What is NRC and CAA

No country can work without a register of its citizens, so the NRC seeks to maintain a list of its own citizens, as this will help exclude illegal citizens. This has been a major cause of concern especially in the eastern and north- eastern parts of our country.

The CAA does not exclude legal Indian citizens of any religion, but instead seeks to grant a respectable haven to those who have escaped religious persecution in neighbouring countries.

Neither does the CAA exclude the possibility of granting Indian citizenship to those from the majority religion in these three countries, who meet all the conditions stipulated for conventional cases.

Due to the expected concerns of people residing in the North- Eastern region of India, the law has excluded those living within states with an Inner Line Permit, from the purview of the CAA. Several of the states in this region, are sparsely populated, with a substantial tribal population. Thus, there was a fear that an influx of immigrants, irrespective of religion, would alter the culture and affect the voting patterns, leading to a compromise in the cultural traditions. This has been respected by excluding the areas where an Inner Line Permit is necessary.

The cutoff date has been fixed at the year 2014, so the law does not in any way ‘encourage’ future immigration.

Though initially denying its role in outward illegal migration, Bangladesh has now extended a helping hand by confirming that those proven to be Bangladeshi nationals, will be taken back.

The admittedly botched NRC process in Assam need not be considered as the standard, as that was based on the Assam Accord, while the rest of India’s exercise will be built around a separate draft, yet awaited.