Cecily Zamora
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register of all Indian citizens whose creation was mandated by the 2003 amendment of the Citizenship Act, 1955. It is a list of people who can prove they came to the state of Assam by 24 March 1971, a day before neighbouring Bangladesh became an independent country. The NRC first gained national prominence with its implementation in Assam, but there has been a growing demand for its nationwide implementation to identify and expel illegal immigrants. The proposed nationwide NRC, which remains a proposal, has been criticised for its potential to marginalise Muslims, a charge the government denies.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Identify Indian citizens |
| Registering Body | National Population Register (NPR) |
| Listing Levels | Local, sub-district, district, state and national |
| Listing Requirements | Every "usual resident of India" |
| Register Type | Application-based in Assam, enumeration-based in the rest of India |
| Listing Decisions | Decided by local officials |
| Citizenship Status Decisions | Decided by local officials |
| Listing Implementation | No new rules or laws are needed to conduct this exercise in the whole of India |
| Listing Deadline | 2024 |
| Listing Protests | CAA and NRC protests across India |
| Listing Supporters | BJP, ABVP |
| Listing Opposition | Indian National Congress, Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala and Rajasthan and union territory of Puducherry |
| Listing Controversy | Critics say the new citizenship law is part of a government plan to marginalize Muslims |
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What You'll Learn
Assam's register of citizens
Assam has long experienced illegal migration from neighbouring Bangladesh. The issue of illegal infiltration was becoming a formidable problem in the state as migrants enjoyed political patronage. In 1951, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared for the first time in Assam during the conduct of the 1951 Census. However, it was not maintained afterward.
The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, mandated the expulsion of illegal immigrants from the state of Assam. In 1965, the government of India took up with the government of Assam to expedite completion of the NRC and to issue National Identity Cards on the basis of this register to Indian citizens towards the identification of illegal immigrants. However, in 1966 the Central Government dropped the proposal to issue identity cards in consultation with the Government of Assam, having found the project impracticable.
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. The process of updating Assam's part of the NRC started in 2013 when the Supreme Court of India passed an order for it to be updated. The final updated NRC for Assam, published on 31 August 2019, contained 31 million names out of its population of 33 million, leaving out 1.9 million applicants, rendering them potentially stateless.
The NRC in Assam has been criticised for excluding several indigenous people of Assam, as well as for irregularities in the utilisation of funds and the choice of software for the task. The project cost increased from Rs 288.18 crore in 2014 to Rs 1,602.66 crore by March 2022. The NRC in Assam has also led to protests, with critics concerned that it could be used to deprive Muslims of Indian citizenship.
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National Population Register
The National Population Register (NPR) is a register of the residents of India. It is prepared at every level, from the village or sub-town to the national level. The Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, provide for the creation of the register. Every "usual resident of India" is required to register in the NPR. The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every resident in the country.
The NPR is distinct from the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NRC is a register of Indian citizens residing in India and outside India. The NRC is based on the data collected under the NPR, after the verification of the citizenship status of every individual. The NRC in Assam, for example, is a list of the state's residents, prepared to identify bona fide residents and deport illegal migrants in the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh.
The NPR was created by the Census Office, which issued microprocessor-based national I-cards. A pilot project was conducted to issue these cards to coastal villages and towns. The Resident Identity Card (RIC) was based on a 64 KB capacity smart card. The demographic and a few biometric attributes of the resident were embedded in the chip.
The BJP has promised to implement the NRC for all of India. On 19 November 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah declared in the Rajya Sabha of the Indian parliament that the NRC would be implemented throughout the country. He proposed a nationwide register of citizens to ensure that "each and every infiltrator is identified and expelled from India" by 2024.
The NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act have been criticised for their potential to marginalise Muslims and transform India into a "majoritarian polity with gradations of citizenship rights".
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Citizenship Amendment Act
The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, which had previously provided two means for foreigners to acquire Indian citizenship. The 1955 Act stated that people from "undivided India" could gain citizenship after seven years of residency in India, while those from other countries could gain citizenship after twelve years of residency.
The 2019 Amendment accelerated the pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted refugees of religious minorities from Islamic countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived in India by 2014. The eligible minorities were stated as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians. The Act did not grant such eligibility to Muslims from these countries. The Amendment also excluded 58,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who had lived in India since the 1980s.
The Act was the first time that religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law. It attracted widespread criticism, including from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which called it "fundamentally discriminatory". The Act has been criticised as part of a government plan to marginalise Muslims, a charge the government denies.
The Amendment also expanded the criteria under which the Indian government could cancel Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration, with vague criteria that critics say can be used to target and punish dissenting voices. The Citizenship Amendment Act is closely linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NRC is a list of Assam's residents, prepared to identify bona fide residents and deport illegal migrants in the state, which borders Bangladesh. The NRC has been proposed for implementation across the whole of India, which critics say will result in the exclusion of predominantly Muslim citizens, who will be deemed illegal migrants.
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Illegal immigration
The NRC is a register of all Indian citizens, first implemented in Assam, that aims to identify and deport illegal migrants. The NRC lists residents who can prove they entered Assam before March 24, 1971, the day before Bangladesh gained independence. Assam has faced challenges with illegal immigration from Bangladesh, and the NRC, along with the CAA, has sparked protests and fears that they will be used together to marginalise Muslims, a charge the government denies.
The NRC in Assam has led to the creation of detention centres for those declared as foreign nationals. Repatriation is challenging due to the lack of treaties between India and neighbouring countries. The Indian government has proposed implementing the NRC nationwide to identify and expel illegal immigrants. However, critics argue that this could disproportionately affect Muslims, who are not included in the CAA.
The NRC and CAA have sparked protests and controversy in India, with critics arguing that they could be used to create a majoritarian polity with varying degrees of citizenship rights. The BJP, the ruling party in India, has faced accusations of using the NRC for political gain and changing its stance when a significant number of Bengali Hindus, a key voter base, were left off the NRC list in Assam.
The Indian government maintains that the NRC is not final and that no Indian citizen will be inconvenienced or expelled from the country. However, the proposal to implement the NRC nationwide has raised concerns about its potential impact on illegal immigrants and the possible marginalisation of certain communities.
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Detention centres
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of people who can prove they came to the state of Assam by 24 March 1971, the day before neighbouring Bangladesh became an independent country. The NRC was created to identify bonafide residents of Assam and deport illegal migrants, particularly those from Bangladesh.
The first detention centre in Assam was set up in 2008, under the orders of the Guwahati High Court, with three more camps built in 2011. These detention centres were meant to house illegal immigrants until they could be deported. In 2019, the Assam government proposed the construction of 10 more detention centres to house those excluded from the final NRC. Each of the new centres would accommodate an estimated 3,000 people, with a total capacity of 60,000. The first of these new centres is under construction in the district of Goalpara in lower Assam at a cost of around ₹46 crore (US$5.4 million). The centre covers approximately 288,000 square feet and was planned to have fifteen storeys.
In addition to the centres in Assam, West Bengal had identified two locations for detention centres, but the Chief Minister later stated that she would not allow any such centres in the state. Kerala had also been in the process of identifying a location, but this has been put on hold.
The NRC has been a source of controversy, with critics arguing that it is part of a government plan to marginalise Muslims. The BJP, however, has denied this charge and has proposed implementing the NRC across India to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Supporters of this view claim that the Citizenship Amendment Act will give citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to communities other than Muslim, effectively making Muslims the primary target of the NRC and resulting in their detention and deportation.
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Frequently asked questions
The NRC, or National Register of Citizens, is a register of all Indian citizens. It was first implemented in Assam to identify illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
The NRC is intended to identify illegal immigrants in India, detain them and deport them.
The NRC was first implemented in Assam in 2019, where the issue of illegal immigration has been a concern for many years. Since then, there have been proposals to implement the NRC across all of India.
The NRC primarily affects Muslims, who will be deemed illegal migrants if excluded from the register. It will also affect illegal immigrants from countries other than Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Critics argue that the NRC law is part of a government plan to marginalise Muslims. There are also fears that data tampering could occur during the updation process.
