The National Register of Citizens (NRC) contains names of Indian citizens. The NRC was prepared in 1951, after the Census of 1951. It was prepared by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during that Census and was further kept in the offices of Deputy Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officers according to instructions issued by the Government of India in 1951.
The NRC is being updated in Assam to detect Bangladeshi nationals, who may have illegally entered the State after the midnight of March 24, 1971, the cut-off date. This date was originally agreed to in the 1985 Assam Accord, signed between the then Rajiv Gandhi government and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).
Assam government published the first draft of an updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) of the State. NRC is a process by which a bona fide Indian citizen can be distinguished from a foreigner.
Assam is the only state to have its own register of citizens. The publication of the first draft of the NRC by December 31, 2017, was ordered by the Supreme Court.