NRC update: Assam Adivasis fear becoming stateless

Guwahati: Lakhs of the state’s Adivasis, India’s one of the biggest indigenous groups, who were brought from the Chotanagpur Plateau by the British to work in tea plantations here in the mid-19th Century, are apprehending of being turned into stateless people because of certain provisions in the ongoing updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951.
The state government has initiated discussions with the Centre and the Registrar General of India (RGI) for devising a new mechanism to include the Adivasis in the updated NRC list. The Adivasis with a population of 70 to 80 lakh constitute the third biggest community after caste Assamese and minorities. They also play a key role in electoral politics as they are the deciding factor in 26 of the 126 assembly constituencies.
The RGI has launched the mega exercise in the state to enlist Indian citizens living in Assam by including the persons, whose names appear in the NRC of 1951 or in any of the electoral rolls up to the midnight of 24th March, 1971 and their descendants.
The Adivasis say names of many of their predecessors have neither been enlisted in the NRC of 1951 nor entered in the voters’ lists till 1971, without which they cannot prove their relationship with their forefathers, who were settled in the state about 175 years ago.
State home and political commissioner and secretary Prateek Hajela, who is the state coordinator for NRC, said, “The Adivasi population should not have any fear of being left out. About 89.5% of the Adivasi population in the tea belt has found records of its predecessor. However, we do not want a single Adivasi to be excluded because of lack of documents. We have written to the RGI and Centre for a new mechanism to include all them.”
On Wednesday, the Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association submitted a memorandum to governor P B Acharya demanding unconditional inclusion of their names in the NRC. Contrary to the state government’s claims, the students’ body said that 80% of their population does not have its names either in the NRC of 1951 or the electoral rolls till 1971. The students’ body said that as most of the Adivasi people have been living in quarters provided by tea gardens where they are employed, they have no land of their own to provide land documents to prove their citizenship in the state.
Rapahel Kujur, president of the All Adivasi Students’ Association said the state government has told them that not a single member of the community will be left out. “As of now, we have asked our people to submit the applications forms, with or without documents,” Kujur said.