NRC is short for National Register of Citizens. It will check the legal and illegal immigrants in India and make a list of people who are unable to prove their citizenship. Recently, it was implemented in Assam after the Supreme Court order.
On the other hand, the Citizenship Act 1955, the conferment of a person as an Indian citizen, is governed by Articles 5 to 11 of the India Constitution. It would provide the general instructions for the Citizenship accession.
A person can acquire the citizenship of India through certain legal processes, which are mentioned below:
1. By Birth
2. By descent
3. By registration
4. By naturalization
5. By Acquisition
1. By birth: If you were born and brought up in India, then you are an Indian.
2. By descent: If your parents were born and brought up in India, then you are an Indian.
3. By registration: If you are not an Indian citizen, but want to immigrate to India, you are eligible to get the citizenship by following statutory processes and verifying related documents.
4. By naturalization: If you have been staying in India for the last 11 years, then you will be able to apply for Indian citizenship. CAA, 2019 is the modification in this particular section only, i.e., the government has reduced the 11 years to 5 years for certain communities.
5. By acquisition: If the country has possessed the few parts of other populace, then a certain number of people will be considered as citizens of India.
The CAA comes as a relief for the persecuted minorities from three specific countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on the basis of human rights violation. The government of India has included only six religious communities in this: Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis, which come under the minority section, according to the Constitution of these countries.
In 1947, when the Partition of India and Pakistan occurred, several Muslims had decided to stay in India. Afterwards, to protect the human rights of Muslims, the minority quota was introduced in the Constitution—so that they could live peacefully.
Among these persecuted minorities seeking refuge in India, those who have been living in the country since December 31, 2014, are entitled to Indian Citizenship. This is being implemented by the current government and has come into effect on January 10, 2020. They have just reduced the number of years from 11 to 5 in the acquisition section—so that the persecuted minorities can avail the citizenship of India.
No Article of the Indian Constitution is violated through this amendment.