Centre makes BIG announcement on nationwide NRC

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, on Tuesday, said that no decision has been taken so far by the Central Government regarding the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level.

Minister Rai, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, said, "Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level." 

The Minister of State for Home Affairs also informed that the Centre decided to update the National Population Register (NPR) under the Citizenship Act, 1955 along with the first phase of Census, 2021. 

During the exercise of the updation of NPR, the demographic and other particulars of each family and individual will be updated/collected but no document will be collected during this exercise.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Rai also informed Lok Sabha that "The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to facilitate grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered into India on or before the 31.12.2014 and who have been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder."

"The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 has been notified on 12.12.2019 and has come into force w.e.f. 10.01.2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the updation of NPR and other related field activities have been postponed ", the Minister of State for Home Affairs added.