NISHIT DHOLABHAI
New Delhi, March 26: Delhi and Dispur will discuss the standard operating procedures for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) here on April 8.
Top officials of the Union home ministry and Assam government will finalise a list of 15 questions, 10 common to the National Population Register (NPR) exercise and five specifically framed for the NRC.
They will also discuss the methodology already vetted by political parties and the state government for the NRC exercise.
Sources said respondents would be expected to answer simple queries in the five questions like his/her serial number on the electoral roll on or before the midnight of March 24, 1971 or an LIC insurance policy number of that time.
These documents and numbers will enable the government to either include the name in the NRC or refer the case to the state government for probable forwarding to a tribunal. “It will be up to the state government then to refer the case to the tribunal,” a source said.
Cases pending in the tribunal will not be touched by the NRC exercise.
The chief secretary and home secretary of Assam will deliberate with the Registrar General of India and home ministry officials on the modalities.
Officials from the home ministry’s foreigners division will also attend the meeting.
The government, however, indicated that the update exercise might not be complete before the 2014 elections as demanded by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and other organisations.
“The entire exercise may take more than a year. We will finalise the standard operating procedures in a meeting,” a source said.
Officials said the exercise was being carried out in seven districts initially, with the confidence of political parties and local communities.