The Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government would enforce a rule under which applications for an Aadhaar card would be rejected if the applicant or family had not applied to be part of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Sarma said the state cabinet has approved the proposal to issue a standard operating protocol (SOP) for issuance of Aadhaar cards in future.
Sarma had in September announced the decision to link Aadhaar cards with NRC applications in the state. The new rule requires applicants to provide their NRC application number, which was issued to them in 2015.
Sarma said the Assam government would start verification of Aadhaar card applicants and reject applicants who have not applied for NRC. He said after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the General Administration Department of the Assam government would be the nodal agency for implementing the decision to link Aadhaar cards with NRC applications in the state. The new rule, which has now been approved, makes it mandatory for applicants to provide their NRC application number, which was under the new rule.
“After the initial application, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will send it to the state government for verification. The local Circle Officer (CO) will first check whether the applicant or his parents or family have applied for inclusion in the NRC ”, Sarma was quoted by news agency PTI.
If there was no application for the NRC, the Aadhaar request would be rejected immediately and a report would be submitted to the Centre, the Chief Minister said.
“If it is found that there was an application for NRC, the CO will proceed with field-level verification as per the Supreme Court guidelines. After the officer is fully convinced, the Aadhaar will be approved,” he added.
Infiltration concerns from Bangladesh
Sarma said concerns about infiltration from Bangladesh were behind the state government's decision to tighten Aadhaar standards.
“Dozens of infiltrators have been arrested by the Assam Police, Tripura Police and the BSF in the last two months. That is why infiltration from Bangladesh is a concern for us. We need to strengthen our system and that is why we have decided to tighten the Aadhaar card mechanism,” Sarma said.
The new guideline would not apply to the central government employees who were working in other states and did not apply for the NRC.
The process of updating the NRC list began in 2015 and was halted after the publication of a “final NRC” in 2019. The exercise aims to determine whether the applicant had entered the state before March 24, 1971.
Those who entered Assam before that date were to be included in the NRC and recognized as citizens. Those excluded from the NRC would be tried in the state's Foreigner Tribunal system.
The final NRC was published on August 31, 2019, excluding 19,06,657 people. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were recorded out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.
If there has been no application for the NRC, the Aadhaar request will be rejected immediately.
