What is NRC (National Register of Citizens).

As the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed on 9 December in both houses of Parliament and given Presidential assent making it a law, it has started another moving on the National Register of Citizens or NRC. So basically what is NRC?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens. At present, only Assam has such a register. The exercise may be extended to other states as well. Nagaland is already creating a similar database known as the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants.The NRC is an official record of those who are legal Indian citizens. It includes demographic information about all those individuals who qualify as citizens of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently. So far, such a database has only been maintained for the state of Assam. However, on November 20, Home Minister Amit Shah declared during a parliamentary session that the register would be extended to the entire country.

The History of NRC.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation is mandated by The Citizenship Act 1955 as amended in 2003. It has been implemented for the state of Assam between 2013–2014. The government plans to implement it for the rest of India in 2021. Assam, being a border state with unique problems of illegal immigration, an NRC for the state was created in 1951 based on the 1951 census data. But it was not maintained afterwards. In 1983, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act was passed by the Parliament creating a separate tribunal process for identifying illegal migrants in Assam. The Supreme Court of India struck it down as unconstitutional in 2005, after which the Government of India agreed to update the Assam NRC. Following unsatisfactory progress on the update process over a decade, the Supreme Court started directing and monitoring the process in 2013.

The final updated NRC for Assam, published 31 August 2019, contained 31 million names out of 33 million population, leaving out 1.9 million applicants. The 1.9 million residents who were not on the list, and were in danger of losing their citizenship. Many of those affected were Bengali Hindus, who constitute a major voter base for the BJP. After the completion of the Assam NRC exercise, BJP did not find the results, meeting its expectations. BJP believed that several legitimate citizens were excluded while illegal migrants were included.The register was created because "illegal migration from Bangladesh has long been a concern" in Assam. The Amendment of the 1955 Citizenship Act, in part, helps protect non-Muslims who are not in the register and face arrest or deportation.

Who is Citizen Of India According to the Constitution?

As per the Citizenship Act, 1955, every person born in India:

On or after the 26th day of January 1950, but before the 1st day of July 1987.
On or after the 1st day of July 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.
On or after the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, where- (i) both of his parents are citizens of India(ii) one of whose parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of his birth, shall be a citizen of India by birth.

What is NRC in Assam ?

The NRC in Assam is basically a list of Indian citizens living in the state. The citizens’ register sets out to identify foreign nationals in the state that borders Bangladesh. The process to update the register began following a Supreme Court order in 2013, with the state’s nearly 33 million people having to prove that they were Indian nationals prior to March 24, 1971. The updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the list.NRC for Indian citizens in Assam was first created in 1951. Manipur and Tripura were also granted permission to create their own NRCs, but it never materialised. The reason behind the move was to identify Indian citizens in Assam amid "unabated" migration from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The list comprised of those who lived in India on January 26, 1950, or were born in India or had parents who were born in India or had been living in India for at least five years before the January 26, 1950 cut-off. Assam Public Works and Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha & Ors filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court demanding the deletion of illegal migrants' names from voter lists in Assam.n 2014, the SC ordered the updation of the of NRC, in accordance with Citizenship Act, 1955 and Citizenship Rules, 2003 in all parts of Assam. The process officially started in 2015 and the updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the NRC list. After protests of the exclusion of many Hindus from the list, the home ministry declared that the NRC will be carried out again in Assam.

What happens with the excluded individuals?

"Non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner," govt has said. Such individuals will have the option to present their case before foreigners' tribunals. If one loses the case in the tribunal, the person can move the high court and, then, the Supreme Court. In the case of Assam, the state government has clarified it will not detain any individual until he/she is declared a foreigner by the foreigners' tribunal.The government has set up NRC Seva Kendras in every district of Assam, which assist people in searching for Legacy Data, issuing of Legacy Data Code, and in receipt of NRC Application forms.

Will there be a nationwide NRC?

Since the implementation of the NRC in Assam, there has been a large demand for its nationwide implementation. The main leaders of BJP Party including Home Minister Amit Shah have proposed that the NRC in Assam will be implemented across India. It effectively suggests to bring in a legislation that will enable the government to identify infiltrators who have been living in India illegally, detain them and deport them to where they came from. But as per the Prime Minister in his latest speech says that there has been no conversation between there ministers for the NRC Process.

How NRC is related with CAA(Citizenship Amendment Act) ?

The proposed nationwide NRC, which till now remains just a proposal, if implemented will target illegal immigrants in India. But Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains and Parsis coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh won't be affected, if they claim they have arrived in India after fleeing religious persecution.This essentially means if a nationwide NRC comes in as proposed, any illegal immigrant from nations other than Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, will be affected. Moreover, many also fear that Indian Muslims may be deemed illegal immigrants if they are unable to furnish adequate proof of citizenship as they are not included in the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Why there is protest in all over India ?

The opposition to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act has rocked the entire country. This opposition is not limited to a single class or religion, even though the violence in Jamia and Aligarh may have led to large protests. The common people, particularly the poor and the Muslims, stand to be affected the worst by this Act. After demonetisation, the people are afraid that they will again be forced to stand in queues.the CAA and the Nation Register of Citizens (NRC) have evoked much stronger reactions than the decision on revoking Article 370 or the Supreme Court verdict on the Ram temple-Babri Masjid dispute. The CAA and NRC touch a much wider segment of society. While in much of the country the debate is on whether the basis of citizenship is religion, in the North-East it has been looked at from the insider-outsider lens. In the North-East, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces challenges from both its allies and among segments from within the party.he involvement of the youth in the agitations got heightened after the developments in Jamia Millia University. Police action always invites a reaction.The Protest is carried out all over the India.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Share your views in the Comment Section.