National Register of Citizens (NRC)

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

What is the News?

The Centre has given an extension of six months to complete the ongoing exercise for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam by June 30.

In a notification, the Registrar General of India said that the decision was taken as the exercise to enumerate citizens in the NRC, a list of Assam’s residents, could not be completed within the specified date of December 31, 2018.

What is NRC?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens residing in Assam. The register was first prepared after the 1951, Census of India.

NRC Updated in Assam

The update process of NRC started in the year 2013 under the strict monitoring of Supreme Court of India.

• On December 6, 2013, the government issued the first notification setting a deadline of three years for completion of the entire NRC process.
• Since then, five extensions have been given by the government. The draft NRC was published on July 30 and included the names of 2.9 crore people of the total 3.29 crore applicants.
• NRC process will address the issue of illegal migrants, specifically from Bangladesh.
• The National Register of Citizens was first published in 1951 to record citizens, their houses and holdings.
• Updating the NRC to root out foreigners was a demand during the Assam Agitation (1979-1985).

Who is a citizen in Assam?

• The Citizenship Act of 1955 was amended after the Assam Accord for all Indian-origin people who came from Bangladesh before January 1, 1966 to be deemed as citizens.
• Those who came between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 were eligible for citizenship after registering and living in the State for 10 years while those entering after March 25, 1971, were to be deported.

By: Sai Eswar