“Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens at the national level,” Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai has said in a written reply to a query raised by AITC MP Nadimul Haque.

This is in stark contrast to the statement made by the Union home minister Amit Shah three months ago in November 2019 when he said, “The Assam exercise was carried out under a Supreme Court order. NRC will be carried out across the country, will be done in Assam again at the time, no one from any religion should be worried.”

Amid the staunch protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), is the home ministry’s latest statement proof of the government’s change of heart or just another of the government’s statements where they say one thing but do another?

Though Amit Shah has gone on record multiple times post the anti-CAA-NPR-NRC protests to say that the government has no plans in a nationwide NRC and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has followed the dictum, Shah’s previous statements have always said the opposite.

Addressing election rallies at Chakradharpur and Baharagora, Shah had even set a deadline for the implementation of the NRC saying, “Today, I want to tell you that before the 2024 polls the NRC will be conducted across the country and each and every infiltrator identified and expelled. Rahul Baba (Congress leader Rahul Gandhi) says don’t expel them. Where will they go, what will they eat? But I assure you that before the country goes to polls in 2024 all illegal immigrants will be thrown out.”

President Ram Nath Kovind too had on June 20, 2019 said that the Modi government had decided to implement the NRC on a priority basis, stating that illegal infiltrators posed a threat to the country’s internal security, leading to a social imbalance and putting a pressure on the nation’s limited livelihood opportunities.

With regards to the NPR, that is a biometric database of all ‘usual residents’ in India, the government said that it would update the National Population Register (NPR) between April 1 and September 30, 2020, along with the House listing and House census throughout the country, except for Assam.

The government also dismissed the question posed before it in which Haque asked whether the NPR will form the master data source of the NRC saying that the question “does not arise”. In the past, the government has described the NPR to be the first step towards the NRC.

However, the MHA has indicated that it is reluctant to drop the contentious questions from the NPR regarding the date and place of birth of parents, reported The Indian Express. A standing committee on the MHA headed by Congress MP Anand Sharma that has asked the government to use the Aadhaar data for the NPR updation said, “The Ministry submitted…the Date & Place of Birth of Parents were collected in NPR 2010 as well for all parents who were enumerated within the household,” the report stated. “For parents living elsewhere or expired at the time of enumeration, only the names of parents were collected. To facilitate back-end data processing and making the data items of date and place of birth complete for all households, details of parents are being collected in a more comprehensive manner in NPR 2020.”

The NPR and NRC are being seen as controversial for requiring Indian citizens to prove their Indian citizenship through various documents; though an official list of such acceptable documents has not been issued. The minorities and the marginalized are to be hit the worst because a large part of India’s population may not have such documents in the first place.

To top that, the CAA is going to allow citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, Sikhs and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, leaving out Muslim migrants and act as a tool to exclude the marginalized minorities, allowing them to be dubbed as ‘foreigners’, ‘doubtful citizens’ and even ‘infiltrators’.

Related:

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Grandmother Indian, grandson illegal immigrant?

Man hailing from WB declared foreigner in Assam!

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Did Wipro know that the all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) was going to be an inevitable reality for the country? The company played a key role in the contentious NRC project in Assam and had even put it up on its website stating how it had partnered with the state government to update the NRC, leading to 100% enrolment of Indian citizens.

However, yesterday it seemed to have felt the jitters, just like the rest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the wake of the increasing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC throughout the country.

The company first deleted the page and restored it a few hours later. Various publications reached out to Wipro asking the reason for both, deleting and then re-installing the page, but the company did not issue a statement.

One must note that when the system integration tenders for the Assam NRC were floated in 2014, Wipro was the only firm to make a bid for the same.

According to the page titled: Digital Governance: Achieving Citizen Enrolment in Record Time, the company stated, “Assam has been grappling with the issue of undocumented immigration since independence. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was first prepared in 1951 to document the names of Indian Citizens in Assam.”

It read, “There has been a long-standing demand for updating the NRC 1951 as a result of growing infiltration.” The challenge with the Assam NRC it said, wasn’t just the “short window for updating the records, but also the poor availability of legacy data related to Indian citizens and/or their descendants (prior to -24 March, 1971).”

It said that the government needed a data center that would deploy IT and non-IT infrastructure, including manpower, to receive offline applications at NRC Seva Kendras (NSK). The NSKs were in difficult terrains and extensive use of IT was required to shorten the timeframe.

How did Wipro help?

It deployed “Document Segregation and Meta Data Entry (DOCSMEN)” — a software that sliced and segregated nearly 6.6 crore people’s information.

Wipro stated that it developed bespoke business intelligence and case management solutions to receive offline and online applications. It provided training and deployed more than 8,000 data entry operators to the state government. It generated a family tree listing of all applicants with the help of software and helped the Assam government with breakthrough micromanagement systems — daily reporting and dashboard, map-based analysis of results, etc.

However, Wipro found itself landing into many controversies with regards to the project. The Labor Commissionerate of Assam slapped a lawsuit against it for not obtaining the mandatory contract labour license, which it had implemented in association with a local firm Integrated Systems Services (ISS). Eight data entry operators had approached the Labour Commissionerate with a complaint alleging that each of them were being paid only Rs. 5,050 every month against the sum of Rs. 14,500 earmarked by the government.

It seems like the company took down the post after PM Modi’s rally where he seemed to contradict his party’s stand regarding implementing an all-India NRC. But, the page was restored soon. It must be noted that today, on December 24, 2019, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to update the National Population Register (NPR) that is linked to the Census.

This is seen to be the first step to implement the nation-wide NRC. Is this why Wipro restored their work regarding the Assam NRC, so that they could get a fillip for the all-India NRC implementation?

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Jose Mani of Congress Party, a member of the Rajya Sabha had raised concerns about the futility of the entire slapdash manner in which NRC was carried out in Assam and how it is being not only rejected by the Assam Government but is also being negated by a nation-wide NRC announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The questions asked by Jose Mani are worth being quoted here since these are some pertinent questions are being asked by people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill:

(a) whether the Supreme Court monitored long drawn exercise of compilation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam has been rendered futile with Government of Assam not accepting it;

(b) whether NRC exercise in Assam was tortuous and long-drawn which was overseen by the Supreme Court and involving the active participation of both the Central and State Government and if so, whether the Centre has proposed to do it all over again; and

(c) whether with the Assam exercise stuck up, the Centre plans to do it all over again with similar plans for all States, if so, the details thereof?

These questions are not at all baseless and the government should gather some courage to answer these questions that affect the lives of millions of people in Assam alone.

But the response from the MHA did not address any of the concerns raised. The boiler plate response reads as follows:

National Register of Citizens is being updated in the State of Assam as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Schedule framed under Rule 4A(4) of the Citizenship Rules, 2003.  The implementation of this exercise is done through the designated statutory authorities notified by the State Government of Assam. The exercise of updating NRC in Assam is being monitored by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.  The Complete Draft NRC was published on 30th July, 2018.  As per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its   judgement dated 13.08.2019, supplementary list of inclusions was published in hard copies and family-wise list of exclusions was published on-line on 31^st August, 2019.  Any person not satisfied with the outcome of the decisions for inclusion of name in final NRC may prefer appeal before the designated Tribunal constituted under the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964.

Quite evidently, the MHA has avoided responding clearly to any of the questions posed by Mani and has given a response that is its typical response to most questions relating to NRC in Assam. Hence, the questions remain completely unanswered. It is, however, important to look at what is the premise of these questions and why has the need arisen to ask such bold questions in the Parliament.

The first question arises from the fact that a day after the Union Home Minster Amit Shah announced in the Rajya Sabha that there will be a nation-wide NRC (National Register of Citizens), the Assam government, the Assam government ‘rejected’ the NRC in Assam.

Assam Finance Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that his government was not satisfied with the outcome of the NRC published on August 31, 2019 and wanted it scrapped. Sarma said, “The state government cannot accept this NRC. People who should not have been included in the list have made it, while those who should have in have been excluded.”

He further told NDTV, “We believe that the NRC prepared by former state coordinator Prateek Hajela has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Assam. There are many shortcomings, as we have already pointed out. While various groups in Assam have already filed review petitions before the Supreme Court, we now want this faulty list to be scrapped in favour of a nationwide NRC.”

Naturally, the question arises, with millions of people of Assam already affected by NRC concluded in August this year, is it fair that the people suffer again in this whole political game of political gain? While the Home Minister declared in the parliament that in the nation-wide NRC, Assam will also be included, the MHA has refrained from making any such statement officially, in response to Mani’s question.

The government does not, yet, have answers to what kind of procedure will be followed while conducting NRC in the country, will it be the same as Assam, will the cut-off date for Assam change or will it be made consistent for the rest of the country and on what basis? These are the questions the government is not prepared to answer because probably they have not figured it out themselves yet or maybe it is another one of their ploys of keeping people in the dark.

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Ater the Union Cabinet cleared the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to be tabled in Parliament, various civil rights groups and organisations have joined hands to hold massive protests in Guwahati, Kolkata New Delhi as also cities across the country including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune and Patna.

The controversial bill okayed by the cabinet on Wednesday aims to grant citizenship to immigrants other than Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It’s being strongly opposed from many quarters including national-level political parties on the ground that it seeks to offer citizenship on the ground of religion – as stated by home minister Amit Shah openly — which went against the basic tenets of the Constitution. The Constitution unequivocally grants equal rights to all citizens and does not allow discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, gender or race. The proposed Bill is a violation of Articles 14, 15, 16, 21 of the Constitution. 

Several activist groups like the Rashtriya Seva Dal, the NRC Virodhi Morcha, Joint Forum Against NRC, the Rihai Manch have called for street protests against the bill. The CPI(M) has said it would hold similar protests in association with the Congress party. There is a protest scheduled  at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi at 3pm on December 7. It urged people to join the action plan to say a resounding  “no” to the two-nation theory and a firm “no” to grant of citizenship on based on religion. In Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata marches will be held on Monday, December 9.

Urging the people to join the protest in the defence of the Constitution, UAH’s Umar Khalid said, “The Citizenship Amendment Bill should not be seen in isolation. Its extremely dangerous implications become clear when seen along with the NRC. In short, it is nothing but a 21st Century rehashed version of the two-nation theory advanced by Veer Savarkar and Jinnah.”

Groups have also planned a twitter storm at 5pm on Thursday with the hashtag #IndiaRejectsNRC #CABAgainstConstitution. Nadeem Khan of the UAH said the organisation would geherao or hold protests at offices of secular parties who take votes from Muslims if they supported the “anti-Constitution and anti-Muslim” Citizenship bill. The citizenship bill, along with the nationwide NRC, is seen as a plot by the Modi government to create a Rohingya-like situation where millions of Myanmarese were persecuted and forced to flee their homeland, he said.

A host of activists units like the All India Progressive Women Association, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, the National Alliance of People’s Movement would hold a national convention against the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) at Ambedkar Bhavan in New Delhi from 10am to 2pm on December 8. Calling the citizenship bill and the NRC “anti-poor, communal and anti-people”, they urged the people to say “no” to attempts at making large sections of the people stateless by way of acts of religious discrimination.

Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government over its citizenship bill and nationwide NRC, urged the people to attend the national convention on the NRC and the citizenship bill. Sharing the notices, he tweeted, “The country is coming together against the blatant attacks on its very fundamentals. Do give it your hand of support. Highly needed now. Don’t lament and cry after the last nail is hit. Don’t just post and share. Be there.”

In Hyderabad, a silent protest is being held at 3pm on December 8 at Tank Band Road. In Pune, a protest rally is being held near the district magistrate’s office at 3:30pm on December 9 by the NRC Virodhi Morcha. In Lucknow, social activists planto hold a meeting at Kaifi academy at 3pm on Sunday.  In New Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, the Khudai Khidmatgar would hold a meeting to call for a boycott of NRC and the Citizeship Bill, at Jatav Chaupar in Okhla December 12.

Ex-IAS Gopinath Kannan will address public meetings on the citizenship bill and NRC in Bihar’s Araria, Katihar, Purnea, Supaul, Mahdepura and Kishanganj on December 6, 7 and 8 respectively.

The post Protests break out against CAB, 2019 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Mumbra: At a meeting organized by Awaaz-e-Niswaan (Women’s voice) CJP secretary Teesta Setalvad made a strong pitch against NRC-NPR-CAB. She said that CAB was a ploy to legitimise religious nationalism and violates the secular principle of the Indian constitution. She goes on to add that the NRC in Assam was proposed as a solution to a long standing conflict marred by violence, so why does the whole of India need to go through this painful, divisive process?
She also demanded that the government declare what will be the basis for NPR? Considering that NPR is a door to door enumeration of citizens and has the power to jeopardise their citizenship. The government must name the processes, the documents involved in NPR and until it does that, it must not spread fear and panic among people.

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In Rajya Sabha today, the Union Home Minster, Amit Shah confirmed, thus making it official, that there will be a nation-wide NRC and that Assam will be included in this whole process, when it takes place. Without specifying the timeline of when NRC will be implemented, he reiterated his government’s views that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be provided for in the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill). He also said that people excluded from NRC in Assam, who cannot afford travel expenses and lawyer’s fees, the state government of Assam will cover such expenses for them.
 

The starred question

During the question hour in the Rajya Sabha on November 20, the Union Home Ministry was faced with questions regarding NRC (National Register of Citizens) and CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill). Many questions were responded to by the Home Minister, Amit Shah himself, in which he made some shocking statements.

The main starred question was asked by Syed Nasir Hussain which was as follows:

The official answer to this question is as follows:

(a) to (c): Preparation of National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) is governed by the provisions of section 14A of The Citizenship Act, 1955 and The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. Section 14A of The Citizenship Act, 1955 provides for compulsory registration of every citizen of India and maintenance of NRIC. The procedure to prepare and maintain NRIC is specified in The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. Citizenship of India can be acquired as provided under The Citizenship Act, 1955. NRIC is a register containing details of Indian citizens. On its own, it does not provide citizenship to any foreigner including illegal migrants. NRIC in respect of State of Assam has been recently prepared under the supervision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Matters like detection of illegal immigrants and subsequent action are governed by the provisions of The Foreigners Act, 1946, The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and rules made thereunder.

The Question hour and its revelations

While some answers seemed to be evasive, there are some significant statements that have been made by the Union Home Minister in Rajya Sabha today with respect to NRC and CAB. First off, he reiterated a few times how NRC is a different process from CAB and there is no connection between the two. He also stated that NRC cannot be discriminative on basis of religion and all true citizens of India will be included in the NRC irrespective of their religion and that nobody belonging to any religion needs to worry about this.

When asked if the government is excluding Muslim immigrants in providing protection, like other communities are being provided, Amit Shah gave an evasive answer saying that CAB has been approved by a Select Committee in Lok Sabha in which there were members from all parties and since the previous CAB has lapsed, it will be passed again and will “come to Rajya Sabha” for consideration this time.

A very pertinent question was asked by Swapan Dasgupta, nominated member of Rajya Sabha, with respect to the government’s Gazette notification dated September 7, 2015 which notified Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 and Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015. These amendments implied that “persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014” who do not possess valid documents such as passport, or these documents have expired, are exempt from provisions of the Passport (Entry into India) Act and Foreigners Act. The question was if the said gazette was applicable to the whole of India, and if so, why is the same not being implemented in Assam.

To this question, Amit Shah said that the gazette notification is applicable to the whole of India without exceptions and that the process of NRC in Assam is under a different Act. He also mentioned that when NRC is implemented throughout India, Assam will also undergo the process.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy from TMC also asked a question about NRC in Assam and if citizenship will be granted to all genuine Indians who have been left out of NRC. Amit Shah said that NRC does not discriminate on religion but the government does believe that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, Christians are religiously persecuted and hence there is need for CAB so that people belonging to these communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can be provided for under CAB.

Another question was asked about the more than 19 lakh persons excluded from the NRC in Assam and why the process for appeal has not started for them yet. This question asked by Ripun Bora of INC in Assam was responded to by Amit Shah saying that the excluded persons can go to Foreigners Tribunals. He added that there will be FTs in every tehsil in Assam and those excluded persons do not possess enough money to travel to FTs and cannot afford to pay lawyer’s fees, the Assam government will cover such expenses for them.

When he said that excluded persons can go to FTs it is clear that Amit Shah is unaware of the specificities, as excluded persons are unable to approach the FTs without receiving a reason for rejection.

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Bengali speaking workers face likely ban in Bengaluru apartments, what’s next?

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