The Assam government has published the first draft of the National Register of Citizens which
includes names of 1.9 crore people of the total 3.29 crore applicants in Assam recognising them
as legal citizens of India.
"The rest of the names are under various stages of verification. This is a part draft. It
contains 1.9 crore persons, who have been verified till now. The rest of the names are under
various stages of verification. As soon as the verification is done, we will come out with
another draft," Registrar General of India Sailesh said.
NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela said those people whose names have been excluded in the
first list need not worry."It is a tedious process to verify the names. "There is no need to panic as
rest of the documents are under verification," he added.
Asked about the possible timeframe for the next draft, the RGI said it will be decided as per the
guidelines of the Supreme Court — under whose monitoring the document is being prepared — in
its next hearing in April.
The entire process will be completed within 2018, Sailesh said.The application process started in
May 2015 and a total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across
Assam.
People can check their names in the first draft at NRC sewa kendras across Assam from 8 am on
January 1. They can also check for information online and through SMS services.
Assam, which has faced an influx from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state
having an NRC, first prepared in 1951.
The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the entire process, had ordered that the first
draft of the NRC be published by December 31 after completing the scrutiny of over 2
crore claims along with that of around 38 lakh people whose documents were suspect.