The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, of the Parliament of India amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 providing a path to Indian citizenship for religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.[2] The religious minorities given eligibility were listed as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.[2] Muslims were not given such eligibility.[3][4][5][6][7] The beneficiaries had to have entered India on or before 31 December 2014, and should have faced "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their countries of origin.[a] The Act also relaxed residence requirement for naturalization from 11 years to five years for these migrants.[10]
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party promised in its 2014 election manifesto to provide a natural home for persecuted Hindu refugees.[11] The travails of such refugees have since been reported in the news media.[12][13] In 2015, the government passed orders legalising such refugees irrespective of their travel documents and granting them long-term visas.[14] Over 30,000 migrants have availed of these facilites according to the Intelligence Bureau, who are now expected to be the immediate beneficiaries of the amended Citizenship Act.[15]
The Amendment Act has been criticised in India and abroad for violating the secular Constitution of India and its promise of equality under Article 14.[16][17][18] A petition opposing the bill was signed by over 1,000 Indian scientists and scholars.[19] The Act was also criticised by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.[20][21] Some critics of the Act believe it legalises religious discrimination.[2][22][7]
The passage of the Act caused large scale protests in India.[21] Muslim groups and secular groups have protested alleging religious discrimination. The people of Assam and other northeastern states continue to protest fearing that the non-Muslim illegal immigrants in their regions would be allowed to stay.[15]
Several non-Muslim countries on the periphery of India are notable for their absence from the bill. Tamil-speaking Hindus from Sri Lanka, many of whom legally settled in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, are not mentioned;[23] nor are Hindus in Buddhist Nepal and Bhutan,[24] or Tibetan refugees from China
Background
The Indian Constitution, implemented in 1950, was a secular constitution that guaranteed citizenship to all the country's residents.[26] The Indian government passed the Citizenship Act in 1955, seven years after India became an independent country. This act, and its subsequent amendments, prohibited illegal migrants from obtaining Indian citizenship.[27] The act defined illegal migrants as citizens of other countries who entered India without valid travel documents, or who remained in the country beyond the period permitted by their travel documents. It also allowed for these individuals to be deported or jailed.[27] According to UNHCR, there are more than 200,000 refugees residing in India.[28][29][b] India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and does not have a national policy on refugees. All refugees are classed as "illegal migrants". While India has been willing to host refugees, its traditional position formulated by Jawaharlal Nehru is that such refugees must return to their home countries after the situation returns to normal.[28][31]
The 2014 Indian general elections were won by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ideology of the BJP holds that India is a Hindu nation, rather than a secular one.[32] In its manifesto for the 2014 elections, the BJP had promised to grant citizenship to Hindu refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan.[11] After coming to power, the government announced that Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to "minority communities" would be exempted from the requirements of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946.[33] The minority communities were listed as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, and they were required to have been "compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution". Those that arrived in India before 31 December 2014 were granted exemption from the requirements,[34] and subsequently issued long-term visas.[14]
The BJP government introduced a bill to amend the citizenship law in 2016, which would have made Non - Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh eligible for Indian citizenship.[35][36] Although this bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, or lower house of Indian parliament, it stalled in the Rajya Sabha, following widespread political opposition and protests in northeast India. Opponents of the bill raised concerns that the demography of the region would change with an influx of migrants from Bangladesh.[36][37][38][39]
The BJP reiterated its commitment to amend the citizenship act in its 2019 election campaign. Among its other priorities was its belief that India had a large number of illegal Muslim immigrants. The BJP government completed an effort to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state of Assam.[40][41][42] The stated aim of this exercise was to identify illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country.[41] Commentators said it was an effort to target Muslim migrants.[41] The updated register was made public in August 2019; approximately 1.9 million residents were not on the list, and were in danger of losing their citizenship.[40][41][42] A majority of those affected were Bengali Hindus, who constitute a major voter base for the BJP. Shortly before the publication of the register, the BJP withdrew its support for the entire exercise.[43]
Legislative history
The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016 as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. It was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 12 August 2016. The Committee submitted its report on 7 January 2019.[44]
Subsequently, the Union Cabinet cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on 4 December 2019 for introduction in the parliament.[36][45] The Bill was introduced in 17th Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah on 9 December 2019 and was passed on 10 December 2019,[46] with 311 MPs voting in favour and 80 against the Bill.[47][48][49]
The bill was subsequently passed by the Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019 with 125 votes in favour and 105 votes against it.[50][51] Those voted in favour included BJP allies such as Janata Dal (United), AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal, TDP and YSR-Congress, apart from BJP.[51][50]
After receiving assent from the President of India on 12 December 2019, the bill assumed the status of an act.[52] The act will come into force on a date chosen by the Government of India, and will be notified as such.[1]
The Amendments
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, by inserting the following provisos in section 2, sub-section (1), after clause (b):[1]
Provided that persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of that Act;
A new section, 6B, was inserted, providing further that on and from the date of commencement of the [Act], any person referred to in the first proviso shall be eligible to apply for naturalisation and any proceeding pending against such person in respect of illegal migration or citizenship shall stand abated on conferment of citizenship to him.[1]
The exempted classes of persons were previously defined in the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015, (issued under the Foreigners Act, 1946):[34]
3A. Exemption of certain class of foreigners. – (1) Persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014
(a) without valid documents including passport or other travel documents and who have been exempted under rule 4 from the provisions of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950 [...]; or
(b) with valid documents including passport or other travel document and the validity of any of such documents has expired,
are hereby granted exemption from the application of provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and the orders made thereunder in respect of their stay in India without such documents or after the expiry of those documents, as the case may be [...].[34]
The Rules were further amended in 2016 by adding Afghanistan to the list of countries.[53]
Analysis
The Bill amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to give eligibility for Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. The bill does not include Muslims.[54][55] Immediate beneficiaries of the Bill, according to IB records, will be just over 30,000 people.[56] India's previous citizenship law, Citizenship Act 1955, did not consider religious affiliation to be a criterion for eligibility.[57]
Under the Act, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, and for 11 of the previous 14 years. The Bill relaxes this 11-year requirement to five years for persons belonging to the same six religions and three countries. The bill exempts the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura from its applicability. It also exempts the areas regulated through the Inner Line Permit, which include Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.[58][59][36][60] The inclusion of Manipur in Inner Line Permit was also announced on 9 December 2019.[38]
The Bill includes new provisions for cancellation of the registration of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) such as registration through fraud, in case of OCI holder sentenced to imprisonment for two or more years within five years of registration and in necessity in the interest of sovereignty and security of India. It also includes a provision on violation of any law notified by the central government. It also adds the opportunity for the OCI holder to be heard before the cancellation.[36]
Exclusion of Muslims
Muslims are conspiculously absent from the groups to whom citizenship is offered in the Act. Critics have questioned the exclusion. The Act limits itself to the Muslim - majority neighbours of India and, secondly, takes no cognizance of the persecuted Muslims of those countries, such as Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan and the Hazaras in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are said to be refugees belonging to these groups in India, who have not been offered any relief.[28][30] There are also many refugees from Sri Lanka, Nepal and most significantly Myanmar, who are not covered by the Act
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party promised in its 2014 election manifesto to provide a natural home for persecuted Hindu refugees.[11] The travails of such refugees have since been reported in the news media.[12][13] In 2015, the government passed orders legalising such refugees irrespective of their travel documents and granting them long-term visas.[14] Over 30,000 migrants have availed of these facilites according to the Intelligence Bureau, who are now expected to be the immediate beneficiaries of the amended Citizenship Act.[15]
The Amendment Act has been criticised in India and abroad for violating the secular Constitution of India and its promise of equality under Article 14.[16][17][18] A petition opposing the bill was signed by over 1,000 Indian scientists and scholars.[19] The Act was also criticised by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.[20][21] Some critics of the Act believe it legalises religious discrimination.[2][22][7]
The passage of the Act caused large scale protests in India.[21] Muslim groups and secular groups have protested alleging religious discrimination. The people of Assam and other northeastern states continue to protest fearing that the non-Muslim illegal immigrants in their regions would be allowed to stay.[15]
Several non-Muslim countries on the periphery of India are notable for their absence from the bill. Tamil-speaking Hindus from Sri Lanka, many of whom legally settled in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, are not mentioned;[23] nor are Hindus in Buddhist Nepal and Bhutan,[24] or Tibetan refugees from China
Background
The Indian Constitution, implemented in 1950, was a secular constitution that guaranteed citizenship to all the country's residents.[26] The Indian government passed the Citizenship Act in 1955, seven years after India became an independent country. This act, and its subsequent amendments, prohibited illegal migrants from obtaining Indian citizenship.[27] The act defined illegal migrants as citizens of other countries who entered India without valid travel documents, or who remained in the country beyond the period permitted by their travel documents. It also allowed for these individuals to be deported or jailed.[27] According to UNHCR, there are more than 200,000 refugees residing in India.[28][29][b] India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and does not have a national policy on refugees. All refugees are classed as "illegal migrants". While India has been willing to host refugees, its traditional position formulated by Jawaharlal Nehru is that such refugees must return to their home countries after the situation returns to normal.[28][31]
The 2014 Indian general elections were won by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ideology of the BJP holds that India is a Hindu nation, rather than a secular one.[32] In its manifesto for the 2014 elections, the BJP had promised to grant citizenship to Hindu refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan.[11] After coming to power, the government announced that Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to "minority communities" would be exempted from the requirements of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946.[33] The minority communities were listed as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, and they were required to have been "compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution". Those that arrived in India before 31 December 2014 were granted exemption from the requirements,[34] and subsequently issued long-term visas.[14]
The BJP government introduced a bill to amend the citizenship law in 2016, which would have made Non - Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh eligible for Indian citizenship.[35][36] Although this bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, or lower house of Indian parliament, it stalled in the Rajya Sabha, following widespread political opposition and protests in northeast India. Opponents of the bill raised concerns that the demography of the region would change with an influx of migrants from Bangladesh.[36][37][38][39]
The BJP reiterated its commitment to amend the citizenship act in its 2019 election campaign. Among its other priorities was its belief that India had a large number of illegal Muslim immigrants. The BJP government completed an effort to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state of Assam.[40][41][42] The stated aim of this exercise was to identify illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country.[41] Commentators said it was an effort to target Muslim migrants.[41] The updated register was made public in August 2019; approximately 1.9 million residents were not on the list, and were in danger of losing their citizenship.[40][41][42] A majority of those affected were Bengali Hindus, who constitute a major voter base for the BJP. Shortly before the publication of the register, the BJP withdrew its support for the entire exercise.[43]
Legislative history
The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016 as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. It was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 12 August 2016. The Committee submitted its report on 7 January 2019.[44]
Subsequently, the Union Cabinet cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on 4 December 2019 for introduction in the parliament.[36][45] The Bill was introduced in 17th Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah on 9 December 2019 and was passed on 10 December 2019,[46] with 311 MPs voting in favour and 80 against the Bill.[47][48][49]
The bill was subsequently passed by the Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019 with 125 votes in favour and 105 votes against it.[50][51] Those voted in favour included BJP allies such as Janata Dal (United), AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal, TDP and YSR-Congress, apart from BJP.[51][50]
After receiving assent from the President of India on 12 December 2019, the bill assumed the status of an act.[52] The act will come into force on a date chosen by the Government of India, and will be notified as such.[1]
The Amendments
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, by inserting the following provisos in section 2, sub-section (1), after clause (b):[1]
Provided that persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrants for the purposes of that Act;
A new section, 6B, was inserted, providing further that on and from the date of commencement of the [Act], any person referred to in the first proviso shall be eligible to apply for naturalisation and any proceeding pending against such person in respect of illegal migration or citizenship shall stand abated on conferment of citizenship to him.[1]
The exempted classes of persons were previously defined in the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015, (issued under the Foreigners Act, 1946):[34]
3A. Exemption of certain class of foreigners. – (1) Persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014
(a) without valid documents including passport or other travel documents and who have been exempted under rule 4 from the provisions of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950 [...]; or
(b) with valid documents including passport or other travel document and the validity of any of such documents has expired,
are hereby granted exemption from the application of provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and the orders made thereunder in respect of their stay in India without such documents or after the expiry of those documents, as the case may be [...].[34]
The Rules were further amended in 2016 by adding Afghanistan to the list of countries.[53]
Analysis
The Bill amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to give eligibility for Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. The bill does not include Muslims.[54][55] Immediate beneficiaries of the Bill, according to IB records, will be just over 30,000 people.[56] India's previous citizenship law, Citizenship Act 1955, did not consider religious affiliation to be a criterion for eligibility.[57]
Under the Act, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, and for 11 of the previous 14 years. The Bill relaxes this 11-year requirement to five years for persons belonging to the same six religions and three countries. The bill exempts the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura from its applicability. It also exempts the areas regulated through the Inner Line Permit, which include Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.[58][59][36][60] The inclusion of Manipur in Inner Line Permit was also announced on 9 December 2019.[38]
The Bill includes new provisions for cancellation of the registration of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) such as registration through fraud, in case of OCI holder sentenced to imprisonment for two or more years within five years of registration and in necessity in the interest of sovereignty and security of India. It also includes a provision on violation of any law notified by the central government. It also adds the opportunity for the OCI holder to be heard before the cancellation.[36]
Exclusion of Muslims
Muslims are conspiculously absent from the groups to whom citizenship is offered in the Act. Critics have questioned the exclusion. The Act limits itself to the Muslim - majority neighbours of India and, secondly, takes no cognizance of the persecuted Muslims of those countries, such as Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan and the Hazaras in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are said to be refugees belonging to these groups in India, who have not been offered any relief.[28][30] There are also many refugees from Sri Lanka, Nepal and most significantly Myanmar, who are not covered by the Act
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