No decision on nationwide NRIC, Census to be Digital Census

The Union Government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at national level. The forthcoming Census will be the first digital Census and there is a provision for self-enumeration. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to facilitate grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered into India on or before 31st December 2014. Rai said, the Act has come into force with effect from 10th of January last year.

 Rai  also informed the Lok Sabha that Mobile App for collection of data and a Census Portal for management and monitoring of various Census related activities have been developed. He said, in Census data is collected on demographic and various socio-economic parameters like education, SC/ST, religion, language, marriage and migration of the individuals. The Minister said that the questionnaire for the first phase of Census was notified in the gazette of India. He said, the individual data collected in Census under the Census Act are not made public. Rai said, special emphasis is given on scientifically designing the Census questions for faster processing and early release of data.

Rai further informed the Lok Sabha of reports about some Rohingya migrants indulging in illegal activities, adding that steps were taken to identify them for deportation. As per the directions of the Centre to states, the law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been sensitised to take immediate steps for identification of illegal migrants, restricting them to specific locations and capturing their biographic and biometric particulars to initiate legal proceedings against them, including deportation as per provisions of the law.