After Assam, now Nagaland is contemplating to update the National Register of Citizens. According to a Hindu report, the government of the neighbouring state may go for updating the NRC after studying how the first-of-its-kind exercise in Assam pans out.
Assam is set to publish the final draft of the NRC on July 30.
“We are contemplating an exercise to update NRC. We will initiate after seeing its success in Assam. Illegal migrants are becoming a major issue for the State,” the newspaper quoted Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjen Toy as saying.
Officials said the NRC exercise, though challenging, would be easier to handle with Assam having laid the foundation for digital updating of records.
Toy said the Nagaland Police would be deploying forces to areas bordering Assam to “check and prevent” influx of undocumented migrants from Assam. The hill states around Assam fear thousands of people likely to be made stateless after July 30 would sneak into their territories.
This fear gained currency after the Supreme Court was told on July 2 that about 1.5 lakh people who were included in the first draft might not qualify for citizenship to stay in Assam.
As per the 2011 Census, Nagaland has a population of 1.98 million. The State has 1.18 million voters, according to the Election Commission.