GUWAHATI, June 24 – Though the decision to computerise and update the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951 was taken in a tripartite meeting on the implementation of the Assam Accord way back in 1999, even the process of computerising existing portions of the vital document has not yet been completed.
The issue of preserving and updating the NRC figured in almost all the tripartite and bipartite talks on the implementation of the Assam Accord since 1999 but the process of computerisation started only in Dhubri district and so far the State Government has not been able to start the work in other districts of the State. Under the circumstances, it will take years to even start the process of updating the NRC. As per the minutes of a tripartite meeting held on November 17, 1999, the representative of the State Government informed that the process of preservation and computerisation of the NRC started in all the districts of Assam. The Central Government representative recommended that the old records relating to the NRC should be fed into computers and CD ROMs should be prepared. The Central Government promised to provide an amount of Rs 20 lakh for computerisation and preservation of the NRC and an amount of Rs five lakh was released in 2000.
The issue came up for discussion again in the tripartite meeting held in February last year where the representatives of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) alleged that the promise of computerisation and updating of the NRC was not carried out by the State Government. The State Government representatives revealed that orders for supply of computer hardware were placed and the NIC developed computer software for the purpose. The work started in Dhubri district and the State Government submitted a proposal to the Government of India for releasing more funds. The State Government representative further said in the meeting that updating of the NRC might not be 100 per cent foolproof as full records of citizens were not available and cent percent registration of births and deaths was not done in the State.
Though the State Government announced way back in 1999 that the process of preservation of the NRC started in all the districts, in reality the job started only in Dhubri district and the fact was admitted by the State Government representatives in a bipartite meeting on November 7 last year. As per the minutes of the meeting, the State Government representative revealed that the process of computerisation of the NRC started in Dhubri district only with personnel provided by the Deputy Commissioner. Six computers were purchased with the funds provided by the Central Government for the purpose. Till that date the State Government did not submit the utilisation certificate of the funds released by the Central Government and the State representative admitted that fact. The State Government also failed to specify a time frame for completing the process.
It may be mentioned that though the State Government was allowed to computerise and update the NRC, it failed to carry out the job properly and since 1999, the process of computerisation started only in one district.
Meanwhile, commenting on the issue, AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that the Central and State Governments agreed to computerise and update the NRC due to persistent pressure from the AASU. He said that in the meetings, the state representatives admitted that parts of the NRC were missing in six districts of the State and the AASU said that the voters list should be used in the areas where the NRC was missing to update the same. He said that the State and Central Government accepted the proposal and though an amount of Rs five lakh was released by the Centre way back in the year 2000, the State Government failed to utilise the amount on time to start the work. Even after more than three years of receiving the first instalment of the fund from the Centre, the State Government could start the work of computerisation of the NRC only in one district of the State and at this rate, even the completion of the process of computerisation would take years. The process of updating the NRC can be started only after the completion of computerisation of the existing document. This slow progress of the job proved the lack of sincerity of the State Government, he added.