North East News Agency

The process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of l 951 in Assam began with the preparatory works. But the modalities of the same are yet to be finalised. The Assam Government has convened a meeting with the All Assam StudentsUnion (AASU) to discuss the modalities for updating the NRC and to finalise a time frame for implementation of various clauses of the Assam Accord.

The decision to update the NRC of 1951 was taken at the tripartite meeting on the implementation of the Assam Accord, chaired by Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh on May 5 and the State Government was authorised to form a separate machinery to go ahead with theˇ¦project. The State and Central Governments also promised to start the process and to complete the job within a couple of years.

Highly placed official sources said the process of updating the NRC got under way and the Votersˇ¦ lists of 1971 and the previous years are being scanned. Sources said that the State Government already submitted the proposal for updating the NRC to the Centre and the Centre is aware of the steps that are being initiated by the Assam Government for updating the NRC. Sources, however, refused to go into the details like whether the State Government received the formal authorisation from the Centre to go ahead with the job or whether the modalities have been finalised.

Meanwhile, the AASU said that the issue of updating the NRC was related to the identity of the indigenous people of the State and that the students body would  not tolerate any neglience on the  part of either the State or the Central Government in this regard.

AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that at the tripartite meeting, the Centre .promised to provide the funds required to update the NRC and directed the State Government  to form a separate machinery to go ahead with the project. Now it is up to the State and Central  Governments to carry out the job as promised.

However, the AASU is concerned at the delay on the part of the Government of Assam in finalising the modalities for updating the NRC. AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy said that at the tripartite meeting on May 5, it was decided that tlie State Government would formulate the modalities for updating the NRC in consultation with the AASU but the Government failed to hold any meeting in this regard in the last four months. He revealed that the AASU, on its own, submitted a set of proposals on the modalities to be adopted in the process of updating the NRC.

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