Home Ministry stops ongoing NRC work

The Home Ministry was preparing a list of documents sought to be required from a citizen as an exercise to kick off the all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) whenever the political leadership of the government wants it implemented. It was on the basis of this preparation the ministry was able to clarify that the NRC would not inconvenience citizens. A senior home ministry official said a soft attitude was adopted in accepting many documents for proving one’s citizenship.

He said the government never expected so much protest at many places in the country over CAA passed by Parliament early this month. He said linking it with the NRC fuelled trouble so much so that even the NPR, which had no dispute earlier, has come under criticism.

The official said the ministry is examining ways to allay fears expressed over the NPR that include a disclaimer like the Census Act to state that the data collected for the NPR cannot be used either for or against in any court of law.

On the Congress objecting to include Aadhaar number in the NPR questionnaire, the official said it was felt necessary for verification of the biometres and it will be voluntary for the person to furnish their Aadhaar number. He said I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar erred in declaring at the Cabinet press briefing on Tuesday that the NPR would not seek any biometric details since Aadhaar that provides biometrics is already among 21 queries posed in the questionnaire cleared in September.

The government decided to put on hold NRC and instead proceed for NPR, but there is no guarantee it would proceed for the NRC, as it was repeatedly stressed by Home Minister Amit Shah and even included in the President’s address to Parliament. Legal provisions for the NRC are already there in the 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act.

Compared to the amendments this month to benefit the refugees already living in India, the 2003 amendments by the Vajpayee government brought the most significant changes, introducing the concept of the NRC and illegal migrants. It, however, did not face such rough weather because the political process was not jettisoned as now to project a muscular government.