Govt evades reply on NRC in West Bengal

New Delhi: The Centre Wednesday evaded a direct reply on whether the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC), currently being updated in Assam, will be undertaken in neighbouring West Bengal too.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai did not give a reply to a question in this regard asked by Ritabrata Banerjee, an independent Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

In a written reply, Rai said, "The NRC is being implemented at present in the state of Assam only as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the provisions contained in the Schedule framed under Rule 4A(4) of Citizenship Rules, 2003."

Banerjee had asked if the NRC updation is going to be carried out in West Bengal also.

The Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise, aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, was carried out only in Assam which has faced an influx of people from Bangladesh.

The draft NRC published on July 30 last year excluded of 40.7 lakh people from it leading to a huge controversy. The draft included names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applicants.

The final NRC list for Assam will be published on July 31, 2019.