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No Land's People: The Untold Story of Assam's NRC crisis
The preparation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was an unprecedented exercise that sought to establish Indian citizenship of the state's 33 million residents. The process intersected with the already existing parallel mechanisms of citizenship determination in the state. The final list, published on 31 August 2019, left out around 1.9 million applicants who risk being rendered stateless after their appeals are heard by the state's Foreigners' Tribunals.
The NRC's narrative is expansive and complex - a blend of history, politics, law, human rights, and administrative red tape. No Land's People documents the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Assam's citizenship tangle, juxtaposes it with the complications of the NRC process while exploring technical, social and legal aspects of the exercise.
The NRC's narrative is expansive and complex - a blend of history, politics, law, human rights, and administrative red tape. No Land's People documents the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Assam's citizenship tangle, juxtaposes it with the complications of the NRC process while exploring technical, social and legal aspects of the exercise.
- GenresNonfictionIndiaPolitics
302 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2022
A Great book that breaks your heart and makes you feel disgusted with the politics in India. It makes you hate regionalism to the core.
The book records the chronological development of the NRC and CAA bills. It starts from the time of the British and concludes how people’s life has been made miserable by it.
The contents are extensively researched and presented in great details with loads of references. When you read the book, which gives you a bird’s eye view perspective of the NRC act, it makes one question the futility of the whole exercise. The author narrates stories that border on the ridiculous and made me question if humanity even exists. Where did we lose it?
A wonderful read, worth every second of my time. Glad to know we have authors like Abhishek who can write such wonderfully- with lots of research and narrate it so smoothly.
The book records the chronological development of the NRC and CAA bills. It starts from the time of the British and concludes how people’s life has been made miserable by it.
The contents are extensively researched and presented in great details with loads of references. When you read the book, which gives you a bird’s eye view perspective of the NRC act, it makes one question the futility of the whole exercise. The author narrates stories that border on the ridiculous and made me question if humanity even exists. Where did we lose it?
A wonderful read, worth every second of my time. Glad to know we have authors like Abhishek who can write such wonderfully- with lots of research and narrate it so smoothly.
October 24, 2021
Abhishek Saha's book starts on a personal note. His grandmother Alata Rani entered the state in 1949, holding her father's hand. After living her entire life here, she was tagged as a D Voter and left out of the final NRC. The author soon moves to the larger picture of the humanitarian costs of NRC.
Saha extensively covered the process -- from the technicalities to the anomalies inherent. He elaborately discussed the role of people like state co ordinator Prateek Hajela, Justice Ranjan Gogoi among others in shaping the process.
The book ends voicing concerns about the people left out of the final list and whose citizenship status is in a state of limbo. The author thankfully did not burden the book with jargon and made it accessible to a larger body of readers.
Saha extensively covered the process -- from the technicalities to the anomalies inherent. He elaborately discussed the role of people like state co ordinator Prateek Hajela, Justice Ranjan Gogoi among others in shaping the process.
The book ends voicing concerns about the people left out of the final list and whose citizenship status is in a state of limbo. The author thankfully did not burden the book with jargon and made it accessible to a larger body of readers.
July 2, 2022
The book is an eye opener. the stories of real people put into detention centres on flimsy grounds and families devastated while trying to prove their identities multiple times and in multiple revisions of the NRC. The author has done extensive research and is able to convey the harsh realities of being a Assamese citizen. Highly recommend this one.
April 19, 2021
Comprehensive coverage of NRC process over the years by Saha. He brilliantly brings out possibly the biggest tragedy of this decade.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews