No decision yet by Centre to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens: MoS Home

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Tuesday said that till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level.

His statement comes after Congres leader Hibi Eden in Lok Sabha questioned whether the Government is considering the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the progress made in this regard.

"Till now, the Government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level," Rai said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

"The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was notified on 12 December 2019 and it came into force from 10 January 2020. The persons covered under the CAA may apply for citizenship after the rules are notified under the CAA," Rai added.

When asked about the number of Indians who gave up Indian citizenship for the citizenship of another country, Rai informed that as per the information available with the Ministry of External Affairs, 1,33,049 people gave up Indian citizenship and took citizenship of other countries in 2017, 1,34,561 people did the same in 2018 followed by 1,44,017 in 2019, 85,248 people in 2020 and 1,11,287 people in 2021 as on September 30.

The minister informed, "A total number of 1,33,83,718 Indian nationals are living in foreign countries."

Earlier this year in the monsoon session of the Parliament, Rai had said the Central Government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level.

( With inputs from ANI )