Question- National Register of Citizens was first prepared in which state of in dia?
(a)ASSAM
(b)MANIPUR
(c)PUNJAB
(d)RAJASTHAN
Answer- (a)
Related facts-
- The supreme court (a bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman) ordered continuation of filing of claims abjections by people (around 40 lakh) who were left out in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam.
Background –
- The first draft National Register of Citizens list was published on 31 January 2017 and had names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore total applicants in Assam recognizing them as legal citizens of India.
- The second and final draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens was published on 30 july ,2018, in this list 2,89,83,677 out of 3,29,91,385 applicants was recognized as legal citizens of India. And remaining 40, 07,708 people did not appear in the NRC draft.
About NRC-
- National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens residing in Assam. It was first prepared in 1951.
- The NRC is now being updated in Assam to include the names of those persons or their descendants who appear in the NRC, 1951, or in any of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24 March 1971 or in any one of the other admissible documents issued up to mid-night of 24 March 1971, which would prove their presence in Assam or in any part of India on or before 24 March 1971.
- The purpose of NRC is to identify illegal migrants in Assam, who entered the Indian territories after the midnight of 24 March 1971. And also to determine the citizenship of the applicants who have applied for inclusion of their names in the updated NRC.
History of NRC-
- In 19th century and 20th century, migration happened in colonial Assam from various provinces of British India particularly after Yandabo treaty (signed on 24 February, 1826).
- The liberal attitude of the colonial authorities resulted the migration of peasants from Bengal to Assam in search of fertile lands.
- Considering the continuous influx of illegal migrants, the government of India formulates the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. This act came into effect from 1 March 1950 mandated for expulsion of illegal immigrants from the state of Assam.
- For the identification of illegal immigrants, National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared for the first time in Assam during the conduct of 1951 census.
- It was carried out under a directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- It was first updated in 1951 but since then it has been not updated due to various political tensions such as Assam Movement of 1980s, language movement and other ethnic movements.
- But now it is being updated in time bound manner after Supreme Court judgment (2014) to include Assam Accord of 1985 to deal with the issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh.
References-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Citizens_of_India