Kolkata: Forty-two days after staying the process of National Population Register (NPR) across the state on December 16, 2019, the West Bengal government will table a resolution against the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state Assembly on Monday.
The resolution will be tabled around 2 PM during a special session. The TMC has requested all parties to extend their support in bringing the resolution.
Earlier, on December 16, 2019 (five days after Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 11) the Bengal government took its first official step against CAA and NRC by staying process of NPR across the state.
In an official circular numbered ‘392-Home (NPR)/O/Cen-02/19’ dated December 16, 2019 – the letter, issued by the additional secretary, Home and Hill Affairs Department said: “I am directed to inform you that all activities regarding the preparation and updation of the National Population Register (NPR) are hereby stayed in West Bengal. No activity regarding NPR may be taken up without prior clearance from the state government.”
The NPR is a Register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. The objective of the NPR is to create an identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.
West Bengal Chief Minister had recently announced that her government will bring a resolution against the CAA in the state Assembly.
Then she had appealed to all the North Eastern states including those states which are being governed by the BJP chief ministers to pass similar resolutions.
The CAB seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution there. On December 4, the Union Cabinet passed the CAB in their meeting and it was later cleared in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
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Source: News18