Forced to prove their citizenship

At risk: Questions over who is an Indian have long lingered over Assam, which many believe is overrun with immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. — AFP

Krishna Biswas is scared. Unable to prove his Indian citizenship, he is at risk of being sent to a detention centre, far away from his modest hut built of bamboo wood that looks down on fields lush with corn.

Biswas says he was born in India’s northeastern Assam state. So was his father, almost 65 years ago. But the government says that to prove he is an Indian, he should furnish documents that date back to 1971.