No decision yet to prepare national level NRIC: MoS Home

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

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

Rai further informed that the Centre decided to update the National Population Register (NPR) under the Citizenship Act, 1955 along with the first phase of Census, 2021. The demographic and other particulars of each family and individual were to be updated/collected during the exercise of the updation of NPR and no document will be collected during this exercise.

Rai also informed the House that "The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to facilitate grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered into India on or before the 31.12.2014 and who have been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder."

"The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 has been notified on 12.12.2019 and has come into force w.e.f. 10.01.2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the updation of NPR and other related field activities have been postponed ", said Rai.

( With inputs from ANI )