Provisions in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 was passed on December 11, 2019 by the Parliament of India. This act aims to provide citizenship to minority refugees including Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs or Parsis of India who have migrated in India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before 2014 December end. This act is also not applicable to tribal areas of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam. Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, the “Inner Line” areas were also exempted from this Act. This act or law is not applicable for Muslim migrants living in the country where they live in majority. This Act also cancels the Overseas Citizenship of India.

The law was enacted by Lok Sabha on December 10, 2019 while by Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 was signed on December 12, 2019 by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind and came into effect on January 10, 2020. This act reduces the naturalisation period from 12 years to 5-6 years. Intelligence Bureau records mentioned that there are more than 30,000 beneficiaries of the act, approximately 31,313 people were included out of which 5,807 were Sikhs, 2 Buddhists, 55 Christians, 2 Parsis and 25,477 were hindus. This Act also faced many criticism from Muslim communities

History of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was the first government who introduced a bill in 2016 to amend the citizenship act. This bill are applicable to the migrants which are non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The government repeated his amendment in campaign of 2019 elections and promised the religious minorities including Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs or Parsis (who lived in country of Muslims majority) their Indian Citizenship. After the election, BJP government drafted the Citizenship Amendment Act.

On July 19, 2016; in Lok Sabha the bill Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced which was then referred on August 12, 2016 to the Joint Parliamentary Committee and on January 7, 2019 they submitted the report to the Parliament of India. The bill then passed on January 8, 2019 by Lok Sabha and finally by Rajya Sabha.

On December 9, 2019; the bill was proposed by Amit Shah, the Minister of Home Affairs in 17th new Lok Sabha and finally passed on December 10, 2019 with the voting of 311 Members of Parliament in favour of the bill and 80 members against the bill. The bill then passed on December 11, 2019 by the Rajya Sabha with 125 votes in favour of the bill and 105 votes against the bill. The bill finally became an Act on December 12, 2019 by the President of India and it came into effect on January 10, 2020 and it’s implementation began when Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister gave certificates of Citizenship to 7 refugees from the country Pakistan on December 20, 2019.

5 Conditions for Obtaining Citizenship

The 5 conditions for obtaining citizenship of India under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 are;

• Citizenship by birth: It states that every person who is born in India shall be an Indian citizen by birth.

• Citizenship by Descent: It states that every person who is born outside of India shall be an Indian citizen by Descent.

• Citizenship by Registration: It refers to the person which the Central Government of India registered him/her as Indian citizen.

• Citizenship by Naturalisation: It refers to the foreigners who lived in India for 12 years and are not illegally immigrants shall be Indian citizens by naturalisation.

• Citizenship by Incorporation of Territory: It refers to the condition when some territory agreed as a part of Indian territory so the people residing there shall be the Indian citizen by Incorporation of Territory.

Citizenship Act of 1955: Provisions and Amendments

The Citizenship Act of 1955 says that it is compulsory to attain an Indian Citizenship; the person should stay for 11 years at least in India. This time period of 11 years was reduced to 6 years and then 5 years under Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. 

Functions of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019

• To provide citizenship to the migrants living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• To provide relaxation of naturalisation to migrants from 11 years to 6-5 years.
• To provide citizenship of India by birth or registration or descent or by incorporation of territory.

Amendments of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019

The Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended by the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 by incorporating the provisions in section 2 and sub-section (1) after clause (b). 6B is the new section which was introduced in the act with four clauses. The amendments regarding Overseas Indian Citizens Cardholders are mentioned in section 7D after clause (d) and (f) of the Act. This act also regards the “exempted” people under Foreigners Amendment Order, 2015.

Conclusion

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 aims to provide shelter to the non-muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan who resided in India for 6 years at least. It doesn’t grant the Citizenship certificate to the Muslim migrants as well as to those who belongs to Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Assam Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.