No Aadhaar Cards To Persons Not Registered Under NRC: Assam Govt

The Assam government has decided to link Aadhaar Card applications with the National Register of Citizens (NRC). This means that any application for an Aadhaar Card will be denied if the applicant or their family members haven't applied for the NRC. This decision was announced by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a press conference.

The Chief Minister explained that this step is being taken due to infiltration attempts from Bangladesh. Over the past two months, Assam Police, Tripura Police, and BSF have apprehended numerous infiltrators. "Infiltration from Bangladesh is a concern for us," Sarma stated, emphasising the need to strengthen their systems.

Verification Process for Aadhaar Applicants

The General Administration Department will now oversee the verification process for Aadhaar applicants in Assam. An Additional District Commissioner will be appointed in each district as the designated official. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will send applications to the state government for verification after initial submission.

A local Circle Officer (CO) will first verify whether the applicant or their family had applied for inclusion in the NRC. If no application exists, the Aadhaar request will be rejected immediately, and a report will be sent to the Centre. If an NRC application is found, field-level verification will follow according to Supreme Court directives.

Exemptions and Strict Measures

This new rule does not apply to central government employees working in other states who did not apply for NRC. "In this way, we will enforce a strict mechanism to strengthen our Aadhaar issuance system so that no doubtful people can get this identity card," Sarma added.

The final NRC list released on August 31, 2019, excluded 19,06,657 applicants out of a total of 3,30,27,661. Only 3,11,21,004 names were included in this list.