NRC registration now must for Aadhaar card in Assam

In an attempt to link the Aadhaar Card with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Assam government on Wednesday decided that all applications to get the unique identity card will be rejected if the applicant or the family had not applied in NRC. The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting in view of an infiltration attempt by citizens of trouble-hit Bangladesh, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference in Guwahati.
The CM said that if there was no application for the NRC, then the Aadhaar request will be immediately rejected and a report would be submitted to the Centre accordingly. "If it is found that there was an application for NRC, the CO will go for field-level verification as per Supreme Court directives. After the officer is fully convinced, the Aadhaar will be approved," he added. Sarma, however, said this new directive would not be applicable to the central government employees, who were working in other states and did not apply for the NRC. "In this way, we will enforce a strict mechanism to strengthen our Aadhaar issuance system so that no doubtful people can get this identity card," he added.The final NRC released on August 31, 2019, excluded 19,06,657 applicants. Out of a total of 3,30,27,661 applicants, 3,11,21,004 names were included.
"Scores of infiltrators have been nabbed by Assam Police, Tripura Police and BSF in the last two months. That is why infiltration from Bangladesh is a concern for us. We need to strengthen our system and that is why we decided to toughen the Aadhaar Card mechanism," he added.Sarma said that henceforth, the General Administration Department of the state government will serve as the nodal agency responsible for conducting the verification of Aadhaar applicants, with one Additional District Commissioner appointed as the designated official in each district.