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What is CAA? 80 groups to go door-to-door to explain

ByYesha Kotak, Mumbai
Feb 12, 2020 12:58 AM IST

Over the next few weeks, around 80 groups of students and citizens will visit societies and slums to make people aware of various aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), so that they can oppose it.

Over the next few weeks, around 80 groups of students and citizens will visit societies and slums to make people aware of various aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), so that they can oppose it.

On Tuesday evening, NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) organised a workshop for representatives from civil society groups and students groups in which they discussed different aspects of the NRC and NPR. The latter is supposed to be carried out from April 1. “Unless NPR is withdrawn, NRC cannot be withdrawn. The government’s plan to implement it along with the census is only going to create further chaos. We do not want census work to stop, but our demand is that the census work should not begin until NPR is withdrawn,” said Teesta Setalvad, secretary, CJP.

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Sasikumar Senthil, former IAS officer from Karnataka, said as the government did not give any clarity on the CAA, NPR or NRC, the people across the country are confused, which is leading to hoax messages. “There is a trust deficit against the current government right now. In this scenario, if government officials collect data during census, people will not trust them with their information,” said Senthil.

On the other hand, social activist Medha Patkar visited the women protesters at Mumbai Bagh who have been on a sit-in demonstration since January 26. Patkar commended the protesters and described it as women empowerment.

“The fact that everyone would require papers would only go further to affect the poor, Dalits and tribals of the country,” she said.

A delegation of people, who are supporting the protest, also met Mumbai Police’s commissioner Sanjay Barve to discuss notices issued to the protesting women.

After Sena, Cong holds CAA session with ex-IAS officer

Days after the Shiv Sena invited Mumbai Police’s commissioner Sanjay Barve to address their legislators on the CAA, NRC and NPR, the Congress held a similar session for its legislators on Tuesday and invited former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan. Party ministers and legislators attended the session at Vidhan Bhavan.

Gopinathan, a 2012-batch IAS officer from Kerala who had resigned over denial of freedom of expression in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, made a presentation, along with Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and advocate Raj Kulkarni.

Emphasising that the CAA, NRC and NPR are interlinked, Gopinathan termed the BJP government’s pro-NRC stand as “propaganda”. “Democracy empowers citizens to elect the government, but in this case the Centre wants the power to choose its citizens,” he said.

Attack on photojournalist: 1 cop suspended, probation of other to be extended

Home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday announced the suspension of one of the two police officers responsible for the attack on photojournalist Ashish Raje on February 6 at Nagpada.

During a meeting with journalists from various organisations at the Mantralaya, Deshmukh said the assistant police inspector will be suspended pending inquiry, while the probation period of the other officer will be extended. He said a fresh circular will be issued instructing the police department to treat journalists with courtesy. Raje, a senior photojournalist, was attacked when he went to shoot the ongoing anti-CAA protests at Mumbai Central.

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