62 SECTION I.A.3.3 participation and their entitlements to social protection as citizens of India. In 2014, the NRC divided the people in Assam into two formally undefined categories, viz. ‘original’ and ‘nonoriginal’ inhabitants, with Bengali and Nepali speaking minorities largely making up the latter category.87 The NRC authorities used different criteria to verify the claims made by ‘original’ and ‘nonoriginal’ inhabitants. ‘Original’ inhabitants were subjected to a less strict and vigorous process while deciding claims of their inclusion in the NRC, while ‘non-original’ inhabitants were arbitrarily subjected to stricter scrutiny.88 Now, the FTs in Assam will decide on appeals of individuals excluded from the NRC along with the cases of ‘doubtful’ citizens. It has been found that the members of the FTs are pressured by authorities to declare more people, especially those who are Bengali and Muslim, as foreigners.89 Hence, the citizenship deprivation processes in Assam are plainly discriminatory and push their victims down on the slippery slope of citizenship. This is barred by the ICERD and customary international law, and in turn, absolutely prohibits the Indian state. In conclusion, the arbitrary citizenship deprivation exercises in Assam – the NRC and FT mechanisms – violate international law. 87 See Human Rights Watch, ‘“Shoot the traitors” Discrimination Against Muslims under India’s New Citizenship Policy’ (n 85). 88 Amnesty International India, ‘125 Civil Society Organisations condemn the exclusion of 1.9 million people from the Assam NRC’ Amnesty International India (6 September 2019) <https://amnesty.org.in/ news-update/amnesty-india-joint-statement-to-condemn-the-exclusion-of-1-9-million-people-fromthe-assam-nrc/> accessed 20 July 2020; Arunabh Saikia, ‘How many times will NRC test your Indian citizenship? Depends on which community you belong to’ (Scroll.in, 25 July 2019) <https://scroll.in/ article/931646/how-many-times-will-nrc-test-your-indian-citizenship-depends-on-whichcommunity-you-belong-to> accessed 30 July 2020. 89 Human Rights Watch, ‘“Shoot the traitors” Discrimination Against Muslims under India’s New Citizenship Policy’ (n 85). See also Amnesty International, ‘Designed to Exclude’ (n 46). SECURING CITIZENSHIP