The final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was finally released on Saturday. The list has identified 3.11 crore applicants as citizens excluding names of 19.07 lakh hopefuls, NRC state Coordinator's office said.
The status of both inclusion and exclusion can be viewed online on the NRC website, www.nrcassam.nic.in.
The final list was published at 10 am and the hard copies of the Supplementary List of Inclusions are available for public viewing at the NRC Seva Kendras (NSK), offices of the deputy commissioner and offices of the Circle Officer during office hours, the statement said.
Also Read: NRC Assam: Additional exclusion list released; here's how to check name
The NRC list consists of names of all those people who were able to provide proof of their citizenship under a Supreme Court-monitored mechanism. In order to prove their citizenship, people in Assam are required to show documentary evidence that either them or their ancestors were born in Assam before March 25, 1971, the cut-off date for the same.
"The NRC, when updated, shall become an important legal document to fall back upon for a citizen with reference to his/her status of Indian Citizenship," says the government.
The draft NRC was partly published on December 31, 2017, while the full draft was released on July 30, 2018. A total of 2,89,83,677 people out of 3,29,91,384 applicants were identified to be eligible for inclusion in the list.
The first NRC that was prepared in Assam was in 1951 after the census of 1951 was undertaken. There were growing demands over the past few decades that the NRC of the state of Assam should be updated. The demands sprang following cross-border illegal migration into Assam, mainly from Bangladesh which has been opposed by the locals. The resistance to this unrestrained illegal influx of people has caused violence and protests across the state in the past.