Salient Features of the Bill:
- The Bill seeks to facilitate acquisition of citizenship by 6 identified minority communities (namely Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis) from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who came to India before 31st Dec., 2014.
- The minimum residency period for citizenship is being reduced from existing 12 years under the present law to 7 years.
- The Union Home Minister clarified that the Act is not confined to the State of Assam. The Bill will apply to all States and Union Territories of the country. The beneficiaries of Citizenship Amendment Bill can reside in any state of the country.
Comment:
- Union Home Minister said the six communities faced “discrimination and religious persecution” and they “have no place to go, except India.”
- However, there has been a strong resistance to the Bill in Assam who fear it would pave the way for granting citizenship mostly to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, who came after March 1971, in violation of the 1985 Assam Accord.
- In this background opposition parties have opposed the Bill and demanded that it should be sent to a select committee.
