Citizenship Amendment Act: The BJP-led Modi government at the Center on Monday (March 11) notified the rules related to the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). This cleared the way for non-Muslims and people suffering religious persecution from India’s three Muslim-majority neighboring countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) to become Indian citizens. To be eligible for this, such people will have to fulfill the conditions of the law.
The promise to implement CAA was made in BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto. Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the law passed in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections Will be implemented before 2024. Whereas, on December 27, 2023, the Home Minister Amit Shah Had called CAA the law of the country.
Who will get citizenship from CAA?
CAA opens the way for non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to get Indian citizenship. This law is applicable to all immigrants who came to India on and before December 31, 2014.
CAA was passed by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. Under this law, there is a provision to provide citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before 31 December 2014, but it does not provide such eligibility to Muslims of these countries.
How many people will get immediate benefits?
A 2019 amendment to the law says migrants who entered India by December 31, 2014, and who faced religious persecution or fear in their country of origin, will be eligible for accelerated citizenship. Applicants will have to prove how long they have been living in India. They will also have to fulfill the requirements of the Third Schedule of the Citizenship Act 1955.
The amendment reduced the residence requirement from twelve years to six years for these immigrants to become legal citizens of India. According to Intelligence Bureau records, the immediate beneficiaries of CAA will be more than 30,000.
When was CAA passed?
The CAA was passed by both houses of Parliament on December 11, 2019, and was notified on December 12, 2019. It was approved by the President. However, the Act was not implemented as its rules were not notified.
According to the Parliamentary Business Rules, the rules of any law should be framed within six months of the President’s assent, otherwise the government will have to seek extension of the period from the subordinate legislative committees of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been obtaining extensions at regular intervals from the Parliamentary Committee for making rules. The Home Ministry has prepared a portal for the convenience of the applicants as the entire process will be online. Application for obtaining citizenship can be made on this portal.
According to news agency PTI, a Home Ministry spokesperson said, “These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, will enable eligible persons under CAA-2019 to apply for grant of Indian citizenship.” “Applications will be submitted completely in online mode for which a web portal has been made available,” the spokesperson said. An official said no documents will be asked from the applicants.
In these states, citizenship is given under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The nine states where non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955 include Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.
This issue is very politically sensitive in Assam and West Bengal and the government has not yet given the power to grant citizenship to district officials in either of these two states.
In the last two years, more than 30 district officers and home secretaries of nine states have been given the power to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act, 1955. .
1414 people got citizenship in 2021 under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
According to the Home Ministry’s annual report for 2021-22, a total of 1,414 people belonging to non-Muslim minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were granted citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act 1955 from April 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Given Indian citizenship.
According to news agency PTI, earlier more than 100 people had lost their lives during anti-CAA protests or police action. From December 2019 to February 2020, protests against the CAA were witnessed across the country and led to the riots in North-East Delhi.
According to HT report, 13 people lost their lives during the riots in Delhi, many houses and shops were set on fire and dozens more were reported missing. The United Nations High Commission also took note of the violence and on 3 March 2020 it filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court. It is believed that CAA should have been implemented much earlier, but it got delayed due to Corona. However, now opposition parties are raising questions on the timing of the notification issued regarding CAA.