No one to be given Indian citizenship automatically: Officials

New Delhi, December 16

No refugees belonging to Hindu and other five communities coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship automatically but only after fulfilling the necessary criteria, a senior Home Ministry official said on Monday.

The clarification on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act came amidst widespread protests in different parts of the country against the legislation.

“The new act does not mean that all refugees or illegal immigrants getting Indian citizenship automatically. They have to apply for citizenship which will be processed by the competent authority.

“The applicant concerned will be given Indian citizenship only after fulfilling the required criteria,” the official said.

The Central government will frame rules to operationalise the provisions of the CAA.

“No migrant from these communities will become Indian citizen automatically. He will have to apply online and the competent authority would see whether he fulfils all the qualifications for registration or naturalisation as Indian citizen,” the official said.

According to the act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.   

The act says the refugees of the six communities will be given Indian citizenship after residing in India for five years, instead of 11 years earlier.

The Citizenship Act, 1955, provides for acquisition, determination and termination of Indian citizenship. Citizenship of India can be acquired by birth (section 3), by descent (section 4), by registration (section 5), or by naturalisation (section 6) or by incorporation of territory (section 7).

Any foreigner on becoming eligible can acquire citizenship by registration or by naturalisation irrespective of his country or community.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) enables migrants or foreigners of six minority communities from three specified countries who have come to India because of persecution on grounds of their religion to apply for Indian citizenship.

It does not amend any existing legal provision, which enables any foreigner of any class, creed, religion, category to apply for Indian citizenship through registration or naturalisation modes.

Such a foreigner has to become eligible to apply for citizenship after fulfilling the minimum legal requirements, the official said.

The CAA does not apply to Indian citizens and they are completely unaffected by it as it seeks to grant Indian citizenship to particular foreigners who have suffered persecution on grounds of their religion in the three neighbouring countries.

During the last six years, approximately 2,830 Pakistani, 912 Afghani citizens and 172 Bangladeshi citizens have been given Indian citizenship. Hundreds of them are from majority community of these three countries.

Such migrants continue to get Indian citizenship and shall also continue to get it if they fulfil the eligibility conditions already provided in the law for registration or naturalisation.

About 14,864 Bangladeshi nationals were also granted Indian citizenship after incorporating more than 50 enclaves of Bangladesh into Indian territory post the boundary agreement between the two countries in 2014.

Another official said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has been in the public domain since 2016 and it was cleared by a 30-member Parliamentary Committee consisting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members.

The present act is broadly based on the same Bill.

By amending the appropriate rules during 2015-16, the government had already legalised entry as well as stay of such foreign migrants belonging to six minority communities from these three countries who had come into India up to December, 2014 because of persecution on grounds of religion.

The government had made such migrants also eligible for grant of Long Term Visa (LTV) to stay in India for a long time. The CAA now enables them to take Indian citizenship if they fulfil conditions and qualifications for such citizenship provided they migrated from these three countries before December 31, 2014.

During 1962-78, more than two lakh Burmese of Indian-origin fled from Myanmar after many trades and businesses were nationalised there and properties of such Indians were forcibly taken by the state.

In 2004, the Central government delegated the power to grant citizenship by registration to six collectors of Gujarat and Rajasthan states and government of Gujarat in respect of Hindu migrants displaced due to 1965 and 1971 wars or those Hindu migrants who had migrated from Pakistan five years back.

The CAA does not target any religious community from abroad.  It only provides a mechanism for some migrants who may otherwise have been called “illegal” depriving them of opportunity to apply for Indian citizenship provided they meet certain conditions.

The official said the CAA protects the interests of tribals and indigenous people of Northeastern region by excluding areas under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and areas covered by Inner line Permit system. — PTI