GoI implements Citizenship Amendment Act; citizenship for illegal migrants will not apply to certain areas
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ March 11,2024
The rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act were notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday, March 11to facilitate the granting of citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The law paves the way for Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to get Indian citizenship.
These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for grant of Indian citizenship. The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided, the MHA posts on X.
As per available information, 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.
As per sources, 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.
GoI implements Citizenship Amendment Act; citizenship for illegal migrants will not apply to certain areas. 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.
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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 territory into India. The new law introduces religion as the sixth method to acquire citizenship in India.
