Centre has no plan to extend Assam's NRC to other states, Union minister Hansraj Ahir tells Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: The government has no plans to extend Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) to other parts of the country, Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday. Replying to a written question, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said the NRC of 1951 in Assam is being updated under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the applications for preparation of NRC in Assam were invited in May-August, 2015. “The exercise to update NRC 1951 is being conducted under the special provisions in respect of state of Assam under the Citizenship Rules, 2003. At present, there is no proposal to extend the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to states other than Assam,” he said. Ahir said after necessary scrutiny and verification, the complete draft NRC was published on 30 July, 2018. When the draft NRC was published, names of 40 lakh residents of Assam were excluded from it, creating a huge political controversy. The minister said the claims and objections on the draft NRC were invited till 31 December and after the disposal of claims and objections, the NRC is to be finalised as per the time lines approved by the Supreme Court.