Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. CONTEXT The National Register of Citizens (NRC) authorities have submitted to the Gauhati High Court an affidavit reportedly containing the details of “illegal foreigners” whose names had crept into the updated list of citizens released in 2019. BACKGROUND Some 19.06 lakh out of 3.3 crore applicants were excluded from the complete draft NRC published on August 31, 2019. It was later found that some “ineligible people” — those without papers establishing their domicile in Assam before March 24, 1971 — had been included in the citizens’ list. About NRC The NRC was created in 1951 to determine who was born in Assam and is therefore Indian, and who might be a migrant from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The demand for updating the NRC was first raised in 1980 during the anti-foreigners Assam agitation spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union. A 2...

Amended Bill target political opponents, minorities, say Opposition MP The Lok Sabha passed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 on Monday even as the Opposition raised concerns that the legislation may be used to target political opponents and religious minorities. Nityanand Rai Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, who introduced the Bill on behalf of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, defended making Aadhaar a mandatory identification document for all the office bearers of an NGO or an association seeking foreign donations. He said the 2018 Supreme Court order allowed the government to make a separate law in areas where Aadhar card is required. “A law can be brought to make Aadhar mandatory. Why some functionaries can hide their identity,” Mr. Rai asked. Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) attacked the government on limiting administrative expenses drawn from foreign donations to 20% as against the current 50%. “How have you reached this magic ...