Documents for identity: Citizenship impasse in Assam, India

This article is an attempt to comprehend how document-based state policies open new fault lines and contradictions when it comes to citizenship claims. The study of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam indicates that any exercise in abstract documentation not only becomes exclusionary in nature but also fails in its purpose. The reliance on identity documents, as a tool of state power and identification, demonstrates the incoherent character of state machinery while also having overpoweringly humiliating effects when identity documents are nullified, jeopardizing any citizens' legal status.