SC seeks views of stakeholders on Assam NRC procedure
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The process for receiving claims and objections from the public, including 40 lakh ineligible people who were not included in the complete draft NRC, would begin from Aug 30, as the Supreme Court on Thursday sought views of AASU, AAMSU and Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prepared by the the Centre.
Seeking the views of the stakeholders on the SOP, the court also sought in a sealed cover the percentage of the people, district wise, who were not eligible to be included in draft NRC published on July 30.
The Centre had on August 14 submitted to the court the detailed SOP for the disposal of claims and objections in the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
The top court had on July 31 permitted the Centre to prepare the details of the modalities to deal with the claims and objections following publication of the draft final NRC.
Besides All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) and Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind, the bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also asked the petitioners, Assam Public Works and Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, to submit their views on the SoP.
All of them were directed to submit their views by Aug 25.
The court said that SOP would be finalized on Aug 28, the next date of hearing.
While seeking the views of AASU, AAMSU, Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind, and the three petitioners, the court ruled out involving the political parties in the exercise.
Asw the bench asked who are the stakeholders for ascertaining views on the SOP, state coordinator Prateek Hajela for preparing NRC said in the past political partiers were involved in the consultation process.
The court also asked Prateek Hajela to give in a sealed cover the district-wise percentage of the people who have not been included in the draft NRC.
The complete draft NRC that was published on July 30 had the names of 2.89,83,677 and left a total of 40,70,707 on grounds of being ineligibles for inclusion. Of the 40,70,707 names, 37,59,630 names were rejected and 2,48,077 names were kept on hold.
The SOP says that during the course of the hearing of claims and objections, which according to existing schedule would commence from December 15, the Assam government along with the Unique Identification Authority of India will undertake the process of biometric enrolment of all the NRC applicants.
The biometric enrolment of persons who would be making claims for inclusion and those who are objected to will be distinctive. Separate IDs will be generated for those individuals.
The SoP prepared by the Centre says that while a claim for inclusion can only be made by the person concerned, the objection to inclusion of a name in the draft NRC could be made by any person.
Also there is no restriction on filing any number of objections to the names for inclusion in the draft NRC.
The SOP further says that there would be "no penalty for rejection of an application made in respect of objection for inclusion of a name in the draft NRC."
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PM Modi speaks to Iranian president, discusses 'serious' situation in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian over the phone and discussed the "serious situation" in West Asia.
Modi expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions in the region and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure.
The prime minister told the Iranian President that the safety and security of Indian nationals, along with the need for unhindered transit of goods and energy, remain India's top priorities.
“Had a conversation with Iranian President, Dr Masoud Pezeshkian, to discuss the serious situation in the region. Expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure,” Modi said in a post on X.
The prime minister also reiterated India's commitment to peace and stability and urged dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis.
The prime minister had spoken to leaders of several West Asian countries in the last 10 days in the wake of the coordinated offensive launched against Iran by the United States and Israel, in which the Islamic country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed last month.
In retaliation, Iran has fired drones and missiles at Israel and US military installations around the Gulf region, including the global business and aviation hubs of Dubai and Doha.
Modi earlier spoke to the leaders of Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Israel and Qatar, and expressed concern over the attacks on their countries, and condemned the violation of some nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also discussed the welfare and security of the Indian community residing in those countries.
Around 1 crore Indians live in the Gulf and West Asia. While about 10,000 Indian citizens live, study and work in Iran, more than 40,000 live in Israel.
