Report #1: Impoverished and Marginalised in Assam Acknowledgments We feel some satisfaction in sharing this report with all those concerned with the risk of statelessness faced by millions in Assam. Close to 2 million are excluded from the NRC published in August 2020. Currently India is trying to initiate a process to review the list of included, even though such a proposal was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2019. The intention, clearly, is to exclude many more than currently excluded. Thus, the number of excluded, and at risk of statelessness, could be a much higher number. At the same time those declared foreigners are detained in badly built and maintained jails turned into detention centres. They are excluded from access to subsidized food distribution systems. The Assam Land Policy, 2019, prescribes land allotment and continuation of possession for ‘indigenous cultivators’ without there being any definition of ‘indigenous’, thus setting stage for excluding those seen as ‘non-indigenous’. Such exclusionary policies are being already practiced in Assam. It is in this context that this report tries to document the hardships and exclusions suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic by the people at risk of statelessness. This report would not have been possible without the hard work done by researcher Padmini Baruah, who planned the data collection, coordinated with field enumerators, compiled the data and wrote the report. Contributions to developing the concept and data collection formats and commenting on the draft report was done by members of the network, especially Angshuman Choudhury, Anjuman Begum, Bidhayak Das, Oliullah Laskar, and Ravi Hemadri. The draft report was reviewed by Amal de Chickera, Co-Director of Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. It has benefited immensely from the comments received. We thank following persons who collected data in eight districts of Assam: Mirza Lutfor Rahman (Kamrup), Saddam Hussain (Darrang), Kamal Nath (Silchar), Iftikaar Hussain Siddiqui (Bongaigaon), Hussain Ahmed Madani (Goalpara), Amir Hussain (Baksa & Barpeta), Shamim Ahmed Barbhuyan (Hojai). We hope this report will add to our knowledge of the deprivations people at risk of statelessness in Assam face and how these formally and informally ordered exclusions can be addressed. Right to Nationality and Citizenship Network January 2021 4