Central government implements Citizenship Amendment Act, notifies rules

THE Ministry of Home Affairs notified the Citizenship Amendment Act's (CAA) rules today. The law makes it easier for Hindu, Sikh, Jain Buddhist, Christian and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to get Indian citizenship.

This comes weeks after Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the law would be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections.

The law aims to give citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from these countries who came to India before December 31, 2014. After the law was enacted in 2019, protests broke out in several parts of the country.

Last month, Amit Shah said that no one can stop the CAA law.

"This will be implemented before the elections...this is the law of the country, no one can stop it, this is set in stone, this is the reality," he had said at an event.

Amit Shah had also said that the CAA was an act of the country. He assured the minorities that the law would not snatch away anyone's citizenship.

“The CAA is an act of the country…It will be notified before the polls. There should be no confusion around it. Minorities in our country, and especially our Muslim community, are being provoked…The CAA cannot snatch away anyone's citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. The CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah said while speaking at the ET Now-Global Business summit in Delhi in February.

At the same event, Amit Shah said that the law was promised by the Congress government.

"CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they would be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking," he added.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that her government would not allow the implementation of CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or NRC (National Register of Citizens) in the state.

"We will not allow CAA, nor NRC, nor the politics of dividing Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, nor the false politics of dividing the Matua community, nor the false politics of dividing Hindus and Muslims. We do not accept this. They sent over 400 teams to Bengal. How many teams did you send to Manipur, where our sisters were burned?" she said.

What is in the Bill?

The Bill proposed to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, and sought to make foreign illegal migrants of certain religious communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship, according to PRS Legislative Research.

Rules for citizenship in India?

Until now, citizenship is regulated by the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Bill specifies that citizenship may be acquired in India through five criteria – by birth in India, by descent, through registration, by naturalisation (extended residence in India), and by incorporation of the territory into India. The new law introduces religion as the sixth method to acquire citizenship in India.

What does the law change?

The Bill proposes that the specified class of illegal migrants from the three countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan - will not be treated as illegal migrants, making them eligible for citizenship. These migrants will become  Indian citizens from the date of their entry into India. All legal proceedings regarding their status as illegal migrants or their citizenship will be closed, the PRS Legislative Research said.

The refugee has to fulfil some qualifications. One of the qualifications is that the person must have resided in India or been in central government service for the last 12 months and at least 11 years of the preceding 14 years. For the specified class of illegal migrants, the number of years of residency has been relaxed to five years.

Exceptions 

The amendments on citizenship for illegal migrants will not apply to certain areas, according to the Bill. These include the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura, as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The exceptions also include the states regulated by the “Inner Line" permit under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations 1873. 

These Sixth Schedule tribal areas include Karbi Anglong (in Assam), Garo Hills (in Meghalaya), Chakma District (in Mizoram), and Tripura Tribal Areas District. Further, the Inner Line Permit regulates the visit of all persons, including Indian citizens, to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland.

On Overseas Citizens of India

The law also made amendments to provisions related to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cardholders. A foreigner may register as an OCI under the 1955 Act if they are of Indian origin or the spouse of a person of Indian origin. This will entitle them to benefits such as the right to travel to India, and to work and study in the country. 

The law has amended the Act to allow cancellation of OCI registration if the person has violated any law notified by the central government.

Not Against Minorities

While introducing the Bill in Rajya Sabha in December 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Bill will give a new ray of hope to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India after facing persecution on the ground of religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The law has generated criticism for being against minorities. But Shah in his Rajya Sabha speech had said the Bill was not against any minority in India and the rights of each India Citizen would be equally protected. The home minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government was committed to protecting the rights of each citizen of the country.

"The only religion that the Modi government follows is the Constitution of India. We are not here only to run the government but to solve the genuine problems of the common man," he said.

Why Three Countries?

Responding to the question on why only three countries were considered and why Muslims were not included in this bill, Shah said that at different points in time in the past, citizenship had been given to refugees coming from countries like Uganda and Sri Lanka. Then, refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were not considered.

"The process of awarding citizenship to refugees has been undertaken by different governments in the past on a case-to-case basis from time to time, on reasonable qualifications to Article 14. This time the case of refugees fleeing religious persecution from these three countries has been considered through this Bill, which is not unconstitutional," Shah said, adding that than 560 Muslims from these three countries have been granted citizenship in the last five years until 2019.