CAG detects anomalies in Assam NRC updation

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has detected large-scale anomalies in the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

Background:

• The Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise was started in October 2013.
• Over 19 lakhs were excluded from Assam’s final NRC.
• The CAG submitted its report to the 126-member Assam assembly on December 24^th,

Key Points from the report:

• Lack of proper planning: 215 software utilities were added haphazardly to the core software used for the updating exercise.
  • These were done without following the due process of either software development or selection of vendors through eligibility assessment following a national tendering.
  • Highly secure and reliable software was required for such an exercise.
• Risk of data tampering" in the NRC for Assam:
  • It is due to “improper" software development.
  • The process hasn’t left any audit trail.
  • The intended objective of preparing a valid and error-free NRC was not met.
• Increased Cost: The project cost for the NRC escalated from Rs 288.18 crore to Rs 1,602.66 crore due to the time taken to undertake the exercise.

Recommendations:

• Penal Action: The CAG sought penal measures against system integrator Wipro Limited for violation of the Minimum Wages Act:
  • The payment was made to operators at a rate less than the minimum wage.
  • The number of wages paid to the outsourced staff was 45.59-64.27% less than the rate approved by the NRC coordination committee.
• The difference in wages allowed the undue benefit of Rs 155.83 crores to the system integrator and the labour contractor.

What is the National Register of Citizens?

• NRC is a register prepared in respect of each village, showing the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicating against each house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein.
• The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently.
  • It has been updated in Assam only for now and the government plans to update it nationally as well.
• Purpose: To separate “illegal” immigrants from “legitimate” residents.
• Nodal Agency: Registrar General and Census Commissioner India.

Status of the NRC elsewhere in the Northeast:

• Assam is the only State in the region that undertook an exercise to update the NRC of 1951 with 24th March 1971, as the cut-off date for citizenship of a person.
• Nagaland attempted a similar exercise called RIIN (Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland) in June 2019 to primarily sift the indigenous Nagas from the non-indigenous Nagas.

About the Comptroller and Auditor General:

• Constitutional Body: Article 148 provides for an independent office of the CAG. It is the supreme audit institution of India.
• Other Provisions Related to CAG include:
  • Articles 149-151 (Duties & Powers, Form of Accounts of the Union and the States, and Audit Reports)
  • Article 279 (calculation of net proceeds, etc.)
• Not eligible for further office, either under the Government of India or of any state, after he ceases to hold his office.
• Salary and other service conditions are determined by the Parliament.
• No minister can represent the CAG in Parliament.
• The administrative expenses of the office of the CAG, including all salaries, allowances, and pensions of persons serving in that office are charged to the Consolidated Fund of India.