NRC settled eligibility for citizenship

Guwahati: Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was first prepared in 1951 to distinguish Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants from then-East Pakistan.

The cut-off date to be eligible for Indian citizenship is March 24, 1971, as per the Assam Accord signed in 1985.

The people or their descendants whose names appeared in the NRC 1951, or in any of the electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, or in any of the other recognised official documents issued up until midnight of the same day are eligible to be included in the final draft.

It is significant that Assam has witnessed prolonged protests again-st ‘foreigners’. The arrival of millions of refugees in 1971 — when Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan — brought the issue of foreigners in national focus.

It led to Assam’s deadliest anti-foreigner movement from the late ’70s to the mid-1980s.

The Assam Accord, which signed between the Centre and the protesters, was able to bring a consensus on the eligibility criteria for citizenship. However, it was never translated in to reality.