National Register of Citizens (NRC)
What is the National Register of Citizens NRC? : Explained
NRC means the National Register of Citizens. NRC is a list of Assam's residents – prepared to identify bonafide residents and deport illegal migrants in the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh. So far, this has been a state-specific exercise to keep its ethnic uniqueness unaltered. But ever since its implementation, there has been a growing demand for its nationwide implementation. Many top BJP leaders, including home minister Amit Shah, have proposed that the NRC in Assam be implemented across India. It effectively suggests bringing legislation that will enable the government to identify infiltrators who have been living in India illegally, detain them and finally deport them where they came from.
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Who stands to lose?
The proposed Bill, which till now remains just a proposal, if implemented will target illegal immigrants in India. But Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh won't be affected if they claim they have arrived in India after fleeing religious persecution. It essentially means, if a nationwide NRC is implemented as proposed, any illegal immigrant from other than Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, will be affected. And as for those three nations, people coming from there who belong to the Muslim community will also be affected as they are not included in the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Who will be excluded?
As proposed, if a nationwide NRC comes in place, the affected will be detained and taken to large detention centers, as it is happening in Assam. After that, the ministry of external affairs will get in touch with the concerned nations. If the details of the detained are matched and accepted by the concerned nations, deportations will follow. Assam is setting up detention centers exclusively for those declared foreigners after exhausting all legal routes. Repatriation of such people looks difficult as India and Bangladesh do not have any treaty in this regard at this point in time.
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The politics of NRC
Amit Shah has been raising the pitch for a nationwide NRC for some time now. As late as this October, Shah raised the matter in West Bengal, not far from Assam. In Haryana, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar too made the promise of bringing the NRC in the state during his election campaigning. Even Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS supremo has been pitching for the same, though behind closed doors.
Possibility of NRC in the rest of India
The Centre has been pushing for NRCs in every state. Nagaland has already started an exercise to create a similar database of citizens known as the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants. The Centre has also announced plans for a National Population Register (NPR) which will contain demographic and biometric details of citizens. A pilot NPR project was launched when the UPA government was in power but was not completed.
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