What is NRC?

NRC stands for the National Register of Citizens, mandated by The Citizenship Act 1955, contains the names of the genuine Indian citizens, excluding foreigners who have been staying in India as illegal migrants. So far, it was implemented only in the state of Assam under the direction and supervision of the Supreme Court. The demand for creating NRC for entire India has gained momentum after the completion of its exercise in Assam. Parallelly, immense outrage against NRC has been witnessed across the country by specific sections of the society.

The need for NRC is to identify and locate the people who infiltrated into India and are living here. These illegal migrants pose a threat to indigenous people and their culture. Moreover, they have been subscribing to the welfare schemes by fraudulent means, meant for Indians. And, becoming a burden to the economy, which is already densely populated. Nagaland is also creating a similar database called Register of Indigenous Inhabitants. Though Manipur and Tripura were granted permission to have their own NRCs, it never actualized.