What are CAA and NRC Act 2019?

The National Register for Citizens (NRC) is a register which contains the names of genuine Indian citizenship in the country. NRC was aimed at identifying illegal immigrants who entered and settled in Assam, primarily from Bangladesh, after March 25, 1971 and deporting them to their native country. It was a state-specific exercise to retain the ethnic uniqueness of Assam. The final list of NRC was published on Aug. 31, 2019. A total of 3.29 crore people had applied for the NRC, of which 3.11 crore made it to the final list. Those excluded had to approach the Foreigners’ Tribunals set up across the state for the purpose. The Assam experience has been bad with reports suggesting the exclusion of a large number of genuine residents from the list.

In the meanwhile, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed in Parliament on Dec 12, 2019, leading to widespread protests across the country. It was during a discussion on the Bill that Home Minister Amit Shah had proposed that the NRC be implemented pan-India. According to the CAA, member of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. The law, however, excludes Muslims. The protesters feel the CAA discriminates against Muslims and violates the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution of India.

 

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