In a significant decision, the Assam cabinet on Thursday decided to stop issuing Aadhaar to adults in the state. Announcing the decision after the weekly cabinet meeting, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the decision has been taken to prevent illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from obtaining Aadhaar numbers.
The CM said that Assam has already achieved saturation of Aadhaar, which means there are not too many adults in the states who have not been enrolled yet. However, the govt has decided to give an extension of 1 year for people from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and tea garden communities.
The CM said that while overall Aadhaar saturation in the state has reached 102%, it has not reached 100% yet in some tribal belt and tea garden areas, and therefore a year has been given for remaining adults in those areas to enrol for Aadhaar.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “More Aadhaar cards have been issued than the state’s population. To prevent misuse by infiltrators, we have decided that people above 18 will not be issued fresh Aadhaar cards. Only SC, ST, and tea garden communities are exempted because Aadhaar penetration among them is 96%, meaning 4% are yet to be covered.” Adults from these communities will also not get Aadhaar card after a year.
The CM said that this decision will be implemented from 1st week October. Therefore, if there are any adult without Aadhaar in Assam, they can apply before October.
He said that while the government has taken all steps to stop illegal immigration from Bangladesh, it can’t be sure that it has been completely successful. To prevent those who managed to infiltrate to obtain Aadhaar cards, no more Addhaar will be issued to people above 18 years of case, he said.
The CM said, “We have been catching and pushing back illegal immigrants from Bangladesh regularly. Just yesterday, we pushed back seven infiltrators at the border. We may not be able to push back all, but by closing Aadhaar enrolment, we are sending a strong deterrent signal that infiltrators cannot claim entitlements through Aadhaar.”
The CM added that in rarest of rare cases where an adult has not yet got an Aadhaar number and wishes obtain one, such persons may apply through the DC. Such Aadhaars will be issued only on approval of the DC, he said, adding, “the DC will decide only after discussion with the Foreigners’ Tribunal and the Special Branch. This will ensure strict scrutiny.”
Notably, illegal immigrants obtain Indian identity documents like Aadhaar cards, Voter Identity cards etc with the help of locals and corrupt politicians. After issue of Aadhaar to adults is banned, it will be very difficult for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to obtain the document in Assam.
