New Delhi: Despite nationwide protest against CAA , the ruling party has announced in addition to CAA, National Register of Indian Citizens as per the Citizenship Rules, 2003 will be exercised soon.
Minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy said, “Yes, we have announced our intent to prepare a national NRC (National Register of Indian Citizens). But no date or schedule has been decided for the NRC exercise. All-India NRC rules have not been drafted or run through the legislative department. NRIC is not going to happen immediately but in due time. Some people are spreading misinformation that NRC is being prepared countrywide and that all Muslims will be deported. Hence, we put out an advertisement today in prominent dailies to clarify that NRC exercise is yet to be formally announced and as and when it is done, rules and regulations will be so framed to rule out any harassment to Indian citizens,” TOI reports.
However, this statement only seems to be a divergence, since the fate of lakhs of Assamese Muslims left out from the NRC have already been labelled ‘illegal immigrants’ while the new Hindu based citizenship law has come to the rescue of left out Assamese Hindus.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik have rejected NRC in their states.
The National Population Register (NPR) exercise as per the Citizenship Rules to be followed by NRIC was also put on hold in West Bengal.
Experts conceded although the central government can make it the NPR exercise mandatory, it is not practical to push NRC unless the states are on board.
“On the ground, it may become difficult to do Census or NPR if state government employees and the administration play truant. It may mean avoidable delays that make the Census/NPR schedules go haywire,” an officer said.
“It may therefore be a good idea to initiate the NRIC exercise in due consultation with states,” the official added.
According to sources, state governments cannot halt the already notified Census or NPR process, which are mandated by central laws.
“Census is done under Census of India Act which makes it obligatory for a government employee to assist in carrying out the decennial exercise. In fact, any officer who declines Census duty is liable to pay Rs 1,000 fine and, or, serve imprisonment up to three years,” the officer said. Similarly, NPR is also madatory for state governments.
“No state government can prevent a government staffer from doing NPR duty. NPR is done under Citizenship Act, a central law, and states are obligated under Article 256 to enforce laws enacted by Parliament,” the officer added.