The Meaning of ‘Life’ under the Indian Constitution citizenship and who are illegal immigrants. 116 This exercise has raised concerns that about 1.9 million people from Assam could be at the risk of statelessness at the end of the exercise. 117 The NRC process is examined below to see if it has the potential to create statelessness and if this process violates the obligation of the state not to render persons stateless, as part of the obligation not to deprive anyone of their ‘life’ under art 21 of the Constitution. A Does the NRC Updating Exercise in Assam Lead to a Threat or Risk of Statelessness? The NRC is a register containing details of Indian citizens. 118 In Assam, the NRC is being updated on the basis of the 1955 Act and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 (‘2003 Rules’). 119 As per the 2003 Rules, the Central Government can collect details from individuals and families in Assam including their citizenship status based on the NRC of 1951 and the electoral rolls until 24 March 1971. 120 Accordingly, applications were invited from the residents of Assam and after scrutiny of the applications, with data from the electoral rolls till 1971 and the NRC of 1951, a list was prepared and published. 121 Anyone whose names do not appear in the NRC could make claims under the 2003 Rules. 122 After giving an opportunity to be heard to the applicants, the state prepared a final NRC for Assam. 123 Any person not satisfied with the outcome of the decisions as to the claims could appeal to the FTs established under the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 (‘1964 Order’). 124 The 2003 Rules, while defining the district, local and national register of Indian citizens, defines them in terms of a register containing details of Indian citizens. 125 So anyone who is included within the registers are Indian citizens and anyone left out have not been considered as Indian citizens by the authorities dealing with the registers. If, through appeals before the FTs, a person remains excluded, the implication is that he is not an Indian citizen. As per the FA 1946, anyone who is not an Indian citizen is a foreigner. 126 The NRC in Assam is based on information contained in the 1951 NRC as well as the electoral rolls up to 1971. Paragraph 3(3) of the Schedule to the 2003 Rules indicates a ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard to ascertain who the original 116 See C Chandramouli, Order SO 3591 E (Notification F. No. 95/2009–CRD, Ministry of Home 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 Affairs 5 December 2013) <http://nrcassam.nic.in/pdf/not11.pdf>. See also Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha (n 4) [48]. ‘Assam NRC: What Next for 1.9 Million “Stateless” Indians?’, BBC News (online, 31 August 2019) <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49520593>. Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, Vide GSR No 937(E) (India) r 2(k) (‘2003 Rules’). See ‘Legal Provisions for Citizenship in Assam’, Government of Assam (Web Page, 2014) <http://nrcassam.nic.in/rule_2003.html>. 2003 Rules (n 118) r 4(a). ‘Complete Publication of Draft NRC’, Government of Assam (Web Page, 2014) <http://nrcassam.nic.in/complete-draft.html>. 2003 Rules (n 122), Schedule, [6]. ‘Receipt and Disposal of Claims and Objections’, Government of Assam (Web Page, 2014) <http://nrcassam.nic.in/receipt-claims-objections.html>. 2003 Rules (n 118) Schedule, [8]. ibid r 2(e), (g), (k). Foreigners Act 1946 (n 97) s 2(a). 203