| Summary/Abstract |
Within days of passing the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Indian government allocated 39.4bn rupees (£427m) for updating the National Population Register (NPR) database (BBC 2019). Updating the NPR database is regarded as the first step toward a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), which will enumerate all Indian citizens. The government’s determination to conduct a countrywide NPR exercise as part of the 2021 Census provoked doubts about its real intention because, with the passage of the CAA, religion has become a criterion for expediting the acquisition of Indian citizenship. Indeed, India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, outlined the chronology (Dowerah Reference Dowerah2019) linking the NPR, NRC, and CAA with characteristic (BJP 2019) clarity: “Please understand the chronology. First, we will bring the CAA.
|