No decision has been taken "till now" on preparing a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Ministry of Home Affairs informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday even as it sought to allay apprehensions on the National Population Register (NPR) saying providing Aadhaar number during the exercise is only voluntary and no document will be collected.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai made these remarks in written replies to the Lok Sabha while answering questions on the NRC, NPR and protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
"Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level," Rai said.
While President Ram Nath Kovind did not mention about NRC in his address to the joint sitting last week, he had said in his speech in June last year that the government has "decided to implement" the NRC on "priority basis in areas affected by infiltration".
To another question, he said no document will be collected during the updation of the National Population Register (NPR) and providing Aadhaar number during the exercise is only voluntary.
Asked about some states' objections to the NPR exercise, he said the government is in discussion with the states having concerns with regard to the preparation of the NPR. "The demographic and other particulars of each family and individual are to be updated/collected during the exercise of updation of NPR. No document is to be collected during this exercise," he said.
"The respondent has to provide the information for NPR updation true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Aadhaar number is collected voluntarily," he said adding that no verification will be done to find individuals whose citizenship is doubtful.
On protests against CAA-NPR-NRC, he said incidents of violence, unlawful gathering, stone pelting, and damage to public and personal property were reported during the agitations.
"Delhi Police has reported incidents of violence, unlawful gathering, stone pelting, damage to public/personal property and number of persons arrested during protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019," he said adding 66 anti-CAA protests have been held in the national capital and 11 cases have been registered following the violence in which 99 people have been arrested.