Centre to grant citizenship to minorities of Pak, Afghanistan, Bangladesh under Citizenship Act, 1955

Citizenship Act: The centre has decided to grant Indian citizenship to minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are currently living  in two districts Anand and Mehsana of Gujarat, under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The centre will give citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and not the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA).

A Union home ministry notification says, those minorities residing in Gujarat will be allowed registration as a citizen of India under section 5 or will be granted certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and in accordance with the provisions of the Citizenship Rules, 2009.

Online applications

They have to submit their applications online. Once the application is verified by the collector at the district level, it will   be accessible online along with the collector’s report to the central government, the government notification read.

The collector may  also inquire into the suitability of the applicant.

Complete process

Once the process, is complete and the collector is satisfied with information provided in the application,  citizenship is granted  by registration or naturalisation and a certificate of registration or naturalization is issued, as the case may be, the notification said.

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The  Centre wants to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014.

Massive protests were staged in many parts of India after the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and the subsequent presidential nod. Over a hundred people died during the protests.

The CAA has not been implemented so far as rules under it are yet to be framed.

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