From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The Assam government has decided to conduct an exercise to identify the state’s indigenous Muslim population in a bid to segregate them from Bangladeshi immigrants.
The move comes in the wake of apprehensions over the accuracy of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the final draft of which was published in August 2019.
Ruling party spokesperson Mominul Awal on Monday said that a socio-economic census would be conducted in the state to identify four communities – Goria, Moria, Desi and Jolah of the tea tribes, which are considered indigenous.
State welfare of minorities minister Ranjit Dutta will convene a meeting with various organisations of the four communities and other stakeholders on Tuesday to finalise the course of action in regard to the survey.
Awal said the objective of the drill was to protect the indigenous people from demographic changes in the state, as in the absence of proper identification they would be deprived of the benefits of government welfare schemes.
He further informed that the state government would be requested to get approval from the Registrar General of India to conduct the survey.
Over 19 lakh people were excluded from the NRC prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
The register has drawn flak from certain sections with allegations that genuine Indians, mostly Hindus, were left out while many illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, mostly Muslims, were included.
Several petitions on the issue are being heard by the apex court.