Citizen Amendment Act 2019

Neeraj Singh Manhas

Abstract
The Controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed in the parliament and become
Effective on Friday the 13th December 2019. The Act Amend the Citizenship Act of 1955, which
lays down the various ways in which Citizenship of India may be acquired. The said Amendment
primarily incorporates two aspects: It will enable illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians and had illegally entered India on or before 31st December
2014 to escape Religious persecution in the Islamic states of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan will be eligible to apply for Indian Citizenship. The Amends provisions related to OCI
(overseas citizen of India) cardholders. OCI is an immigration status permitting a foreign Citizen
of Indian origin to live and work in India indefinitely. The Bill Amends the Act to allow
cancellation of OCI registration if the person has violated any law notified by the central
government.

The Citizenship Act 1955 dictates that any person born on or after 26th January 1950 (in case
born prior to the commencement of 1986 Act applicable with effect from 01 July 1987), is a
Citizen of India by birth or a person born in India on or both after 01 July 1987 is a Citizen of
India if either parent was a citizen of India at the time of the birth.

Citizenship of India by naturalization can be acquired by a foreigner who is ordinarily resident in

India for 12 years (throughout the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of
application and for 11 years in the aggregate of 14 years preceding the 12 months) and other
qualifications as specified in Section 6 (1) of the Citizen Act, 1955.

The Citizenship Act 1955 prohibits illegal migrants from applying for Indian Citizenship. Illegal
migrants are defined in the Act as those foreigners who entered India without a visa or valid
travel documents or those who enter legally but stayed beyond the permitted time. Illegal
migrants were meant to be imprisoned or deported under the Foreigners Act 1946 and the
Passport (entry into India) Act 1920.

The North East students organization (NESO) backed by various other bodies (including 16 left
learning organizations) and political parties (congress, AIUDF, All Assam students union,
Krishak Mukti sangram samiti, All Arunachal Pradesh students union, Khasi students union and
Naga students Federation) has called for 11 hour Northeast bandh against the passage of the
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Security was beefed up in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
Let us understand the reasons for this nationwide uproar and why is the opposition saying that
this Act is against the tenets of Indian constitution:

Keywords
Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of
Citizen (NRC), National population Register (NPR).

Introduction
The Citizen is a status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member
of a sovereign state or belonging to a nation. The idea of Citizenship has been defined as the
capacity of individuals to defend their rights in front of the government authority.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11th
December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian
Citizenship for illegal migrants of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious
minorities, who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before
December 2014. Muslims from those countries were not given such eligibility.

The Indian Constitution that was implemented in 1950 guaranteed citizenship to all of the
country’s residents at the commencement of the constitution, and made no distinction on the
basis of religion. The Indian government passed the Citizen Act in 1955. The Act provided two
means for foreigners to acquire Indian Citizenship. People from “undivided India” were given a
means of registration after seven years of residency in India. Those from other countries were
given a means of naturalisation after twelve years of residency in India. Political developments
in the 1980s, particularly those related to the violent Assam government against all migrants
from Bangladesh, triggered revisions to the citizenship Act of 1955. The Citizenship Act was
first amended in 1985 after the Assam Accord was signed, wherein the Indian government of
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi agreed to identify foreign Citizens, remove them from the electoral
roles, and expel them from the country.

The Citizen Act was further amended in 1992, 2003, 2005 and 2015. In December 2003, the
NDA government led by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party passed the Citizenship
Amendment Act, 2003 with far reaching revisions of the Citizenship Act. It added the notion of “
illegal immigrants” to the Act, making them ineligible to apply for Citizenship and declaring
their children also as illegal immigrants. Illegal migrants were defined 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. They can be deported or jailed.

The 2003 amendment also mandated the government of India to create and maintain a National
Register of Citizens. The bill was supported by the Indian National congress as well as the Left
parties, such as the Communist Party of India. During the parliamentary debate on the
amendment the leader of opposition Manmohan singh stated, that Bangladesh and other
countries had faced persecution, and requested that the Governments approach to granting them
citizenship be made more liberal. According to MK. Venu, the formulation of the 2003
amendment discussed by Advani and Singh was based on the idea that Muslim groups in
Pakistan and Afghanistan that had experienced persecution also needed to be treated with
compassion.

Immigrants and Refuges

A very large number of illegal immigrants, the largest numbers of whom are from Bangladesh,
live in India. The Task Force on Border Management quoted the figure of 15 million illegal
migrants in 2001. In 2004. The United Progressive Alliance government stated in Parliament that
there were 12 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants in India. The reasons for the scale of
migration include a porous border, historical migration patterns, economic reasons, and cultural
and linguistic ties. Many illegal migrants from Bangladesh had eventually received the right to
vote. According to Niraji Jyal, this enfranchisement was widely described as an attempt to win
elections using the votes of the illegal migrants from Bangladesh. An unknown number of
Pakistani Hindu refuges live in India. As estimated 5,000 refuges arrive per year, citing religious
persecution and forced conversion. A much larger number of refuges estimated at 5-13 million
have arrived from Bangladesh over the decades due to a variety of complex factors.

India is not a signatory to either the 1951 Un Refuge convention or the 1967 Protocol. It does not
have a national policy on refugees. All refugees are classed as illegal migrants while India has
been willing to host refuges, its traditional position formulated by Jawaharlal Nehru is that such
refugees must return to their home countries after the situation return to their home countries
after the situation returns to normal. According to the US committee for Refugees and
Immigrants India hosts refugees in excess of 456000 with about 200,000 from non neighbouring
countries hosted via the UNHCR. According to Shuvro sarker, since the1950s and particularly
since the 1990s the Indian governments under various political parties have studied and drafted
laws for the naturalisation of refugees and asylum seekers. These drafts have struggled with
issues relating to a mass influx of refugees, urban planning, cost of basic services, the obligations
to protected tribes, the impact on pre- existing regional poverty levels within India.

1. what the Bill proposes?

According to the Bill, members of the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian
communities who have come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh till December 31st
2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given
Indian citizenship. It also relaxes the provisions for citizenship by naturalisation. The law
reduces duration of residency from existing 11 years to just five years for people belonging to the
same six religious and three countries.

2. who all does it cover ?

The Act covers six communities namely Hindu, Sikh, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christian
migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. As per the citizenship Act of 1955, an
illegal immigrants cannot get citizenship in India. An illegal migrant is defined as people who
either entered the country without paper documents, or stayed on beyond the permitted time. In
2015 the government made changes to the passport and foreigners acts to allow non muslim
refugees from these countries to stay back in India even if they entered the country without valid
papers.

3. who does it leave out ?

Leading opposition parties say the law is discriminatory as it singles out Muslims who constitute
nearly 15 percent of country’s population. The government clarifies that Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Bangladesh are Islamic Republics where Muslims are in majority hence, they cannot be
treated as persecuted minorities. It also assures that the government will examine the application
from any other community on case to case basis.

4. what is the govt’s logic on this ?

Citing partition between India and Pakistan on religious lines in 1947, the NDA government has
argued that millions of citizens of undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in
Pakistan and Bangladesh from 1947. The constitution of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh
provide for a specific state religion. As a result many persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh,
Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities have faced persecution on grounds of religion in
those countries. Some of them also have fears about such persecution in their day to day life
where right to practice, profess and propagate their religion has been obstructed and restricted.
Many such persons have fled to India to seek shelter and continued to stay in India even if their
travel documents have expired or they have incomplete or no documents the Bill states.

5. what is the Background of the law?

It was one of the poll promises of the NDA government. The bill in its earlier form was passed in
January 2019, ahead of the general elections. It again sought to grant Indian citizenship to the six
non Muslim communities Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Jain and Sikh. It reduced the
mandatory requirement of 12 years stay in India to seven years to be eligible for citizenship if
they donot possess any document. The earlier Bill was referred to Joint Parliamentary
Committee, however the Bill lapsed as it could not be taken up in Rajya sabha.
6. who are the opposers ?
Among the main opposition against the Bill is that it is said to be violative of Article 14 of the
constitution- the Right to equality. Congress, Trinamaool congress, CPI(M) and a few other
political parties have been steadfastly opposing the bill, claiming that citizenship can’t be given
on the religion. There has also been widespread protests across North East in Assam, Meghalaya,
Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

7. what are the objections that have come up?

The Act has triggered widespread protests in northeastern states where many feel that permanent
settlement of illegal migrants will disturb the region’s demography and further burden resources
and decrease employment opportunities for indigenous people. A large section of people and
organisations opposing the Act also say it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of
1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants
irrespective of religion.

8. which states will be affected ?

The Act would have impacted all 7 North Eastern states, however after several rounds of
discussion, the centre has agreed to provide safeguards for the NE States. It says’ Nothing in this
section shall apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the
sixth schedule to the constitution and the area covered under the ‘Inner Line Permit’ notified
under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 these areas require Indians from other sates
to get Inner Line Permit to enter or pass through them. Presently Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram
and Nagaland fall under the Inner Line Permit there were concerns that Manipur could end up
suffering the most if the CAB is implemented. On Monday, Home Minister Amit Shah
announced in the Loksabha that Manipur will be brought under ILP.

9. How many will it add to India’s population?

There are no official figures other than records furnished by the intelligence Bureau before the
JPC saying there are 31,313 persons belonging to these minority community living in India or
Long Term Visa. They had sought refuge here on grounds of religious persecution. Home
Minister Amit shah in Parliament said the bill will give a new dawn to lakhs and crores of
people. Parties like shiv sena have been asking for an exact number. As per the IB records the
numbers are Hindus 25,447, Sikhs 5,807, Christians 55, Buddhists 2 and Parsis 2.

The NRC & CAA have no connection. The NRC is a count of legitimate Indian citizens. Barring
the state of Assam, this exercise has never been done anywhere in the country. Union Home
Minister Amit shah has said he will frame a nationwide NRC by 2024 to detect illegal migrants.
On December 22, Prime Minister said his government had never said anything about an NRC
except in Assam. Will the proposed NRC be like the one prepared in Assam ? The Assam
NRC has a different historical context. The first NRC in Assam was prepared in 1952, owing to
widespread allegations of massive, unabated illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The first
NRC was published by recording the particulars of all the persons enumerated in that year’s
census. The 1951 NRC found that nearly 1.5 million illegal immigrants one sixth of Assam’s
population lived in the state. However, there is no account of what happened to those illegal
immigrants from Bangladesh. Three decades later, at the end of a six year long agitation in
Assam against illegal immigrations from Bangladesh, the union government and student leaders
signed the Assam Accord in 1985. As part of the accord the 1951 NRC would be updated.
That’s provide whose names appeared in the 1951 NRC because the Assam Accord accepted any
illegal migrant entering the state before March 25, 1971, as a legal Indian, documents showing
connection to anyone whose name featured in the voter lists between 1951 and 1971 were also
accepted as poof of citizenship.