What is 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 2003–2004. It is proposed to come into effect in 2021. It has not yet been implemented except for the state of Assam.

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 about 2 million applicants.

Legal and regulatory provisions

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 (numbered “Act 6 of 2004”) added the following clause to The Citizenship Act 1955

14A. Issue of national identity cards.

(l) The Central Government may compulsorily register every citizen of India and issue national identity card to him for Identification.

(2) The Central Government may maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens and for that purpose establish a National Registration Authority.

(3) On and from the date of commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, the Registrar General, India, appointed under subsection (1) of section 3 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (18 of 1969) shall act as the National Registration Authority and he shall function as the Registrar General of Citizen Registration.

(4) The Central Government may appoint such other officers and staff as may be required to assist the Registrar General of Citizen Registration in discharging his functions and responsibilities.

(5) The procedure to be followed in compulsory registration of the citizens of India shall be such as may be prescribed.

The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, formulated under the Act specifies:

4. Preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens.

(1) The Central Government shall, for the purpose of National Register of Indian Citizens, cause to carry throughout the country a house-to-house enumeration for collection of specified particulars relating to each family and individual, residing in a local area including the Citizenship status.

(2) The Registrar General of Citizen Registration shall notify the period and duration of the enumeration in the Official Gazette.

(3) For the purposes of preparation and inclusion in the Local Register of Indian Citizens, the particulars collected of every family and individual in the Population Register shall be verified and scrutinized by the Local Registrar, who may be assisted by one or more persons as specified by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration. .

(4) During the verification process, particulars of such individuals, whose Citizenship is doubtful, shall be entered by the Local Registrar with appropriate remark in the Population Register for further enquiry and in case of doubtful Citizenship, the individual or the family shall be informed in a specified proforma immediately after the verification process is over.

(5) …

As explained by the Ministry of Home Affairs in December 2018, “The Citizenship Act of 1955 provides for compulsory registration of every citizen of India and issuance of National Identity Card to him. The Citizenship Rules of 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act of 1955, prescribe the manner of preparation of the National Register of Citizens. There is a special provision under the Rules to prepare the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam which is application-based and distinct from the rest of India where the process is enumeration-based.”

What is CAB?

What is CAA?