Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday informed that discussions with the Centre are underway to grant relief to around 2.7 million residents of the state who are without Aadhaar cards as a fallout of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updating process.
The CM made the announcement in response to a question by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha on the status of the 2.7 million people who have been unable to get Aadhaar cards due to locking of their biometrics as part of the NRC updating process.
“I am in consultation with the Centre on this and hopefully something positive will happen soon. But we can’t go against SC orders. If required, we may have to approach the SC at some time to address the issue,” Sarma said.
The biometrics of these 2.7 million people were collected as per orders of the Supreme Court, which was monitoring the NRC updating process. Of those, 1.9 million were excluded in the final NRC list released in August 2019, and since the biometrics of all 2.7 million are locked, they are unable to get Aadhaar cards.
“The people are suffering because of this. It has come to such a stage that due to non-availability of Aadhaar, these people aren’t able to apply for jobs or ration cards,” Purkayastha said.
{{/usCountry}}“The people are suffering because of this. It has come to such a stage that due to non-availability of Aadhaar, these people aren’t able to apply for jobs or ration cards,” Purkayastha said.
{{/usCountry}}In 2019, the SC had stated that those whose names figure in the NRC after updating the list will get their Aadhaar cards, and those whose names are missing will have to file fresh application for inclusion in the NRC. If their names get included, they too will get Aadhaar cards.
“After these SC orders, the Registrar General of India has to notify the NRC for other processes to follow. But till date, the list is yet to be officially notified... The need to notify the NRC and keep the data safe – Centre is considering these two things at present,” Sarma said.
The SC, which is hearing several petitions on the NRC including one by the Assam government seeking partial reverification of the list, had asked the Centre to look into it. But nothing much has happened so far.