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Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016: Introduction, Controversy, Detailed Analysis, Facts
What is the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016? Key facts, Controversies, Laws, Analysis
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has been in discussion since the past few days. This has become a topic of controversy especially in the north-eastern states of Assam and Bangladesh border. Some time ago when the Joint Parliamentary Committee visited the north-eastern states, in all these states there were protests against it in many places, but here too, the biggest protest was held in Assam.
In this Citizenship Amendment Bill-2013, amending the Citizenship Act-1955, the citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christian Minorities (not including Muslims) have been granted citizenship Whether they have the necessary documents or not.
Key facts of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016
This amendment, while altering this definition of 'illegal migrant', says that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan will not be considered 'illegal migrants'.
This amendment considers the Muslim people coming from neighboring countries as 'illegal migrants', while almost all others are excluded from this definition.
Under the current citizenship law of India, immigrants are allowed to apply for natural citizenship only when they have been residing in India for 12 months right before the application and 11 years out of the last 14 years have lived in India.
Proposals have been proposed in Schedule 3 of the Act through the proposed bill so that they can be eligible for citizenship if the completion of 6 years instead of 11 years. With this, they will be out of the definition of 'illegal migrants'.
