Sana Shakil By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Top government officials on Friday clarified that Aadhaar, voter ID card and passport are not citizenship documents.

The officials were asked about documents required to prove citizenship for NRC.

The clarification comes a day after a “government document” emerged on social media, indicating that voter IDs be treated as proof of citizenship.

The document, reportedly attributed to government sources, lists 13 questions and answers to clear the air around Citizenship Amendment Act and possible countrywide NRC and is titled, “Here are the real facts on Citizenship Amendment Act”.

A top government official said that it was “pre-mature” to talk about NRC but added that documents like voter ID, Aadhaar and passport do not prove citizenship.

“These are either travel documents or documents to show residency in India,” the official said. Later, the Union Home Ministry put out tweets aimed at dispelling doubts about CAA.

The MHA spokesperson said, “Citizenship of India may be proved by giving any document relating to the date of birth or place of birth or both. Such a list is likely to include a lot of common documents to ensure that no citizen is unduly harassed or put to inconvenience.”

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Another tweet said illiterate citizens not having any documents, will be allowed to produce witnesses or local proofs supported by members of the community.

“A well laid out procedure will be followed. #CAA2019,” the tweet said.

Earlier in the day, the government official said the Home Ministry in consultation with the Law Ministry is preparing the rules for implementation of CAA.

“No one will get Indian citizenship automatically. One has to prove eligibility,” the official said.

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He added that the law provides for a national identity card under Section 14A of the Act. Asked about NRC, the official said, “There is no intention to throw people out. People are over-worried. Law has sufficient safeguards.”

‘States cannot halt NPR, CAA, NRC’

On a day Kerala announced that it won’t let Centre carry out National Population Register exercise just as West Bengal, the Centre said the states do not have the option of refusing NPR. A top government official said it was beyond the control of states to stop implementation of CAA, NRC or NPR.

On implementation of CAA, the official said there is a provision for notifying a separate authority. “Earlier, we had delegated this power to the collector, but we can now look afresh... A central government official is likely to be notified,” an official said.

He also pointed out that NPR was also out of the ambit of the states.