Even as the Centre wants the ambit of Aadhaar, a 12-digit unique identification number, expanded across the country to avail almost all essential and important services, Assam has stopped Aadhaar registrations in the state, as the state government wants the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be updated first before there are any new Aadhaar enrolments in the state. However, the NRC had already missed several deadlines.
While Aadhaar registrations in Assam have stopped, the pace of ongoing registrations of citizens of Assam by the NRC in the state has been slow. Assam has had an abysmally low rate of registration of Aadhaar cards, with just 7% of the state’s population having an Aadhaar number as on 15 March 2017, according to data available on the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website.
A closer look at the data shows that only 0.1% of the population between the age of 0-5 years has Aadhaar cards in Assam, while 4% of the population between the age of 5-18 years has an Aadhaar number allotted to them, and only 9% of the population above the age of 18 years has been given an Aadhaar number in the state.
The UIDAI website currently does not have a single Aadhaar registration centre in Assam listed. In fact, the UIDAI does not have the name of the state in their enrolment centre search window.
Political commentators from Assam have blamed the slow pace of ongoing registrations of citizens of Assam by the NRC as the cause for the delay and stoppage of Aadhaar enrolment in Assam.
Bhubaneswar Kalita, a Congress MP from Assam, said that the people are Assam are suffering due to the absence of Aadhaar, as they are not being able to get any benefits from the welfare schemes of the Central government as such schemes are being linked to Aadhaar numbers.
“Aadhaar registration in the state has been postponed because the Centre and the state government are updating the records for the NRC. This process is still not complete and is being delayed for years. Due to this, the poor people of Assam are suffering as they are not being able to take advantage of any of the welfare schemes of the Central government. While the Union government is linking all welfare schemes to the Aadhaar, it will deprive the poor people of government benefits,” Kalita said.
Initiating a special drive, the government of Assam had started the NRC process in 2012 to update its records for citizens of Assam due to the huge influx of illegal migrants into the state over the years. The state wanted to ensure that such illegal migrants do not get to posses any official government identity cards for themselves. However, the NRC had missed several deadlines for completing its job, at times due to lack of funds, and sometimes due to intervention by the courts. According to the revised deadline, the NRC will have to complete the registration by December 2017 and the Centre is unlikely to extend the deadline further.
This problem was also raised in Parliament earlier this month by Bijoya Chakravarty, a BJP MP from Assam. Chakravarty told The Sunday Guardian that the problem of non-registration of Aadhaar is prevailing throughout the state. “Due to the ongoing NRC process, the state government has decided to stop Aadhaar enrolments in Assam so that no illegal migrants are able to get their Aadhaar cards made, and benefits of welfare schemes of the Central government reach the right beneficiaries.”
Chakravarty added that she has requested both the Union and the state governments to fast track the NRC process. She said she has also requested them to provide benefits of the Centre’s welfare schemes through other identifications till the NRC process is completed. Earlier this month, P.P. Chaudhury, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, had told Parliament that the Assam government has decided that the issue of Aadhaar enrolments by the state government will be taken up in the state after the completion of the ongoing NRC updation.