Assam NRC dispute continues: Corruption, money laundering charge against officials

By Nava Thakuria*
As one more first information reports (FIR) was lodged against the corruption and money laundering by concerned officials while updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and the petitioner, Gitika Bhattacharya, a Guwahati-based social worker, in her complaint at Dispur police station demanded legal actions against the government officials along with the private parties as well as some individuals, it added more dimensions to the controversy.
The complaint, received on 13 July 2023, also categorically highlighted the matter of exploitation to nearly 8000 contractual workers, who were denied legalised monthly salaries during the process of NRC updation in the north-eastern State of India. It was in fact the fifth FIR, lodged before Assam Police, against the former NRC State coordinator, Prateek Hajela, who was appointed to look after the massive exercise under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court of India engaging 50,000 government employees and a few thousands of contractual data entry operators (DEOs).
The NRC updation process began in 2014 and culminated with the publication of a final draft in 2019, but that is yet to be endorsed by the Registrar General of India. Earlier, alleging corruption by Hajela and also inclusion of a large number of illegal Bangladeshi migrant’s names in the NRC draft, the senior officer’s immediate successor Hitesh Devsarma filed two complaints before the Assam CID on 19 May 2022 and State vigilance & anti-corruption on 13 June 22.
Devsarma was followed by Aabhijeet Sharma (lodging an FIR in Paltan Bazar police station on 14 October 22) and Luit Kumar Barman (filed another complaint in the same police station of Guwahati on 19 Oct 22). But not a single FIR has been registered, even though the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG, the highest audit body of world’s largest democracy) also recommended penal actions against Hajela.
Demanding a complete reverification of the NRC draft and also appropriate actions against all the individuals who were involved in intentional inclusion of illegal people's name in it, the Bharat Raksha Manch (Save India Forum, a non-government organisation) emphasized on a correct NRC for Assam and punishment against the guilty individuals involved in money laundering to the tune of Rs 2600 million.
Submitting a memorandum to Assam Governor at Raj Bhawan, the nationalist forum appealed to him for pursuing the NRC issue with the Union government in New Delhi. Governor Gulab Chand Kataria was also urged by the delegation, led by Suryakanta Kelkar and Dwijendra N Barthakur, to initiate an affidavit to be filed by the State government before the apex court seeking its reverification.
Assam anti-migrants agitation (1979 to 1985) to identify and deport the illegal foreigners culminated with an accord with the federal government (in presence of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) where influx up to 24 March 1971 was unfortunately resolved to get regularized. But the illegal immigration from the present-day Bangladesh continued and currently the indigenous people of Assam are on the verge of being minority in their homeland.
Patriotic People’s Front Assam, a forum of nationalist citizens, also demanded that the DEOs should be awarded the outstanding amount of money by the concerned authorities. The NRC authority spent a sum of Rs 1600 crore in the four-year long exercise where the system integrator (Wipro Limited) had the responsibility to supply DEOs, but it engaged one sub-contractor (Integrated System and Services) which paid a DEO Rs 5,500 to 9,100 per month (shockingly it’s below the country’s basic minimum wages).
Months back, social media users of Assam named and shamed three city-based television editor-journalists as the beneficiaries of the NRC scam. But they did not respond to the pouring a llegations and almost went to hybernation. These scribes shamelessly praised Hajela as an extraordinary officer and pronounced the draft as best one for the Assamese people.
The latest FIR has mentioned about some other persons (besides Hajela), who might be involved in the scam. Nonetheless, the DEOs must be offered their dues according to the laws irrespective of the fate of NRC for Assam (whether it is accepted, reverified or rejected). Their cumulative dues will be over Rs 1000 million, which is still in somebody’s pockets.
---
*Senior Assam-based journalist

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project.

Counterview

Search This Blog