Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA)
Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA),2019:
• The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA), 2019 has been passed by the Lok Sabha on 9th December 2019.
• The aim of this bill is to offer Indian citizenship to illegal migrants of 6 communities i.e. Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, and Jain belong to Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
• This bill is signed by the President on 12 December 2019 that’s why it’s become as act now.
• The Bill provides that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before 31st December ,2014 ,will not be treated as illegal migrants.
Citizenship by registration or naturalization :
The Act allows an individual to use for citizenship by registration or naturalisation if the person meets certain qualifications.
o For instance, if a person resides in India for a year and if one of his parents is a former Indian citizen, he may apply for citizenship by registration.
o to get citizenship by naturalisation, one among the qualifications is that the person must have resided in India or are within the service of the central government for at least 11 years before applying for citizenship.
o The Bill creates an exception for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains , Parsis and Christians migrated from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, with reference to this qualification. For these groups of persons, the 11 years requirement will be now reduced to 5 years.
o On acquiring citizenship:
(i) such persons are going to be deemed to be citizens of India from the date of their entry into India
(ii) all legal proceedings against them in respect of their illegal migration or citizenship are going to be closed.
Applicability of the Amended Act :
o All legal proceedings against illegal migrants related to their illegal migration or citizenship will be closed.
However, the bill will not give these benefits to the illegal migrants of tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. These tribal areas includes Karbi Anglong (in Assam), Garo Hills (in Meghalaya), Chakma District (in Mizoram), and Tripura Tribal Areas District.
o Further, it will not apply to the “Inner Line” areas notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
In these areas, visits by citizen of India(Indians) are regulated through the Inner Line Permit.
• Currently, this permit system is applicable to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland.and Manipur has also been brought under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime through a Gazette Notification on the same day the bill was passed in the parliament.
Cancellation of registration of OCIs:
According to Act it provides that the central government may cancel the registration of OCIs on certain grounds:-
(i) if the OCI has registered through fraud
(ii) if, within five years of registration, the OCI has been sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years or more
(iii) if it becomes necessary in the interest of sovereignty and security of India.
(iv) if the OCI cardholder has violated the provisions of the Act or of any other law as notified by the central government. The orders for cancellation of OCI should not be passed till the OCI cardholder is given an opportunity to be heard.
Why this bill is opposed?
Basically this bill is opposed because it doesn’t give citizenship to illegal migrants of muslim community from these 3 countries. Another reason for opposing is that it violates the provisions of article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
So these were some provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 which provides Indian citizenship to illegal migrants of three countries.
However, some people are arguing that this amendment is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution as it opposes discrimination with anyone based only on caste, religion, sex, and place, etc. Hopefully, the govt will take the proper decision after taking note of all sections of the country.
And What’s Government’s Stand :
The government has clarified that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are Islamic republics where Muslims are in majority hence they cannot be treated as persecuted minorities.
According to the government, this Bill aims at granting rather than taking away someone’s citizenship.It has assured that the government will examine the application from any other community on a case to case basis.
This Bill will come as a big boon to all those people who have been the victims of Partition and the subsequent conversion of the three countries into theocratic Islamic republics.
SOURCES :
- wikipedia
- josh jagran
-SOURABH NEGI