No decision on preparing countrywide NRC: India’s minister of state for home affairs

The Indian government has not taken any decision on preparing a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, today.

"Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens at the national level," he said, replying to a written question.

On December 22 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said his government 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 the north-eastern state of Assam. The final NRC, a list of Assam's residents published on August 31, 2019, left out names of 19 lakh people, setting off a huge row.

Replying to a separate question on framing of rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, under which religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan could get Indian citizenship, are under preparation.

The CAA was passed by parliament on December, 2019 and has come into effect from January 10 last year.

The Rules under The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) are under preparation. The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted extension of time up to April 9 this year and July 9 respectively to frame these rules under the CAA, Nityanand Rai said in a written reply.