With sense and sensibility

National Register highlights need to reform citizenship rules

The contentious exercise that preceded the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam appears to have attracted supporters elsewhere. Last week, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded a similar exercise in West Bengal, as did the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), a part of the state’s ruling alliance in Tripura, the Janata Dal (United) in Nagaland and some activist groups in Meghalaya and Mizoram. Should the government consider these demands? The high-decibel rhetoric surrounding the admittedly flawed process in Assam obscures the substantive aspects of the issue of determining citizenship. It