has been <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/status/1205451656495861761">slammed by critics</a> as anti-Islam, and they say it further marginalizes India's sizeable Muslim minority. Violent protests have erupted across the country in response, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-burning-protests-new-citizenship-act-2019-12">resulting in the deaths of six people</a>. Dozens more have been arrested or injured in clashes with police.The fight that has erupted over the citizenship bill is reflective of the country's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2124474/india-no-country-muslims">rising tide of bigotry</a> directed towards minorities, in particular, its Muslim population, which makes up about 14% of the country's massive 1.3 billion people.The bill has also handed more power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government in crafting a country which affords more rights to its Hindu majority and leaves room for further discrimination in the areas of governance and public space. <h2>What exactly does the bill say?</h2>India's Citizenship Act was first established in 1955 and created comprehensive guidelines related to citizenship in the country.It has been amended several times, including at 2003 amendment that authorized the government to keep a national register of all of its citizens (referred to as the NRC). Today, the register has not yet been implemented except in the northeastern state of Assam, which is home to a Muslim-majority population. The most recent changes to the Citizenship Act (often referred to locally as CAB or CAA) were passed by India's lower house of parliament - the Lok Sabha - on December 10, before being cleared by the upper house of parliament - the Rajya Sabha - a day later. The bill was signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind.The bill was introduced by Indian home affairs minister Amit Shah, a leading member of ‎Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, and it promised to provide refuge for persecuted religious minorities from three neighboring Muslim-majority countries who entered India before 2015.Notably, the act excludes Muslim migrants "as they do not face religious persecution in these Islamic countries," India's parliament <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=195783">said in a statement</a> after the bill's passage. The bill also leaves out two neighboring Buddhist countries, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, which have experienced major refugee crises in recent years. There are about 59,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in over 100 camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article30328790.ece">Indian magazine Frontline</a>, and about 30,000 that live outside these camps.The bill also ignores what the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22491&amp;LangID=E">UN has deemed the world's most persecuted minority</a>, the Rohingya Muslims, who suffered ethnic and religious cleansing at the hands of the Burmese military in Myanmar. Authorities <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-india-idUSKCN1AU0UC">have reportedly pledged</a> to deport the estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees currently residing in India, despite facing danger in their home state. "The only religion that the Modi government follows is the Constitution of India," the statement added.In the statement, Shah "reiterated that the Bill is not against any Minority in India and the rights of each Indian Citizen will be equally protected."The bill does not apply to Assam and other indigenous areas.A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25425&amp;LangID=E">called</a> the act "discriminatory in nature" and said it undermines India's democratic framework:"The law isn't truly about protecting the region's religious minorities," <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/17/india-citizenship-law-protests-narendra-modi-amit-shah-founding-fathers/">wrote Ravi Agrawal and Kathryn Salam of Foreign Policy</a>. "Instead, it challenges India's secularism by making religion part of the basis for citizenship."The Citizenship Act has spurred thousands of people from human rights groups, universities and religious groups to come out in protest this month. On December 15, clashes between police and students escalated on two Muslim university campuses - Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh and of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi - resulting in police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/17/india-protests-students-condemn-barbaric-police">using batons and tear gas on students</a>.The unrest has even led authorities to deploy army personnel and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/curfew-relaxed-few-hours-guwahati-assam-boils-caa-1628386-2019-12-15">impose a curfew in Assam</a>, as protests boil over. <h2>This is not the first time the government has targeted its Muslim population</h2>India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has taken steps to further marginalize the country's Muslim population since coming into power in 2014.The NRC's exclusive use in Assam has been derided by critics as a way to of stoking religious tensions. According to a <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW18C-01%20MDDS.XLS">2011 census</a>, Muslims makeup nearly 35% of Assam's population, and are a majority in eight of the state's districts. <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-final-nrc-list-out-over-19-lakh-people-excluded-1593769-2019-08-31">In August</a>, 1.9 million people from the region were excluded from the register, effectively stripping them of citizenship. <a href="https://amnesty.org.in/news-update/uncertain-destiny-for-millions-in-assam-post-nrc/">Amnesty International</a> has criticized the NRC and says it leaves the futures of millions of people in the region uncertain.In September, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-building-mass-detention-center-illegal-immigrants-assam-citizenship-2019-9/commerce-on-business-insider">India began construction</a> on a large-scale detention center in the Goalpara district of Assam meant to hold at least 3,000 detainees, according to Reuters. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kashmir-india-revoke-article-370-quasi-independence-internet-tourists-2019-8">And in August</a>, India also revoked part of its constitution which gave the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir a special status and quasi-independence. Over the past four months, Kashmir, which is home to a significant Muslim population, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/kashmiri-artists-resisting-india-months-long-lockdown-191207062705088.html">has been off from communication, held on lockdown</a>, and is now directly under the control of India's federal government in New Delhi. As part of shutting down communication, residents in Kashmir have lost access to phone lines and the internet. According to advocacy groups, the internet shutdown in the region is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-internet-shutdown-in-kashmir-is-now-the-longest-ever-in-a-democracy/2019/12/15/bb0693ea-1dfc-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html">longest-ever crackdown imposed on a democracy</a>. Only authoritarian countries, like China and Myanmar, have experienced longer internet shutdowns.The four-month internet blackout has been so severe that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-kashmir-accounts-removed-internet-blackout-2019-12">WhatsApp is deleting the accounts</a> of residents in the region because they've been inactive for so long. <h2>State-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims has had dire consequences</h2>The Modi government's attitudes and policies towards minority groups has sparked racially motivated clashes, and observers say that the ruling Hindu party has fostered a culture of impunity through its inaction in addressing violence.Shah, who crafted the citizenship bill, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-speech/amit-shah-vows-to-throw-illegal-immigrants-into-bay-of-bengal-idUSKCN1RO1YD">vowed in April</a> to throw illegal Muslim immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal. He has also <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/bjp-amit-shah-hindu-refugees-mamata-bannerjee-1499691-2019-04-11">previously referred</a> to illegal immigrants as "termites." India has also seen an increase in attacks against its Muslim minority in recent months. A February 2019 report from <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/02/18/violent-cow-protection-india/vigilante-groups-attack-minorities">Human Rights Watch</a> found that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 36 Muslims were killed across 12 Indian states. Roughly 280 people were injured across 20 states during the same period, the rights group added.In a particularly gruesome case last year, an eight-year-old Muslim girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed in Jammu and Kashmir by a group of Hindu men with the intention of committing the crime <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/six-men-convicted-in-rape-of-8-year-old-girl-that-shocked-india/2019/06/10/cde7b17c-8b5f-11e9-b162-8f6f41ec3c04_story.html">in order to drive away Muslim nomads in the area</a>. The country has also seen a <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/asia/in-southern-kashmir-there-s-little-enthusiasm-for-india-s-elections-26253">crackdown on protests</a>, attacks on the <a href="https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-india-media">free press</a>, and history books <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/india-modi-culture/">have been rewritten</a> in favor of Hindu achievements.<h2>India is inching towards fascism</h2>Experts have noted that India is straying away from its democratic values under the Bharatiya Janata Party. "There is absolute political consensus within the Bharatiya Janata Party that India is culturally a Hindu country," Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-17/citizenship-law-moves-india-closer-to-being-hindu-country">Los Angeles Times</a>. Harish Pullanoor, an editor at Quartz India, <a href="https://qz.com/india/844672/along-with-narendra-modis-rise-india-has-displayed-classic-signs-that-foreshadow-fascism/">wrote</a> in 2016 that India was "displaying classic signs that foreshadow fascism," including the disenfranchisement of religious minorities. "The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders," wrote Umberto Eco, an Italian philosopher, who wrote of a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/">list of features</a> that define a fascist state.In April, several Muslim merchants in Old Delhi described fears of religiously-motivated violence against them. "I could be lynched right now and nobody would do anything about it," Abdul Adnan, a Muslim businessman, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/asia/modi-india-elections.html">The New York Times</a>. "My government doesn't even consider me Indian. How can that be when my ancestors have lived here hundreds of years?"According to The Times, the consensus among Indian activists and liberal political analysts is that the country, under Modi, has become "more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims.""In plain language, they are what we now call communal fascists," Aditya Mukherjee, a retired historian told The Times. Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in an op-ed in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/india-was-miracle-democracy-its-time-downgrade-its-credentials/">The Washington Post</a> in August that it was time to downgrade India's status as a world-class democracy. "Given the lack of any sort of credible opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the atmosphere of fear among religious minorities and the attacks on a free press, we are now a 40-60 democracy," he wrote of India.

The world's largest democracy is heading toward modern-day fascism

<ul><li>The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is one of the primary issues in the north east states that are going to vote today. </li><li>While the BJP is playing the development card, Congress is stressing how they can stop the bill from becoming a reality. </li><li>It’s an obstacle for BJP since they even reiterate wanting to enact the bill in their election manifesto.</li></ul> As the first phase of India’s general election begins, the north east states of India will be voting against the backdrop of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 and the ongoing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-citizenship-bill-assam-protests-rise-conrad-sangma-and-aribam-syam-sharma-join/articleshow/67830987.cms">protests</a> in Assam. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first introduced this bill in the lower house of parliament — the Lok Sabha — during the winter session, but it is still pending approval from the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. Despite severe opposition, in its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/bjp-manifesto-for-lok-sabha-election-2019-on-data-privacy-and-protection/articleshow/68775987.cms">election manifesto</a>, the BJP <a href="https://www.bjp.org/en/manifesto2019">reiterated</a> its commitment towards the bill saying that it is “for the protection of individuals of religious minority communities from neighbouring countries escaping persecution.” There are two facets to why some people have an issue with the new amendment. First off, Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Bhuddists and Parsis from the neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan will be able to apply for citizenship provided they’ve been in India for seven years. In contrast, the currently provision requires 12 years of residence in India in order to eligible for citizenship. Secondly, it’s in contradiction to the Assam Accord. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 wants to grant nationality to non-Muslims who have come into India upto December 31, 2014. But, the Assam Accord dictates that all immigrants to have entered the country illegally after 1971 have to be deported — irrespective of religion. The fear is that in relaxing the norms around citizenship, as many as 20 million Hindus will migrate from Bangladesh to India and wipe out the local communities. Not to mention that the new amendment completely ignores Muslims. Nearly 4 million are, more or less, illegal immigrants since the final draft list of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45082757">released</a> to determine the citizenship of nearly 15 million migrants in north east India. India’s current prime minister and a member of the BJP has repeatedly asserted that illegal Muslim immigrants will be deported. Some feel that Bangladesh is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45002670">unlikely</a> to accept such a request, and thus, this may end up being another Rohingya where a large amount of people will be left stateless. Congress has played that card to their advantage backing the voters and assuring them that the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is a serious threat to their existence. The BJP has cautiously stated that they will “not take any step that hurts the interests of Assamese and other indigenous communities” and has switched gears to focus on development in the north east states highlighting how the Modi government has been able to complete multiple infrastructure projects in the area. Nonetheless, the continuous tensions have had a polarising effect in the north east states. On April 7, a Muslim man was heckled and abused for ‘selling beef’ and also made to eat pork, even though that goes against his religion. Fourteen out of 25 north east’s parliamentary constituencies are going to go to the polls today and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 is one of the major issues in these states.

You Searched For "assam nrc list" and got 10 results

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India is building a mass detention center for illegal immigrants, less than a month after it effectively stripped 1.9 million people of their citizenship

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Everything you need to know about the Census and National Population Register update

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