NPR Smart Card
The Citizenship Act, 1955 provides that the Central Government may compulsorily register every Citizen of India and issue National Identity Card to him. Accordingly, Government has decided to create National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) by verifing citizenship status of all persons in the National Population Register (NPR) and issue National Identity Cards to all the Citizens of India.
The issuance of National Identity Card to Citizen is a statutory requirement under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The financial proposals are being put up to the competent authority for approval. Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 have already laid down the guidelines to be followed for determination of Citizenship status and which have been tested during the pilot project on Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC).
This was stated by Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in written reply to a question by Shri Asaduddin Owaisi in the Lok Sabha today.
*****
KSD/BK/PK/sk