NEW DELHI, July 15 � The State government�s revised modalities for update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) have been cleared by the Central agencies and the NRC document would be updated by including the names of persons from the electoral rolls up to the midnight of March 24, 1971 and their descendents.
The Government of Assam had submitted the revised modalities for update of the NRC 1951, on July 5 last year. The revised modalities submitted by the State government were examined by the Registrar General of India and cleared by the competent authority for update of the NRC work, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a Lok Sabha reply to a question by Badruddin Ajmal today.
The NRC 1951 would be updated by including the names of persons from the electoral rolls. A Gazette notification has already been issued for updating the NRC 1951 in entire Assam with effect from December last year. As on date, a total amount of Rs 140.58 crore has been released to the Government of Assam, the Minister said.
The NRC update work has been targeted to be completed within three years, Rijiju added.
Based on the modalities received from the Government of Assam, the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Card) Rule 2003 was amended in November, 2009 and March 2010 for preparation of the NRC by inviting applications from all the residents of Assam based on relevant records, he said, referring to the earlier exercise.
In order to undertake update of the NRC in all the districts of Assam, pilot projects were undertaken in two blocks of Kamrup and Barpeta districts in June 2010. Subsequently, the project work was stopped due to law-and-order problems, he said.
In July 2011, the Government of Assam had set up a Cabinet sub-committee to simplify the procedure for update of the NRC.
Meanwhile, in a separate reply, Rijiju confirmed reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without valid travel documents. Since entry of such Bangladeshi nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such people, living in different parts of the country.
The Minister also admitted that a number of Bangladeshi nationals, who entered India with valid travel documents, have been found to be overstaying. According to available information, as on December 31, 2012, at least 16,530 Bangladeshi nationals, who came to India with valid travel documents, were found to be overstaying.
