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- During electioneering in West Bengal, BJP’s national president has again vowed that BJP would introduce a National Register for Citizens (NRC) across India if the party is voted to power again. He further added that for West Bengal, the Citizenship (amendment) bill would be introduced first and the NRC would follow.
- The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register which contains the name of all citizens of India residing in Assam. It was prepared in 1951.
- Currently, the NRC is being updated in Assam to address the issue of illegal migrants. The update is being carried out under the Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord, 1985.
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955. The bill seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for Indian citizenship. It also seeks to reduce the requirement of 11 years of continuous stay in the country to six years to obtain citizenship by naturalisation.
- The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in January 2019. However, the bill lapsed as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha
