2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(1) inhabitants of Assam are. 127 The website of the Assam Government lists all of the admissible documents for the NRC process, which would show links up to midnight of 24 March 1971. 128 This means that even if a person is a citizen, their inclusion in the NRC largely depends on their ability to show documentary linkages to India before 1971 and a high standard of proof is applicable. A number of residents have been unable to produce such documents even though they may be citizens. This is because a number of them are poor and marginalised, without documents or had lost their documents or had been unable to obtain the documents of the nature demanded by the authorities. 129 Some documents that have been submitted have been rejected on the basis of minor clerical errors including spelling errors and numerical errors. 130 In some cases, some members of a family have been added to the NRC while others have been excluded. 131 The application of the 2003 Rules have also been found to be discriminatory in practice. 132 Without factoring in such issues, the 2003 Rules place arbitrary and undue importance on documentation. The 2003 Rules do not take into account the nature of the demographic or the feasibility of producing documents from decades before. It fails to consider that citizens may not possess documents, having never obtained them due to ignorance, pre-existing inequalities and discrimination, or disparity in terms of wealth. On the other hand, the 2003 Rules automatically presume that those without such documents are non-citizens or illegal migrants. 133 Exclusion from the NRC can be overturned by a decision of the FTs. District Magistrates have to produce NRC records before the FTs. 134 So, the assessment before the FTs may still be premised on documentation because of what the 2003 Rules state as the criteria for inclusion. 135 Furthermore, the functioning of the FTs themselves are not beyond reproach and they have been found to follow arbitrary procedure giving excessive power to the executive and operating through delegated legislation. 136 127 2003 Rules (n 118) Schedule, [3](3). 128 ‘What Are the Admissible Documents?’, Government of Assam (Web Page, 2014) <http://nrcassam.nic.in/admin-documents.html>. 129 Amit Sengupta, ‘Assam: The Many Problems of the NRC Exercise’, National Herald (online, 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 3 August 2018) <https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/assam-the-many-problems-ofthe-nrc-exercise>. ‘Uncertain Destiny for Millions in Assam Post NRC’, Amnesty International (Blog Post, 31 August 2019) <https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/india-uncertain-destiny-millionsassam-post-nrc>. See also ‘In India’s Citizenship Test, a Spelling Error Can Ruin a Family’, The Economic Times (online, 17 August 2018) <https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/in-indias-citizenship-testa-spelling-error-can-ruin-a-family/articleshow/65434885.cms?from=mdr>. See Sengupta (n 129). See Sadiq Naqvi and Dhrubo Jyoti, ‘Trapped in the NRC Legalese’, (Hindustan Times, 9 September 2019) <https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/trapped-in-the-nrclegalese/story-z0rBaerWHLw00AdWrh8tBJ.html>. See Rukmini S, ‘India’s Poor Are Also Document-Poor’, Livemint (online, 6 January 2020) <https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-s-poor-are-also-document-poor11578300732736.html>. Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964, GSR 1401 [3A](5) (India), as amended by Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019, GSR 623(E) (India). See 2003 Rules (n 122) Schedule [1]. See Talha Abdul Rahman, ‘“Identifying the ‘Outsider”: An Assessment of Foreigner Tribunals in the Indian State of Assam’ (2020) 2(1) Statelessness and Citizenship Review 112, 113. 204