No Decision Taken On NRIC At National Level: MoS Home Nityanand Rai In Lok Sabha

Nityanand Rai responded to the question raised in the Lok Sabha by Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy seeking the status of NRIC.

MoS Home Nityanand Rai (File Photo)

New Delhi: Nityanand Rai, Union Minister of State for Home gave a written reply to the Parliament over National Register of Indian Citizens on Tuesday. He said that till now, the Government has not taken any decision to prepare the NRIC at the National level. 

Rai was responding to a question raised in the Lok Sabha by Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy asking the MHA to reveal the status of making a national register of citizens for the entire country and the time by when the work related to NRC will be done along with the status of NRC in Assam.

Rai said in a written reply to the question in Lok Sabha, "Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level."

Answering the question raised on NRC Assam, Rai said, "On the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the supplementary list of inclusions and the list of exclusions for NRC, Assam have been published on 31st August 2019."

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by the 2003 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Its purpose is to document all the legal citizens of India so that the illegal immigrants can be identified and deported.  It has been implemented for the state of Assam starting in 2013–2014. The Government of India plans to implement it for the rest of the country in 2021.

The final updated NRC for Assam, published on 31 August 2019, contained 31 million (3.1 crore) names out of its population of 33 million (3.3 crore), leaving out 1.9 million (19 lakh) applicants, rendering them potentially stateless The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party did not find the results meeting its expectations as several legitimate citizens were excluded while many illegal migrants were included.

The BJP has promised to implement the NRC for all of India in its election manifesto for the 2019 Indian general election.On November 19, 2019, Home minister Amit Shah declared in the Rajya Sabha that the NRC would be implemented throughout the country

According to the Citizenship Rules, 2003, the central government can issue an order to prepare the National Population Register (NPR) and create the NRC based on the data gathered in it. The 2003 amendment further states that the local officials would then decide if the person's name will be added to the NRC or not, thereby deciding their citizenship status. No new rules or laws are needed to conduct this exercise in the whole of India, as reported by ANI.