The Debate Will India Become the Home of the Largest Number of Stateless People? Recent Features -- The Debate Will India Become the Home of the Largest Number of Stateless People? International pressure to ensure India fully respects the rights of all -- August 30, 2019 Will India Become the Home of the Largest Number of Stateless People? People whose names were left out in the National Register of Citizens -- population in Assam, a state in northeastern India. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) process has put almost 4 million people, largely Bengali Muslims, at risk of being made stateless. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are 10 million stateless people worldwide. With this one act, India risks becoming the home of the largest number of stateless people in the world. What Led to the NRC? -- negative mental health have been reported. The NRC and Potential Statelessness The impending statelessness catastrophe in Assam has been seen before. In the 1980s the Bhutanese government stripped the Lhotshampas, a Nepali ethnic group, of their citizenship and forced them to leave the country. More recently, the Rohingyas, a stateless and mostly Muslim ethnic group residing in Myanmar, fled to Bangladesh after a wave of attacks. -- Thousands of individuals in Assam are already in detention camps after having their citizenship questioned. Several new detention camps are being readied to house those expected to become stateless at the end of the month. Already dealing with the Rohingya crisis on one border, Bangladesh has expressly stated that it will not accept those India -- actions. In 2017 the world was shocked at the brutality suffered by one million Rohingyas who fled violence unleashed by the Burmese military junta. A new statelessness crisis is looming in South Asia, which could affect almost 4 million people. International pressure to ensure there is due process and clarity on what happens after the NRC deadline is -- * NRC * NRC India * stateless persons COVID-19