Home Minister Amit Shah to chair NRC review meet on November 21

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to hold a meeting on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) tomorrow. The agenda of the meeting has not been revealed yet. The meeting could be to review the status of NRC that was implemented in Assam in August this year. Or it could be to hold discussions on implementing NRC across the country as the Home Ministers announced on the third day of the ongoing winter parliamentary session. Reportedly, the representatives of the Law Ministry are also expected to be present at the review meeting tomorrow which makes it important as the possibilities of discussing the legal aspects of implementing NRC across the country can also be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting. Apprising the assembly on Wednesday, Shah said that NRC will be implemented nation-wide but no person needs to worry, no matter what religion they practice.

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'Will be implemented across the country'

In his statement, while replying to a query by Swapan Dasgupta in the parliamentary session, Shah said, "The process of National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of religion should be worried, it is just a process to get everyone under the NRC. People whose names have not figured in the draft list have the right to go to the Tribunal. Tribunals will be constituted across Assam. If any person doesn't have the money to approach Tribunal, then the Assam govt is to bear the cost to hire a lawyer."

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"The bill was tabled in Lok Sabha. Members of all parties were present. It was a general consensus among all members. The bill lapses and so it will come again in Lok Sabha. It has nothing to do with NRC. The NRC process in Assam was taken up by Supreme Court orders and following an Act," he added. 

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NRC was implemented in Assam in August this year and the final list was out on August 31 with over 19 lakh people not having their name on the list. "Non-inclusion of a person's name in the NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared a foreigner," the government had said. The Supreme Court has allowed the people who couldn't find their names on the list to present their case in the foreigner's tribunal. Upon failing in the foreigner's tribunal, the individual can approach the High Court, and then the Supreme Court too.

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