Way Forward

♤ Set a common Cut-off date to maximum two generations - which will ease up the process for citizens to show documentary proofs.

o The problem in Assam was the cut-off year of 1971, which made it near impossible for many to get documents that went so far back in the past.

o The NRC should attempt to prevent further arrivals of illegal migrants. Past arrivals cannot easily be wished away without causing needless human misery and also disrupting micro-economies in the states where the illegals reside and work.

♤ Synchronize NRC with Census 2021- as much as possible, as the Census 2021 will kick off from September 2020, there is enough time to tell people to get their documents ready and hand them over for verification to census workers, who can then remit them to the designated tribunals or benches that look into the validity of the documents.

♤ Bring a fair process- There were allegations that some sections had submitted false documents during Assam’s NRC exercise. A nationwide NRC is expected to learn from this.

♤ Tackle issue of illegal migration comprehensively- by focussing on comprehensive border management, assistance from international organisations such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) among others.

o Government of India can work with other governments to get authenticated copies of their own voter and citizenship records. This can be done under a large SAARC convention too.

♤ Maximize use of technology- such as utilization of digital lockers. Citizens should be told get all their documents authenticated in digital lockers, so all they would need to do is provide access to this documentation when the NRC happens.

o By appropriately using artificial intelligence and data analytics, governments can match residents suspected of being immigrants fairly easily using multiple databases.