By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: The process of National Register of Citizens (NRC) Updation in Assam has made progress as per schedule and is expected to ensure final publication of the updated NRC by December, 2016, according to a state government release. Power to take decisions on operational issues, however, has been delegated by the Registrar General of India (RGI) to an empowered NRC Committee of the State Government on 17/06/14.
NRC setsMarch 24, 1971 as the cutoff date for identifying Indian citizens. Issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants has led to the harassment of legitimate Bangla-speaking Muslims of Assam that has frequently resulted in violence.
The decisions taken by the said committee would be subject to vetting by the RGI. Subsequent to the delegation, the operational procedures have been devised by the Govt of Assam in the meeting of the NRC Committee held on 7/7/2014. NRC Updation work would be carried out simultaneously across the state.
Some of the major developments so far regarding the updation of NRC are:
1. The Government of Assam has created 1199 posts for project implementation at state, district and circle level, and also started the process of recruitment for these posts. A few crucial positions, namely, Addl. Project Director, Community Project Manager, and MIS (Management Information Expert) Expert have already been filled up at the NRC State Office, which is called the State Project Management Unit (SPMU). Recruitment process for the remaining posts has also started and all the posts shall be filled up in next 3 months. A senior ACS officer of the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Govt of Assam has already been posted as the Executive Director of the SPMU.
2. Office accommodation has been acquired for the NRC State Office. This Office will be operationalised within August, 2014. Till then the NRC State Office will continue to operate from Dispur Secretariat.
3. ‘NRC Service Regulations’ have been notified giving details on methods of recruitment, eligibility, selection committees, conditions of contractual engagement, regular appraisal for further engagement, TA and DA provisions etc.
4. All officers to be engaged for NRC updation have been identified for notification. 1500 Gazetted officers are identified for notification as Local Registrars of Citizen Registration (LRCRs) in the entire state. Accommodation for most of the LRCR offices has also been finalized.
5. A ‘Handbook for Updation of NRC, Assam’ in line of manual of instructions issued by the Election Commission has been prepared by the state government and sent to the RGI for approval. This Handbook gives detailed practical steps to be taken by various officials involved in NRC Updation and enunciates elaborately the detailed workflow and operating procedure, provisions for training and monitoring and supervision, media and publicity activities etc.
6. Verification and digitization of the Legacy Data i.e the 1951 NRC & the Electoral Rolls up to 1971 have been completed.
7. National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) has been engaged as the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for all IT related works. National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has been engaged as the professional Media Consultants for designing the media campaign for the NRC updation process including development and release of all advertisements through electronic media, print media, hoardings etc.
8. Administrative Approval for Rs 288.18 crores for the scheme has been issued by the RGI on 22nd May 2014. Of this total allocation, an amount of Rs 25 crores has been received by the Govt of Assam from the Government of India. Another amount of Rs 115 crores has been released by Government of India, which however, is yet to be credited to the State Govt account.
9. All processes are designed to be user friendly for the genuine citizens to take part in the NRC updation process. A Call Centre based Helpline would be established for which a Tender has already been issued. A few Tenders for other activities have also been issued, while for the remaining activities the same are likely to be issued shortly.