This Article is From Aug 29, 2019

Don't Believe In Rumours About Assam Citizen List: Home Ministry

The ministry said that if a person's name doesn't appear in the citizen list, it does not mean that the person will be declared a foreigner.

Don't Believe In Rumours About Assam Citizen List: Home Ministry

The final National Register of Citizen or NRC list will be published on August 31.

New Delhi:

Do not believe in rumours on Assam citizen list publication, the Ministry of Home Affairs urged the people on Thursday.

The ministry emphasised that if a person's name doesn't appear in the citizen list, it does not mean that the person will be declared a foreigner.

"Every individual left out from final Assam citizen list can appeal to Foreigners Tribunals, an increased number of which are being established," the official handle of Ministry of Home Affairs tweeted.

The final National Register of Citizen or NRC list will be published on August 31.

In its guidelines posted on Twitter, the Home Ministry spokesperson said that for those who have been left out of the final list, the time limit for filing appeals in Foreign Tribunals has been increased from 60 to 120 days.

"The government will provide legal aid to those needy people who have been excluded from National Register of Citizens of India through the District Legal Services Authorities," the ministry said.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC), first published in Assam in 1951, is being updated as per directions of the Supreme Court to segregate Indian citizens living in Assam from those who have illegally entered the state from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.

Last month, the Supreme Court had extended the deadline for the final publication of National Register of Citizens from July 31 to August 31. It had rejected a plea to extend the National Register of Citizens deadline for sample verification.

When the draft citizen list was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The draft list included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications.

In the list published in June 2019, over one lakh more people were excluded.

Assam has seen a huge influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century.

Ahead of the move, central paramilitary forces have been directed to maintain law and order in Assam.

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