![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The article studies the process of National Register of citizens in relation to the changing Indian citizenship laws. Scholars note that the Indian citizenship was based on Jus Soli, but gradually it is changing to Jus Sanguinis which is leading to an exclusionary framework (Roy 2020; Jayal 2019a). The process of exclusion is based on ‘foreigner’, which is in constant flux in the context of post-colonial India. The foreigner as conceptualized by Assamese leadership is based on regional and historical markers, whereas the Indian state understands foreigner as ‘not Indian’. The article argues that the exercise of NRC is reformulating the conception of ‘foreigner’ and simultaneously introducing new forms of legality to acquire citizenship through the bureaucratic process of documentation. The article shows how citizenship laws are changing by taking region based specific concerns that are rooted in colonial history which are devising exclusionary forms of citizenship.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and Dr. Suraj Gogoi for his suggestions on the literature on Assam and Northeast India.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Note: Bengali and Bengalee is used interchangeably in the article to mean people from Bengal.
2 The Citizenship Act Citation1955. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/4210/1/Citizenship_Act_1955.pdf
3 Foreigner’s Tribunal Order Citation1964. https://upload.indiacode.nic.in/showfile?actid=AC_CEN_5_23_00048_194631_1523947455673&type=order&filename=Foreigners%20(Tribunal)%20Order,1964.pdf
4 The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act Citation1983 https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1983-39.pdf
5 The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity cards) Rules Citation2003. http://nrcassam.nic.in/images/pdf/citizenship-rules.pdf
6 Government of Assam, Office of the State Coordinator of National Registration (NRC), Assam. Accessed July 1, 2021. http://nrcassam.nic.in/receipt-application-form.html
7 See Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooh. “Citizenship and Assam: An Explainer on the Legal Questions That Still Loom Large.” The Wire. November 25, 2019. http://www.google.com/amp/s/m.thewire.in/article/rights/citizenship-and-assam-the-legal-questions-that-still-loom-large/amp
8 The study was conducted in January-March, 2020.
9 The Assamese language was not one homogenous dialect, it is spoken differently by hill people and people of the plains. As it will be shown in this article, one homogenous language was created by the Assamese middle class which left out various dialects. For further reference see. Nag (Citation1990) and Sharma (Citation2011).
10 It is important to mention, other than Bengalis, who were brought in by the British and their policies, the Marwaris and Banias from central and western India started to settle in the region. See Nag (Citation1998) and Sharma (Citation2011).
11 The use of the term lazy native in the context of Assam by Sharma (Citation2011) is for reference from the British historiographic account. It does not extend on how the term was coined specifically to get indentured, hardworking, and cheap labor from neighboring states rather than using native labors. The idea of lazy natives that was used by the British to describe the local labor in the South-east Asian region (Alatas Citation2010). The population of Malacca straits, Indonesia, Philippines was categorized as lazy and the indentured labor from India and China was in high demand.
12 In order to engage with partition specific to the context of Assam, see (Misra Citation2018), where he argues that Assam carries the unresolved past of partition. Otherwise, for partition in the Bengal region see (Alexander, Chatterji, and Jalais Citation2016). For geographical context and mobility across the east India region, see Ludden.
13 Elgot, Max, and Karim Hussain. India partition: the Red Cross response to the refugee crisis. British Red Cross. https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/our-movement/our-history/india-partition-the-red-cross-response-to-the-refugee-crisis
14 United Nations, UNHCR. The State of The World's Refugees Citation2000 - Chapter 3. Accessed July 25, 2021 https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9bab0.html
15 Chandrachud, A. The Origins of Indian Citizenship. Bloomberg Quint. December 26, 2019. https://www.bloombergquint.com/opinion/citizenship-amendment-act-the-unsecular-origins-of-indian-citizenship-by-abhinav-chandrachud
16 The pressure was on the government of the day to abolish the Line System and give more and more uncultivated land to the immigrants. So, the Saadula Ministry adopted a new resolution of land settlement under the slogan ‘grow more food’ which the then Viceroy translated to ‘grow more moslems’ as bringing more land under immigrant cultivation would mean bringing in more immigrants.
17 Ibid.
18 United Nations, UNHCR. The State of The World's Refugees Citation2000 - Chapter 3. Accessed July 25, 2021 https://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9bab0.html
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 See. (Fernandes Citation2005)
22 Sentinel Digital Desk. NRC: A Chronology. The Sentinel. August 21, Citation2019. https://www.sentinelassam.com/top-headlines/nrc-a-chronology/
23 Salam, Ziya Us. Harsh Mander: ‘Foreigner’s tribunals are a hoax’. Frontline. October 11, 2019. https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article29498787.ece
24 Venkatesan, V. The NRC case: The Supreme Court’s role. Frontline. October 11, 2019. https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article29498707.ece
25 Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooah . Final NRC Published in Assam; 19.06 Lakh Applicants Left Out. The Wire. August 31, Citation2019. https://thewire.in/rights/final-nrc-published-assam
27 Mukharji, Deb. CAA-NRC: Lessons from the Assam experience. . Hindustan Times. December 20, 2019. https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/caa-nrc-lessons-from-the-assam-experience/story-b2IyUUzmyErRgMungWlKxH.html
28 CJP Team. NRC anxiety allegedly leads to one more suicide in Assam. Citizens for Justice and Peace. February 1, 2020. https://cjp.org.in/nrc-anxiety-allegedly-leads-to-one-more-suicide-in-assam/
30 Bhushan, Prashant. Conduct of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam is questionable. The Indian Express. September 20, 2019 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/assam-nrc-final-list-foreigners-tribunals-6011356/
31 Mustafa, Faizan. Kangaroo tribunals: Foreigners’ Tribunals almost another arm of BJP government in Assam. The Indian Express. October 8, 2019 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/supreme-court-foreigners-tribunals-assam-nrc-6058158/