What is NRC in India? What is NRC full form, NRC Bill, Documents, and More? Many of you might be thinking and asking this around. And therefore we are here with this, knowledge booster. Read this post to get a clear picture of what is NRC in India?
The government says that there is no connection between the NRC and CAA despite widespread protests against the modified Citizenship Act. Amit Shah, the home minister, had already established 2024 as the timeline for national NRC implementation.
The National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), which must be created in accordance with the Citizenship Rules of 2003, has yet to be notified, the Centre said on Thursday. However, when it is, rules and instructions would be written so that no Indian citizen is inconvenienced.
What is NRC in India?
The purpose of the NRC or National Register of Citizen Bill is to illegally drive out the illegally settled intruders in India. Please understand that NRC has been completed only in Assam. While the country's home minister Amit Shah has made it clear that NRC will be implemented across India.
NRC and CAA Full Form
| NRC | CAA |
|---|---|
| National Register of Citizens | Citizenship Amendment Act (Bill) |
What does NRC mean?
The National Register of citizens Bill is a register that may keep records of all legitimate citizens residing in India. Also, It depends on whether or not you're a resident of Assam, that has already had associate NRC exercise, or whether you belong to a different state.
Whereas Assam is that the solely state to own an NRC, first ready in 1951 and eventually updated in 2019, the projected nationwide exercise would be a primary for the remainder of India. Legally, there's no paradigm nonetheless for a nationwide NRC.
On December 9, once Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that a nationwide NRC is on the cards, he distinguished it from the new citizenship law and aforementioned the NRC can don't have any spiritual filter. it's unclear if the govt will herald a contemporary law to mandate a nationwide NRC.
What is expected to join NRC?
A person must prove that his ancestors arrived in India before 24 March 1971 in order to establish citizenship under NRC. Let it be noted that Assam was the first state to use it to drive out illegal Bangladeshis. The measure to make it law throughout the nation may be introduced at the ensuing session of Parliament. The requirements and draft will vary depending on where in India it is implemented.
What documents are required for NRC?
To be legally recognized as an Indian citizen, a person must have the Refugee Registration, Aadhaar Card, Birth Certificate, LIC Policy, Citizenship Certificate, Passport, or any other license or certificate issued by the government.
The PIB noted in its FAQs that adoption "does not mean that anyone will be asked for proof of being Indian." If and when NRC is conducted, similar documents will need to be supplied, just as we must present our identity cards or any other document to register our names on the voter list or order an Aadhaar Card, it was said.
Parents are not needed to submit any papers, according to the PIB. Noting the lack of a decision regarding suitable papers.
According to the PIB, parents are not required to submit any paperwork. It stated: "This is likely to include voter cards, passports, Aadhaar, licenses, insurance papers, birth certificates, school leaving certificates, documents relating to land or home or other similar documents issued by government officials. A decision has not yet been made regarding acceptable documents. More documents will probably be added to the list so that no Indian citizen suffers needlessly.
Why Assam is Different?
The Supreme Court ordered the NRC update in Assam in 2013. Migration has influenced Assam's history, and there, protests are being held against the one CAA rather than the NRC. After a six-year mass movement, the governments of Assam and India, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad signed the Assam Accord, which essentially stated that a resident of Assam is an Indian citizen if she can demonstrate her presence in Assam or the presence of an ancestor in Assam before March 25, 1971.
That is the deadline for NRC, which CAA extends to non-Muslim migrants from three nations until December 31, 2014.
To prove their or their ancestors’ presence before 1971, applicants in Assam had to produce any one of 14 possible documents:
- 1951 NRC; or
- Electoral roll(s) up to March 24, 1971; or
- Anyone of 12 other kinds of papers, such as land & tenancy records; citizenship papers; passport; Board/University certificate.
- Additionally, if the document submitted is in the name of an ancestor, then another document proving relationship was required to be submitted — such as a ration card, LIC/bank document or an educational certificate that contains the names of the applicant as well as the parent/ancestor.
What will happen to people who reject to enroll NRC?
According to the PIB, "authorities will enable that person to bring a witness" if they are an illiterate without any supporting documentation. Also permitted are other forms of proof and community validation, etc.
No Indian citizen shall be subjected to unwarranted hardship, it was added. The NRC process is used to identify citizens, hence it is unclear why "Indian citizens" are referred to in the FAQs.
Possible Deadline for a Nationwide NRC?
There are laws governing citizenship even if this has not been specified. Anyone born in India before July 1, 1987, is automatically a citizen of India, according to the Citizenship Act, 1955, as amended in 1986. A new requirement was added by the statute for people born on or after July 1, 1987; one parent had to be an Indian citizen.
A 2003 amendment stipulates that one parent must be an Indian citizen and the other must not be an illegal immigrant for a person born on or after December 3, 2004, to be deemed a citizen of India.
Despite Shah's assurance that the NRC procedure will not discriminate on the basis of religion, certain Hindus may experience the CAA+NRC process differently.
Shah consistently emphasized the order of passing the legislation first and then implementing NRC in the run-up to its passage. For Hindus who can trace their ancestors to Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, this is very important. Hindus may be included in the excluded group if the NRC exercise is conducted throughout India. For instance, in Assam, only about 3.1 crore of the more than 3.29 crore applications for the NRC made it to the final list, and at least 19 lakh people—many of them Hindus—were excluded.
Even if only 5% of the population is ultimately excluded from a national NRC, there would still be at least 6.5 crore people excluded across India. There are now a lot many Hindus who can trace their ancestors to the three nations mentioned in the citizenship statute, primarily in the Northeast, West Bengal, and to a lesser extent in Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Punjab.
A possible escape path for some of the Hindus who may be omitted from the NRC was provided by Shah's declaration in Parliament that no documentation will be required of people who petition for citizenship under the new law.
For example, a Hindu in Andhra Pradesh or Kerala who cannot connect his or her heritage to "persecuted minorities" in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh may not feel the same way about this.
Can any Hindu use the Citizenship Amendment Act as a defense if they are outside the NRC?
Home Minister Shah did use it as a shield in Parliament for Hindus who were left off of the Assam NRC. When a person applies for citizenship under the CAA, he claimed that all other legal actions will be suspended. Everyone excluded from the NRC would have eventually faced, or is currently facing, procedures in Assam's Foreigners Tribunals if CAA hadn't been in place.
It is unclear, however, if Hindus excluded from the NRC in other states will have access to the same shield. It raises an apparent paradox even in Assam.
Kapil Sibal, a Congressman, brought up how a Hindu in Assam who is not included in the NRC might use the citizenship statute as a shield in the Rajya Sabha.
You are aware of what they wrote in their legacy papers? that they are Indian citizens. They are being coerced by law to fabricate their persecution and Bangladeshi origin, according to Sibal.
Can a Hindu living in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, or Kozhikode, Kerala not have access to the shield?
This is still a mystery. It also creates a new area of doubt because a Hindu resident of these places might be forced to contradict themselves in their NRC and CAA forms.
A Bengali Hindu can claim to be from Bangladesh in Assam or West Bengal. Whether an applicant under CAA can claim to be from any of the three nations — Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan — specified in CAA is the question in central and southern India.
The procedure to be followed to apply for fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan is still unknown because the CAA's guidelines have not yet been established.
Why Muslims are particularly worried about CAA combined with nationwide NRC?
Yes, their inability to use the CAA shield is what causes the worries. Once the NRC eligibility requirements are finalized, if a Muslim is unable to meet them, she will forfeit her citizenship when the NRC is published without her name.
A second worry is related to the NRC process itself, specifically whether the exclusion would occur as a result of missing documents or errors in documents that were filed. There is concern that the Muslim minority, which is largely backward, may be excluded as a result of document flaws such spelling mistakes.
During the NRC process in Assam, a state where Muslims of migrant heritage are often particularly cautious about maintaining their Documents for generations, this occurred with a large number of applicants (both Hindu and Muslim).
The possibility of both current and future detention facilities housing persons who will be excluded from the NRC is another factor contributing to Muslim concerns. Assam presently has six jail-affiliated holding facilities, and one more will soon be built in Goalpara. This year, centers were opened in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
When discussing a national NRC, Shah has omitted Muslims in a number of comments. On April 11, Shah declared at a gathering in West Bengal, "We (BJP) would expel every single infiltrator from the country, with the exception of Buddha, Hindus, and Sikhs." This message was tweeted by a BJP account, however it was later removed.
Have Muslim political figures voiced these concerns?
During the Lok Sabha debate, Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM said that the legislation's intention was to make Muslims stateless. The Foreigners Tribunals will only handle issues involving Muslims, he claimed, if this Bill is approved.
The citizenship bill was compared by SP member S T Hasan to the NRC. Muslims lack documentation of residency for even five years. Muslims worry that their names won't show up in the NRC and that they'll be labeled infiltrators, the speaker had stated.
With four MPs, the Indian Union Muslim League has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the law on the grounds that Muslims will be "disproportionately targeted" for denial of citizenship, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, as a result of CAA and the national NRC.
A list of FAQs put out by the Press Information Bureau of the government clarifies “it is important to know that, at the national level, no announcement has been made to begin NRC”. The NRC exercise, as Shah has repeatedly said, is to identify illegal immigrants from Indian citizens.
After protests spread, the government has sought to downplay its narrative on NRC. Minister of State (Home) Kishan Reddy said the government has not decided when the exercise would begin or what its modalities would be. “The draft is also not yet prepared. Neither the cabinet nor the legal department has approved it. NRC is not going to happen immediately. Some people in the name of NRC are trying to spread fear,” he said.
Frequently Asked Question on NRC & CAA:
Do Indian Muslims need to worry about CAA+NRC?
There is no need for an Indian citizen of any religion to worry about CAA or NRC.
Will people be excluded in NRC on religious grounds?
No, NRC is not about any religion at all. Whenever NRC will be implemented, it will neither be applied on the basis of religion nor can it be implemented on the basis of religion. No one can be excluded just on the basis that he/she follows a particular religion.
Does CAA lose its lethality if the proposal of a nationwide NRC is put aside?
Owaisi had proposed an amendment in the Lok Sabha, arguing that all oppressed religious minority should be covered by the law. This was done to demonstrate that, in the event of a national NRC, the CAA will not discriminate against any one particular group. The corollary is widely accepted as being true: Without a national NRC, the CAA will become less devastating against Indian Muslims. While rejecting the earlier version of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in January, Trinamool Congress MP Prof. Saugata Roy had stated that the bill would be accepted if it excluded Bangladesh and would be acceptable to Assam as well. However, it is likely that the constitutionality of the law will be taken into consideration when the Supreme Court decides on challenges to the CAA.
Are there any undocumented Indians?
Up to December 21 of this year, 124.95 crore people received Aadhaar cards, according to the UIDAI website. In India, there were 102.6 crore active mobile customers in 2018, according to the telecom regulator TRAI. The population of India (over 121 crores in 2011, and 133.9 crores in 2017 according to the World Bank) suggests that the majority of its citizens are identified by their Aadhaar numbers or by having a mobile connection. Both of these, however, do not serve as citizenship proof. 90 crore voters were registered to vote, according to the Election Commission, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections this year. Over 60 crore people (or 59 percent of the population at the time) were of voting age in the 2001 Census, but given the multiple reference years, it is challenging to extrapolate anything from it.
Several states have ruled out implementation of a nationwide NRC, What does their defiance mean?
Opposition-ruled With their declarations that the NRC will not be implemented in their states, West Bengal, Kerala, and Punjab are making a political statement. Subjects specified in List 1 of the Seventh Schedule that are solely the purview of Parliament include citizenship, aliens, and naturalization. Kerala also became the second state, after West Bengal, to postpone the update of the National Population Register (NPR), a precursor to the 2021 Census, out of concern that it was the "first step" toward the NRC. In accordance with the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules of 2003, the NPR, a list of "usual residents of the country," is being created. Every "usual resident in India" is required to register with NPR. The NPR, in contrast to the NRC, is not a citizenship enumeration drive because it includes foreigners who have been there for longer than six months.
Indians With legit Documents :
| Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Indian population | 134 crore (That is the World Bank figure for 2017.
In Census 2011, the Indian government had counted 121 crores). |
| Aadhaar numbers | 125 crore (As of December 2019. Even accounting for population growth, it is still a large proportion). |
| Registered voters | 90 crore, In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Just for reference, in 2001, 59% (over 60 crores) of the population was of voting age. |
| Ration cards | 23 crore (As of November 2019, under National Food Security Act) |
| Passports | 6.60 crore (As of December 21, 2019) |
| Income Tax | 42 crore Number of PANs until February 2019 (according to CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra) |
| Mobile phone users | 102 crore (Active mobile phone users in 2018, according to telecom regulator TRAI). |
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