No decision taken on nationwide roll out of NRC: Indian minister

The Indian government today said it has not taken any decision on the nationwide roll-out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Federal Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said this while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether his government has any plans to implement the NRC throughout the country.

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

The NRC was updated in the north eastern state of Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court. When the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019, a total of 19.06 lakh people were excluded out of the total 3,30,27,661 applicants, which set off a huge row across India.

The NRC is an Assam-specific data of bonafide Indian citizens living in the state, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Replying to another question, Rai said there is no provision of detention centres under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the NRC.

He said the Supreme Court had on February 28, 2012 directed that foreign nationals who completed their sentence shall be released from jail immediately and be kept in an appropriate place with restricted movement pending their deportation or repatriation.

Following that directive, Rai said, the Home Ministry issued instructions on March 7, 2012 to state governments and federally-ruled territories to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court.

The minister said detention centres are set up by the state governments and federally-ruled administrations as per their local requirements to detain illegal immigrants and foreigners some of whom may have completed their sentence and their deportation to their native country may be pending for want of proper travel documents.