No decision yet on NRC at national level: Centre
New Delhi: At a time when Opposition-ruled states are firmly against the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Centre on Tuesday reiterated that no decision has been taken yet regarding the same.
It also maintained that no document will be collected during the updation of the National Population Register (NPR), adding that providing Aadhaar number during the exercise is only voluntary.
"No document is to be collected during the updation of NPR," Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was quoted as saying.
Rai in reply to a written question stated: "Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens at the national level."
Elaborating on what the NPR is, Rai said, it is a register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area within a ward in a town or urban area.
"The NPR was first prepared in 2010 and updated in 2015. In pursuance of Sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the Central government decided to prepare and update the population register during April to September 2020 throughout the country except Assam for collection of information relating to all persons usually residing in village or town," he said.
Responding to a question, he said: "No specific instruction has been issued by the Central government regarding the release of migrants from detention centres after enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019."
On December 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said his government has never discussed NRC since coming to power for the first time in 2014. It has been discussed neither in Parliament nor in the Cabinet, he added.
The Supreme Court-monitored exercise of updating the NRC was carried out only in Assam. The final NRC, a list of Assam's residents published on August 31, 2019, excluded names of 19 lakh people, creating a huge controversy.
President Ram Nath Kovind did not refer to NRC in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the beginning of the Budget Session on Friday.
On June 20, 2019, soon after the formation of the new Lok Sabha, Kovind had said the Modi government decided to implement the process of NRC on "priority basis".
