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As feared, the much publicised updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, instead of finally settling the critical issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration, only opened up a fresh, bigger can of worms. Both the Central and state governments, utterly confused about dealing with officially identified illegal Bangladeshi migrants, have gone backpedalling. Unable to take the next step ahead, they have reverted to the old route of letting tribunals and the courts decide citizenship issues. A truly anti climactic end to what had been broadly projected as the most effective administrative exercise in India’s northeast! The conclusion that the authorities developed cold feet when it came to dealing with the long term political consequences bound to follow the NRC enumeration, is inescapable.

For the millions of people in Assam who were waiting with dread on their citizenship claims, the ‘D’ day finally arrived on 31st August, 2019 when the final list of National Register of Citizens (‘NRC’) was published. In all, 3,11,21,004 persons are included in the NRC, while 19,06,657 persons residing in Assam have been excluded, inclusive of those who did not submit their claims, thereby proving that out of 3.3 crore applicants, more than 95% has been included in NRC. Even the 5% individuals who had been excluded from NRC can appeal to the Foreigner Tribunal in Assam, and would get another opportunity to prove their claim that they are citizens of India within 120 days of NRC publication. When the draft NRC list was published in July, 2018, more than 40 lakh persons were left out, which got reduced by more than 50% in the final list.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

Boris Johnson's blustering strategy to browbeat his rival, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and coerce his Conservative opponents has fallen at the first hurdle. Till a day ago Boris has been warning his opponents of the consequences of opposing his stand on Brexit but on Tuesday his rivals showed him the path. Johnson lost his majority in parliament.

The Reserve Bank of India is working on a new framework to limit customer liability in the event of online payment fraud. The framework will include the system for the collection of data on frauds as well as testing the resilience of the digital payment system both in retail and large value systems. According to RBI’s annual report for 2018-19, consultations with the industry are integral to this process.

This weekend’s marches against Boris Johnson and his government displayed an eclectic mix of slogans and motives. For many demonstrators, these were protests against an unelected Prime Minister and his right-wing policies. They were rightly demanding a general election so that the electors can decide whether they want yet more austerity, privatisation and tax cuts for the rich and big business.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to woo the Indian Diaspora once again when he visits the US later this month to participate in the UNGA conference. A mega community event called “Howdy Modi” (an official Texas greeting) is being planned in Houston on September 22 where he proposes to address about 70,000 Indian-Americans to wow the Americans for the third time.

Can merely merging 10 banks by dumping six financially tottering banks on four relatively viable ones make the four banks stronger or weaker? Though this is a matter of common sense and one need not have to be a financial expert to find the right answer, why is the government doing this and arguing that this move would create stronger banks?

Argentina President Mauricio Macri’s yellow balloons — those that floated high during his 2015 presidential campaign — suddenly deflated on August 11. Macri and his coalition, Cambiemos, lost by a landslide to the “Fernández formula” in the polls to officially choose which candidates will be on the ballot in the upcoming October presidential elections. Although the election was more symbolic than consequential — as the main parties presented only one candidate — it is highly unlikely that Macri will recover from this brutal blow by October.

The Indian Army has decided to deploy a newly restructured army battalion specialising in conducting cross border strikes near the Pakistan border in next few months, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said.