In India—which has a history of partition on the basis of religion and ethnicity—concerns about mass migration, porous borders and terrorist infiltration have prompted successive governments to dabble in the idea of sifting out illegal residents.
But who is an Indian resident and who is an Indian citizen? Several prime ministers, including Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, have asked their home ministers, in vain, for an answer. So, when Home Minister Amit Shah rose to tell Parliament that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be implemented nationwide, he was not the first to do so.
While Shah had multiple points to defend the NRC, his bureaucrats and intelligence agencies perhaps did not tell him, at least in detail, why such an exercise had so far been unsuccessful.
Back in 2003, then deputy prime minister and home minister L.K. Advani told the consultative committee of the home ministry that his government was serious about implementing the Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) project. The objective was to prepare a National Population Register and a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC).
A few years earlier, the Kargil Review Committee had recommended compulsory registration of citizens and non-citizens because there was illegal immigration. The Citizenship Act, 1955, was amended and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 were framed. The rules included the NPR, its implementation and how it would form the basis of the NRIC. The objective was to issue national identity cards to citizens and multipurpose residence cards to non-citizens.
There was initial resistance by several states, but a pilot project was soon launched in a dozen states. Bureaucratic hurdles and delays, however, dragged the project into the UPA government’s tenure.
Denne historien er fra January 05, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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Denne historien er fra January 05, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
